According to the China Manned Space Engineering Office, the Tiangong No. 2 Space Laboratory has completed all expansion tests. It is scheduled to take off and re-enter the atmosphere on July 19, and a small amount of debris will fall into the safe sea area of the South Pacific.
On September 15, 2016, Tiangong No. 2 Space Laboratory was launched into orbit and designed to have an on-orbit life of 2 years. Up to now, it has been flying in orbit for over 1000 days.
Two years in space, Tiangong No. 2 is "very busy"
The Tiangong No. 2 Space Laboratory was developed on the basis of the Tiangong No. 1 backup target aircraft, consisting of a test cabin and a resource compartment.
The Tiangong 2 Space Laboratory has a total length of 10.4 meters and a maximum diameter of 3.35 meters. The span of the solar sail is about 18.4 meters wide and has a take-off weight of about 8.6 tons. It has a rendezvous and docking with the Shenzhou manned spacecraft and the Tianzhou cargo ship. The propellant is added in orbit, and carries out important functions such as space science experiments and technical tests.