SPACE RACE 2.0

WATCH: See China's space station show off huge new 'solar energy-capturing wings'

by Cami Mondeaux, Breaking News Reporter |
| August 13, 2022 

Newly released video from China’s human spaceflight agency shows the country’s recently developed “wings” meant to rotate around the Earth to provide solar power for the Tiangong space station.

Video footage displays the large solar rays in space above the Tiangong space station, showing how several of the panels move direction to face the sun. The new wings are part of the space station’s Wentian experiment module aimed to expand the Tiangong space station.

The solar panels will provide power to the space station as the country plans to keep it operating with rotating crews of three astronauts over the next decade, according to Space.com.

When fully completed, the Tiangong space station will be roughly 20% the size of the International Space Station, which has solar arrays with a wingspan of about 240 feet that give the station power. Comparatively, the two Wentian solar arrays currently in operation are each 98 feet long and have a total combined wingspan of over 180 feet, Space.com reported.

China’s space station plans to add a third and final module to the Tiangong station in October called Mengtian, which will carry another pair of large solar wings.