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PETALING JAYA: People should keep their face masks on in crowded and enclosed areas as the new Covid-19 wave sweeps the nation, says Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
Khairy said the public should remain vigilant and adhere to the TRIIS method – Test, Report, Isolate, Inform and Seek – should they be infected.
He also said the drug Paxlovid would be given to high-risk patients.
“Covid-19 cases have reached nearly 4,000 today (Thursday), with about 96% belonging to Category 1 and 2.
“We are experiencing a wave of infections. Whether the wave is big or small depends on our actions,” he said in a post on his Twitter account.
Prior to this, Khairy had said the nation was experiencing a small wave of Covid-19 cases due to the Omicron XBB subvariant.
On Monday (Oct 31) , he said that Covid-19 infections due to the XBB subvariant were expected to go up in the next few weeks – to between 3,000 and 5,000 daily cases – with the crest of the wave coinciding with the 15th General Election.
He reminded the public to be careful, especially with the country entering the campaign period for GE15.
Khairy also encouraged frontline staff, including Election Commission employees who will be on duty during GE15, to get a second booster vaccine dose.
The world still faces the risk of a combined pandemic of COVID-19 and influenza, especially this winter, Zhong Nanshan, top Chinese respiratory diseases expert, said on Tuesday in The World Flu Day 2022 Symposium that more efforts are needed to tackle the scientific problems of influenza prevention and control during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Both COVID-19 and influenza viruses are respiratory viruses, and respiratory virus infections tend to have a short incubation period, rapid and wide spread, strong transmission, high incidence, and are difficult to control," Zhong pointed out. Once the epidemic caused by respiratory viruses breaks out, it often leads to serious public health crisis, and then becomes the focus of the prevention and control of infectious diseases in the world.
At the conference, Dong Chen, an academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, also said that the world still faces a high risk of overlapping epidemics of respiratory infectious diseases such as influenza and COVID-19, and the prevention of that still has a long way to go.
"Since June, there has been a new outbreak of avian influenza in Europe and an unprecedented outbreak of H5N1 infection in birds in the US, with a very high risk of spillover into humans. So the combination of influenza and COVID-19 is a very big challenge for us this winter and next spring," Gao Fu, former head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and an academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, also warned that the current level of COVID-19 vaccination is gradually increasing, but the flu vaccination rate is generally low.
Due to COVID-19 prevention and control measures, data over the past two years have shown that influenza prevalence level has remained low. But things are gradually changing.
As COVID-19 flares up in several places across China with total daily cases nearing 3,000, many localities, including Central China's Henan and South China's Guangdong, are stepping up efforts to contain the virus and resume work and life as soon as possible.
On Tuesday, 465 new confirmed cases were reported nationwide. As Tuesday, 31 Chinese provinces, regions and municipalities have reported 4,854 confirmed cases.
Zhang Wenqing, Director of WHO Global Influenza Programme, said in the conference that at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the influenza situation was very weak around the world, but the change occurred in the second half of 2021. The data showed an increase in influenza virus activity in many countries, both in the northern and southern hemispheres.
"In some countries in the southern hemisphere, influenza virus is more active than it was before the COVID-19 outbreak," Zhang said. This points to the important question of whether the northern hemisphere will see the same seasonal flu spike as the southern hemisphere.
Talking about the reasons for this change, Gao said one possible reason is that in the past three years, public health measures have been implemented globally, which has caused the overall population to have a weak immunity to influenza viruses. Some countries have relaxed their public health policies recently, making it more likely that new strains will emerge, Gao warned. At the same time, the low rate of influenza vaccination also causes the situation that the influenza virus is easy to spread.
As for how to effectively deal with this crisis, scholars from different regions and countries, such as Russia and the UK, agreed that the experience of COVID-19 prevention and control is worth learning, for example, the development of rapid and accessible diagnostic methods may play a crucial role in the prevention and control of influenza epidemic.
Zhong believes that basic research and clinical research have important scientific and practical significance in the diagnosis, treatment, and control of respiratory viruses. The COVID-19 epidemic has promoted basic research on pathogenesis and accelerated the development of rapid clinical diagnostic methods, and provided an important basis for the clinical practice of epidemic prevention and control and the judgment of disease prognosis.
In recent years, China has made a series of landmark achievements in respiratory virus research, Dong added.
Basic research has made progress in respiratory viruses, etiology, structural biology, immunology, and cross-species and so on, and formed a good technical reserve, which can provide guidance for the prevention and control strategy of influenza, Dong said.
Live: China issues The White Paper on China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System in the New Era
China's State Council Information Office releases The White Paper on China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System in the New Era and invites Ran Chengqi, director general of the China Satellite Navigation Office and spokesperson of BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, as well as a spokesperson of the State Council Information Office to introduce the white paper. #OfficialRelease
File photo of a model of the Beidou Satellite Navigation System.Photo:Xinhua
China issued a white paper on the country's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) on Friday.
"China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System in the New Era," the white paper said that BDS has been built into a world-class navigation system.
It laid out how China plans to refine the system by improving its operation management, promoting sustainable development of BDS-based
applications, and upgrading its governance in the coming years.
The white paper noted that BDS is dedicated to the world, and China will
step up international cooperation for better compatibility and interoperability between BDS and other navigation satellite systems.
China
is committed to "building a comprehensive spatiotemporal system that is more extensive, more integrated and more intelligent on the next generation of BDS," said the document released by the State Council Information Office.
It pointed out that China is ready to share its achievements in developing BDS, and it will work with all other countries to promote the development of navigation satellite systems and make an even greater contribution to building a global community of shared future and a better world.
All BDS-3 satellites working well, contributing to top-class navigation system with unique advantages: white paper
The China-developed BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) has become a top-class system with cutting-edge technologies and powerful functions, according to a white paper released Friday. China is ready to share its achievements in developing the BDS and provide services to all other countries, it said.
Titled "China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System in the New Era," the white paper published by the State Council Information Office introduced how China plans to further refine the system by improving its operation management, developing BDS-based applications, and upgrading its governance in the coming years.
The 30 in-orbit satellites of the third-generation series of the BeiDou system, or BDS-3, which officially joined commissioning in July 2020, are in good operating condition, Ran Chengqi, spokesperson for the system, said at the press conference on Friday.
The millions of components of the satellites, in more than 300 categories, are all domestically produced with excellent performances, Ran said.
Data showed that the global positioning accuracy of BDS-3 is within 5 meters, with the performance in the Asia-Pacific region even better. In general, the service performance of BDS-3 is better than the designed index, the spokesperson said.
The system offers six special services, namely international search and rescue, global short message communication, regional short message communication, satellite-based augmentation, ground-based augmentation, and precision single-point positioning.
It is the world's first navigation satellite system to provide a global short message communication service, the white paper noted.
"The 100 percent independent development and operation of BDS core components has laid a solid foundation for its wide use," it said.
Chinese experts said that compared with GPS and GLONASS, the BDS has its own advantages in navigation, positioning accuracy, timing, speed measurement, and short message transmissions.
Song Zhongping, a space expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Friday that the BDS offers the global short message communication service, which is unique in the world.
BDS has achieved global coverage with world-class accuracy. China will continue to improve the reliability, accuracy and safety of the BDS by deploying more satellites next year, Song said.
BDS is also dedicated to the world, Ran noted at the conference, noting that China will step up international cooperation for better compatibility and interoperability between BDS and other navigation satellite systems.
It has signed signal interoperability statements with GPS and GLONASS, and is discussing cooperation with the Galileo system. Under the framework of the United Nations, China promoted the realization of multi-system compatibility and sharing, so as to jointly provide more high-quality and diversified, safe and reliable services for global users.
BDS has established cooperation mechanisms with organizations and countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, with more than 50 documents signed since 2016.
The white paper pointed out that China is ready to share its achievements in developing BDS, and it will work with all other countries to promote the development of navigation satellite systems and make an even greater contribution to building a global community with a shared future.
BDS provides many services for the Belt and Road Initiative and friendly countries, including transportation in the civilian field, urban surveys, urban planning, aircraft navigation and so on, Song said. "Whatever GPS can do, BDS can do it as well."
According to Song, another way of cooperation is setting up dual-mode navigation systems. For example, on a certain chip or a certain system, there can be both GPS navigation and BDS. "This switching mode makes the navigation more secure and reliable."
China will further upgrade BDS technologies, functions and services. The goal is to create a comprehensive spatiotemporal system that is more extensive, integrated and intelligent, and that provides flexible, smart, precise and secure navigation, positioning and timing services.
In building a more powerful BDS, China will create its own smart and distinctive system for operation, maintenance and management.
China began to develop its own navigation satellite system in 1994. BDS-1 entered service and began providing positioning services in China at the end of 2000. At this point, China became the third country in the world with a navigation satellite system. BDS-2 was completed in 2012, providing passive positioning services to the Asia-Pacific region.
In less than three years, 18 rockets sent 30 satellites into orbit, a pace unmatched by any other country. In 2020, BDS-3 was formally commissioned to provide satellite navigation services worldwide.
While your business may be thriving under your sole proprietorship, it is important to realise the consequences of having a business ownership tied to you individually, and how it may impact your family in the eventuality of your death.
THERE are many ways in which middle-income Malaysians make their money; the most common is through a sole proprietorship business, which forms a major part of the business owner’s overall wealth value.
There are many upsides to owning a sole proprietorship – it is fairly easy to set up, the startup costs are low, you have full control over the business as you’re the sole boss and, of course, the main draw is that you keep all the profits you make.
However, a sole proprietorship also has its disadvantages. One of the major disadvantages is that there is no distinction between your private assets and business assets.
As such, there is unlimited liability for debts, which has a potential to eat into your personal wealth should you not take measures to manage your business well.
An aspect commonly overlooked is the need to protect or preserve the business value and continuity should something happen to the owner.
Therefore, while setting up a business may be a positive step to take to help bolster one’s income, there’s also the stark reality every sole proprietor would eventually face – their business will also be terminated should any unforeseen circumstances happen to the owner.
This can be especially daunting for the families of the sole proprietor, who may face immense difficulty in managing their finance and preventing the families’ wealth from being affected after the death.
The case of Leong
Let’s take the example of Leong, a sole proprietor of a successful accounting practice in Puchong with 15 non-professional staff.
Leong’s business was doing so well that even with overhead costs of RM80,000 a month, he could easily draw RM45,000 per month from his practice.
Due to his lucrative business, Leong’s wife stopped working to spend more quality time with their children. One day, Leong met a fatal road accident and passed away. And with his sudden death, came a financial crisis to his family.
Clients who were once close acquaintances of Leong’s practice switched to competitors who offered the same services. Leong’s wife, not a qualified accountant, was unable to pick up her late husband’s business to continue offering these services.
Eventually, the business was forced to wind down as the dwindling income was not able to pay off the company’s overheads.
Since Leong was the sole breadwinner for the family, having no business income meant having no income for the family to survive off. His personal savings was only able to last the family 11 more months without any further influx of income.
As grim as this recollection sounds, it actually happens a lot more often than one might guess.
The question is – how do we avoid such situations for ourselves and our families? What could Leong have done to avoid this financial tragedy befalling his family?
First, let’s see some of the options that are available to Leong’s wife in such a circumstance.
> Liquidation of business by estate administrator.
Unless authorised by the will or court order, the administrator or executor must wind up and liquidate the business as soon as possible. Forced liquidation usually results in severe loss of business value, sometimes ranging as much as 40% to 90%.
> The estate administrator or executor continues the business until it can be sold as going concern.
In this alternative, the sole proprietor’s will gives the power to the administrator or executor to continue the business and exempt him from personal liabilities for the appropriate actions taken during this period.
However, the administrator or executor may still be liable for any losses caused by his or her negligence or imprudence.
Inexperienced administrator
The risk here is that, the administrator or executor may not be experienced or familiar enough to run the business operation.
Secondly, after settling the outstanding estate liabilities, administration expense and taxes, the administrator or executor may not have sufficient working capital to continue the business.
> The heirs inherit the business through a will.
In the sole proprietor’s will, the business can be transferred to the heirs as a gift. However, the heirs may not have sufficient knowledge or ability to run the business profitably.
If they are not successful in running the business, there’s the risk of dissipating their other estate inheritance in order to save the business. As such, the business gift may turn out to be a liability rather than an asset for the heirs.
> Sale of the business through as agreement prior to the death of the sole proprietor.
Before his death, the sole proprietor may offer the sale of his business to his employee or an interested outsider.
Under this alternative, the potential buyer enters into a contractual agreement with the sole proprietor so that the sole proprietor binds his estate to sell and the buyer to buy the business at an agreed price.
Now let’s take a look at some actions that sole proprietors can do while they are living to ensure that their surviving family members are not put into a tough position financially.
> Get a proper business valuation assessment as part of your estate planning.
As sole proprietorship is the trickiest to sell, it is important to have a licensed financial planner to help assess the business value.
He or she would be able to highlight the probable shrinkage in its value under different circumstances, and prevent the sole proprietor from overvaluing their business and thus under preparing the cashflow needed upon death.
Power to executor
> Give the executor of your will the decision-making power to continue or sell the business.
Without this instruction, the executor is bound by law to protect the assets in the estate, and thus may default to winding up the business as soon as possible, which could result in losses.
If the heirs are interested to continue the business, owners of the sole proprietorship may want to instruct the executor to transfer the business to them.
> Seek out a buy-sell agreement with friends or network in the field.
For some professional practices like accountant, doctors, land surveyors, architects, consulting engineers and others, a good practice would be for the sole proprietor to reach out to friends or network in the same field to enter into a buy-sell agreement as an alternative.
Such an agreement will ensure that the surviving professional will purchase over the practices from the deceased’s estate.
An agreement like this would not only help one, but both sole proprietors to ensure the continuity of the business in the event of one of the owner’s demise.
> Identify key employees who can succeed the business.
Depending on the nature of your business, you may want to invest some effort into identifying a potential successor and prepare them to take over the business one day.
Involve any prospective successor in the day-to-day operations to give him or her more experience. You could also consider entering into a buy-sell agreement with the potential successor to buy your business in the event of your death.
> Protect your family with life insurance.
This solution acts as a buffer to provide a safety net to your family. Protecting your family with life insurance while you’re still alive could help bolster losses incurred from a forced wind up of the business.
Forced liquidation
In some cases, the forced liquidation could result in liabilities in excess, of which the life insurance coverage will be able to compensate the business value loss.
In the case that your business does not go through a force winding up, the life insurance claim proceeds will buy your family time to transition through settling your estate, learning the ropes of your business, and/or provide your family accessible working capital during the transition period of settling your estate.
In the case of entering a buy-sell agreement with an interested buyer, he or she can consider purchasing life insurance on the life of the sole proprietor.
This may sound crude and calculated but when the time comes, it can provide additional funds needed for the purchase of the business.
While your business may be thriving under your sole proprietorship, it is important to realise the consequences of having a business ownership tied to you individually, and how it may impact your family in the eventuality of your death.
If you are a sole proprietor, I invite you to evaluate your risks while things are going well with your business. The best way to do this is to employ the expertise of a licensed financial planner.
The licensed financial planner would be able to help identify the pros and cons of each alternative to your business and incorporate your intended wishes into your comprehensive financial planning.
Yap Ming Hui is a licensed financial planner. The views expressed here are the writer’s own. Any reliance you place on the information shared is therefore strictly at your own risk.
TM launches first-phase 5G services for unifi customers
KUALA LUMPUR:Telekom Malaysia Bhd TM) launched the first-phase of its 5G services, which includes unlimited data for existing unifi mobile postpaid customers as well as new postpaid and prepaid customers.
TM group chief executive officer Imri Mokhtar said the 5G service would reinforce the company’s leadership in fixed-mobile services for consumer and micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) segments, strengthening its mobile capabilities to provide the widest and fastest all-in-one solution.
“With 5G currently covering more than 33% of populated areas throughout Malaysia, this first phase is key to growing TM’s reach and presents the opportunity for a new push in unifi’s convergence play, riding on its strength of three million households and close to 400,000 MSME customers,” he said in a statement yesterday.
In addition, TM will continue to modernise the country’s fibre network architecture, integrating automation and virtualisation technologies to boost back-end infrastructures that will support the anticipated demand for 5G.
TM recently launched its 5G Sphere, an ecosystem of leading technology and smart solution partners that will accelerate the co-creation of innovative 5G use cases, taking enterprise 5G transformation from ideation to realisation. To date, there are 39 partners in the programme.
TM said its nation-building efforts with the government will also speed up the availability of smart cities, smart industries and 5G-enabled applications, creating a more sustainable and inclusive digital society and economy. — Bernama
5G services to 12 million hand-phone user by year-end
PETALING JAYA: Some 12 million Malaysians will begin to have access to the fifth-generation (5G) mobile services by the end of this year, says caretaker Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa.
The announcement by Annuar comes after five out of six telcos had met the Oct 31 deadline to ink the reference access offer (RAO)with Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) for the implementation of the country’s 5G network.
“Before the companies could offer their services to the public, they had to sign the access agreement before the Oct 31 deadline.
“The agreement was signed to enable the companies to fix the bundle or retail prices from DNB and subsequent price offers to the public,” he said at a press conference yesterday.
He said that among the telcos that had met the deadline were Celcom Axiata Bhd, Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, YTL Communications Sdn Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd and U Mobile Sdn Bhd.
He clarified that there was some confusion among mobile phone users as to the eventual rollout of 5G services in the country.
“Many complain why talk about 5G when they can’t even get the 4G or 5G services yet.
“There was confusion as the earlier mention of 5G was done generally and this referred to the development of the infrastructure where the rollout of services had yet to begin,” he said.
With the conclusion of the RAO, Annuar said that the telcos are expected to begin offering their 5G services by the end of this year to some 12 million handphone users in the country.
He noted that only those using mobile phones with 5G capabilities will be able to access the service.
Malaysia’s 5G network is being rolled out by DNB, with the five telcos taking a stake in the former and by inking access agreements with it.
The telcos are then to compete by using the same infrastructure to roll out their 5G-related services.
Currently, 5G access is available in the Klang Valley, Johor, Melaka, Negri Sembilan, Perak, Penang and Kelantan.
By MARTIN CARVALHO mart3@thestar.com.my
5G door still open to Maxis
Malaysia’s largest mobile network operator (MNO), Maxis Bhd,
will not be able to roll out 5G services to its over nine million mobile subscribers until the company signs a network access agreement
with Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB)
While the deadline to sign the access agreement expired on Oct 30, DNB chief operating officer Nasution Mohamed told StarBiz that Maxis still had the chance to ink the agreement “anytime” in the future.
“But its capacity commitment will be at a premium to those that had concluded on Oct 30.
“Maxis will have to commit to greater capacity off-take over the next 10 years, not necessarily having to pay more,” he said.
Nasution explained that Maxis had expressed its interest to be part of the country’s 5G journey via the single wholesale network (SWN) model.
“I believe it is sorting out some matters internally. Once it is settled, it can sign the access agreement,” he said.
In a statement issued late evening yesterday, Maxis said it was still assessing the governance requirements for the 5G access agreement.
“Maxis is committed to bringing this to a close as soon as possible.
“Meanwhile, the company has already been developing multi-industry use cases and forging partnerships with major players for 5G services and solutions,” it said.
The country’s 5G infrastructure is being rolled out by DNB under the SWN model. Telecommunication companies (telcos) that have signed the access agreement can tap onto the DNB-owned 5G infrastructure and spectrum by paying a wholesale price.
The telcos will then transfer the 5G access to end-users, alongside their other value-added offerings, at a marked-up pricing.
Excluding Maxis, the remaining five MNOs have executed the network access agreement for a 10-year period, confirmed Nasution.
The MNOs are Axiata Group Bhd, U Mobile Sdn Bhd, Digi.com Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) and YTL Communications Sdn Bhd (YES).
The signing of the access agreements comes after Axiata, Digi, TM and YES agreed to take up a collective 65% stake in DNB this month.
The government will retain the remaining 35% stake and hold a golden share.
U Mobile and Maxis have declined to take up equity in DNB.
The access agreements were finally executed after multiple rounds of delays previously.
However, this does not mean the MNOs will immediately be able to roll out 5G services nationwide.
With DNB expecting to reach 37.9% 5G population coverage by the end of 2022, compared to the initial target of 40%, most areas in Malaysia do not have access to 5G infrastructure yet.
Currently, 5G access is available in the Klang Valley, Johor, Melaka, Negri Sembilan, Perak, Penang and Kelantan.
YES was the first MNO in Malaysia to roll out 5G services from Dec 15, 2021.
This was followed by TM, which is rolling out 5G services effective yesterday via unifi Mobile.
Meanwhile, Axiata’s Celcom and U Mobile announced that their 5G services will be commercially available to customers from Nov 1 and Nov 3, respectively.
As for Digi, the commercial roll-out date is not known yet.
In a stock exchange filing yesterday, TM said the provisioning of 5G services would enhance TM’s position as the preferred partner in accelerating the adoption of fixed-mobile convergence via 5G and fixed broadband solutions.
The telco has about 2.9 million fixed broadband subscribers as of the first half of 2022.
U Mobile chief executive officer Wong Heang Tuck said in a statement that the company is supportive of the government’s vision of a SWN model for 5G deployment, whereby all operators will have access to the same network without differentiation in terms of speed and quality.
“Hence, we are delighted to have signed the 5G access agreement and be part of this network.
“We have full faith that DNB will honour the mandate of providing quality 5G coverage and capacity on an equitable and non-discriminatory basis,” he said.
U Mobile has launched a line of 5G-ready postpaid plans, namely U Postpaid 38, U Postpaid 68 and U Postpaid 98.
Axiata told Bursa Malaysia yesterday that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Celcom Networks Sdn Bhd, has entered into an access agreement with DNB to allow Celcom wholesale access to DNB’s 5G network.
“Under the agreement, there is no charge to be incurred in 2022.
“The DNB Reference Access Offer (RAO) published on the DNB website sets out the salient terms and conditions subject to which network facilities and network services will be provided by DNB to Celcom.
“The RAO may be updated or replaced from time to time in which case the agreement will be governed by and incorporate the terms and conditions of the RAO published on the DNB website,” it said in a filing.
Meanwhile, Digi said its unit, Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (DigiTel), has on Oct 30 executed an access agreement with DNB.
Via the agreement, DigiTel will also have the option to purchase future 5G wholesale services to be rolled out by DNB, to develop innovative 5G enterprise and value-added services to serve customer needs.
“The board, having considered the access agreement, is of the opinion that the access agreement is in the best interest of the company,” it said.
Mengtian lab module conducted successful transposition in orbit at 9:32 am Thursday, marking that China Space Station completed
assembly of T-shape basic structure. Shenzhou-14 taikonauts will enter Mengtian Thursday afternoon.
China successfully launches final part of its three-module space station, to complete T-shape structure assembly
China launches Mengtian lab module via a Long March-5B rocket on Monday afternoon from Wenchang Space Launch Site in South China’s tropical island province of Hainan.
China
launches Mengtian lab module via a Long March-5B rocket on Monday afternoon from Wenchang Space Launch Site in South China’s tropical
island province of Hainan.
China
launches Mengtian lab module via a Long March-5B rocket on Monday afternoon from Wenchang Space Launch Site in South China’s tropical
island province of Hainan.
China successfully launched Mengtian lab module - the third and final part of its three-module home-developed space station - into preset orbit, on Monday afternoon from South China's tropical island province of Hainan, kicking start the final battle of completing the country's T-shape and first-ever permanent space station.
Mengtian, also the second lab module, will be the last piece before China completes the space station assembly.
Mengtian lab module Photo: Courtesy of Shanghai Academy of Spacecraft Technology
Mengtian lab module Photo: Courtesy of Shanghai Academy of Spacecraft Technology
Carrying the Mengtian lab module, China's mega Long March-5B Y4 carrier rocket took off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site around 3:37 pm on Monday. And after a flight of around eight minutes, the module separated with the rocket and entered its designated orbit, marking the success of the launch mission, the Global Times learned from the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
Following the successful launch, Mengtian will carry out a fast and automated rendezvous and docking with the Tianhe space station core module at the latter's forward docking port, per the CMSA.
The new lab module will then be transpositioned from the forward docking port on Tianhe to the port docking ring on the side, joining the two earlier modules - Tianhe core module and Wentian lab module, to complete the T-shape China Space Station basic structure.
After completing the building of the China Space Station, six taikonauts of two Shenzhou manned spaceflight crew will carry out the first-ever direct handover in orbit.
The powerful Long March-5B carrier rocket has successfully launched all three modules, each weighing over 22 tons at launch, of the China Space Station to date, proving its strength and reliability, the carrier developer the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology said in a statement.
The Long March 5B is a one and half stage carrier rocket with four 3.35-meter-diameter liquid propellant boosters, and has a thrust of 1,078 tons by take-off. It is capable of sending payload of 25 tons to the near-Earth orbit.
Huang Bing, the chief designer of the Long March 5 rocket series, told the Global Times that to meet the mission demands of the space station module launch missions, the Long March-5B rocket has made multiple key technology breakthroughs including the separation of the country's largest nose cone at 20.5 meters in length.
The Global Times learned from the Shanghai Academy of Spacecraft Technology (SAST) the developer of the Mengtian module that 17.88-meter-long, 4.2-meter-diameter mega space lab weighs around 23.3 tons by launch, which is the heaviest payload China has ever launched to date.
Mengtian module is designed to be a working zone for astronauts and therefore it does not have life support systems like Tianhe and Wentian, nor the dormitory and restrooms. But Mengtian does have installed physical training facility onboard that is similar to the rowing machine on Earth, the SAST introduced.
As the "workshop" for the China Space Station, Mengtian has the most powerful payload supporting capabilities, as it carries 13 standard payload cabinets, hosting experiments mainly in the fields of microgravity scientific studies as well as frontier scientific projects covering fluid physics, combustion and materials science and space technologies.
The Mengtian will carry the world's first space-based set of cold atomic clocks which will include a hydrogen clock, a rubidium clock and an optical clock.
"If successful, the cold atomic clocks will form the most precise time and frequency system in space, which should not lose one second in hundreds of millions of years," said Zhang Wei, director of the Utilization Development Center of Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The world's first cold atomic clock that operates in space was made by Chinese scientists. It was launched with the Tiangong-2 space lab in 2016, and has a margin of error of less than one second in 30 million years.
Now, through ground-based experiments, Chinese scientists have developed cold atomic clocks that are far more accurate than the Tiangong-2 version, according to Zhang.
The development of space cold atomic clock technology will contribute to higher-precision satellite positioning and navigation, and support fundamental physics research such as dark matter probes and gravitational wave detection, scientists explained.
Mengtian is made up with four cabins including the working cabin at the forefront connecting to the Tianhe core module in which astronauts can work and do their physical exercises, and interior scientific experiment cabinets are installed.
Moving further from the working cabin, there are payload cabin on the outside and airlock cabin on the inside. That is to say, there is a hidden cargo airlock cabin that will be used for cargo passage. And at the further end of the Mengtian, it is the module's resource cabin where the Sun-positioning device and flexible solar panels are installed.
To facilitate the supporting function for experiments outside the cabin, Mengtian has prepared as many as 37 payload installation spots on the exterior, providing services such as engineering, electronic as well as information technology support for those experiment to be carried out outside the cabin.
Mission insiders explained that if the airlock cabin on the Wentian lab module is the international airport that would be mainly used to support entry and exit of taikonauts, the airlock cabin on the Mengtian module will be the "international cargo port" for the robotic transfer of cargo and scientific payload.
Previously, to carry out experiment on the exterior of the space station cabin, it required taikonauts to conduct extravehicular activities (EVA), but efficiency was limited to the times that EVAs could be arranged and other factors such as the number of payloads and their size.
Now with the new cargo airlock on Mengtian and its unique payload transfer mechanics, cargo including experiment payload could smoothly enter and exit the cabinet automatically.
Such robotic cargo and payload transfer capability reaches 400 kilograms and the size of the cargo envelope for a single shipment reaches 1.15 meters x 1.2 meters x 0.9 meters, greatly increasing the efficiency and reducing the pressure of astronauts, enabling them to invest more time and energy to focus on interior scientific experimental activities.
Also to meet the demand for entry and exit of larger and heavier cargo, Mengtian has installed the country's first square shape port gate, whose width reaches 1.2 meters.
To maximize the use of the space workshop, Mengtian has also been designed to be able to release smaller cube satellites in orbit. Astronauts only needs to put those 100-kilogram-level micro spacecraft or cube satellites in different sizes into the releaser inside the Mengtian, and then the releaser could "throw" them like a pebble bow, realizing the low-cost entrance to space for these micro spacecraft and cube satellites in orbit.
Just like Wentian lab module, Mengtian has also taken the power solution into consideration to prepare for future more demanding in-orbit experiments. Mengtian is also equipped with giant flexible solar panels, each of which can extend some 138 square meters.
After the completion of the T-shape China Space Station, two pairs of such solar panels on Wentian and Mengtian modules could together generate nearly 1,000 Kilowatt hours of electricity per day, equivalent to the half-year consumption of a household, and according to the SAST, it will mean that the space station will be free of worries of using electricity.
Consolidate space power status with true openness
Only when the three modules complete assembly and form the T-shape structure in orbit, can we declare that we have achieved all preset goals; only when they complete the T-shape basic structure, can the power supply, information and thermal control systems deliver their best performances and support relatively larger-scale experiments, said Bai Linhou, deputy chief designer from the space station system at the China Academy of Spacecraft Technology, explaining why the feat was of great significance in the overall building of the China Space Station.
Bai told the Global Times that "the high building efficiency of the China Space Station is the direct evidence of China's great comprehensive national strength. It would be nearly impossible for any country to build a space station in the near-Earth orbit without the support of a strong national power."
Pang Zhihao, a Beijing-based senior space expert, told the Global Times that the completion of China's own space station which is a crucial platform to exploit space resources, will be a landmark event for not only manned space technology but for the field of space technology as a whole, and it will form a tremendous push to drive China to advance into a space power.
"China, following the USSR/ Russia, the US, will become the third country to pull off the feat, and more importantly, our space station technology is very advanced", Pang hailed.
China Space Station is about to complete the building of its ultimate T-structure including Tianhe core module with Mengtian and Wentian lab modules on the side, the weight of the three-module combination would exceed 60 tons; and if the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft and Shenzhou manned spacecraft are counted all together, the mass weight of the China Space Station would be near 90 tons, Wei Dongxu, a space observer and TV commentator, told the Global Times.
It will mean China has built a platform that is capable of hosting a great number of in-orbit scientific experiments and accommodating astronauts with better life and working conditions, Wei said.
The Tiangong space station will also become a new platform on the basis of which China would explore and push forward deepened space cooperation, "Astronauts from friendly countries, in the future, would participate directly in missions onboard and our outcomes of space scientific experiment will be also shared with the rest of world", he said.
"The completion of the Tiangong Space Station is a significant technical achievement by China. The Chinese station may offer some stability at a time when the US and its partners will be undergoing a period of transition from the ISS to the development and use of commercial space stations," Mariel Borowitz, Associate Professor with the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs of the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, the US, told the Global Times via email.
"The ultimate value of the Chinese station will also depend on the extent that it can be leveraged to conduct scientific research, as well as the extent that China is able to enable international engagement in this new platform," she said.
Bai revealed that China Space Station is currently drafting cooperation standards for rendezvous and docking as well as payload installation onboard, which then would be announced to the world.
"The China Space Station will always be an open platform for global cooperation, and China is drafting cooperation standards, for rendezvous, docking and payload installation, which is to be released to the whole world," Bai revealed.
Foreign spacecraft, or experimental payloads, as long as they are in line with our standards in designing their docking devices and make sure their safety meets our requirements, are all welcome to come onboard," Bai said.
In fact, China has repeatedly extended warm and sincere welcomes to international astronauts to the China Space Station.
Foreign astronauts are welcome to work in China's space station, Taikonaut Wang Yaping, also a delegate of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said during an interview at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 16.
China is implementing its first batch of international cooperation programs on board the Tiangong space station, and will hopefully upload those experiments by the end of the year. Foreign astronauts are welcome to Tiangong to make greater contributions to the shared future of mankind, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin remarked in April.
Although China has independently designed, built and launched the space station, it will be a real international space station, as China would invite more developing countries and European partners to use the space station together, said Song Zhongping, a space expert and TV commentator.
Song said it is also possible that China will train astronauts for certain other countries to facilitate their use of the China Space Station, and to become payload expert to carry out experiment in orbit. "That would mean that we are truly open to those countries that are friendly to China," he added.
The successful construction of its own space station would consolidate China's status as a space power, laying grounds for future deep-space exploration missions and forming the landscape of global space power with the US, China and Russia on the top, Song noted.
The completion of building of the space station will be a milestone in China's space technology development and drive all-around development for a variety of fundamental industries and stimulate new applications such as space breeding and new materials, Song added.
Congratulations to the successful launch of the #Mengtian lab module! Mengtian, which means "Dreaming of the Heavens", will be the "dream factory" of China's space station.
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