In article ,
says...

We pay a lot of attention here to what is going on in the US (and to a
lesser extent Europe). Meanwhile, China is continuing to develop its
own national space program.

The latest development is their Tianzhou 1 logistics craft. With
twice the cargo capacity of a Progress or Dragon, it can also (at the
same time) deliver two tonnes of fuel. This is a step along the way
to the construction and support of their next space station (and the
logistics module is actually bigger than their current one). That new
station, with an initial mass of around 80 tonnes spread over three
modules (a hab module and two science modules) will support a crew of
six. Scheduled to go on line in the 2020's (when ISS is going off
line) and coincident with their launch of a large space telescope and
with lunar landings and Mars probes scheduled for 2030, China looks to
be growing their capabilities and working to a coherent plan,
something we seem to lack over here.



It's pretty impressive. It's about the size of ESA's ATV, which is no
longer flying to ISS, and the Japanese HTV.


From Wikipedia:

Tianzhou-1
Spacecraft type Tianzhou
Launch mass Under 13,000 kg (29,000 lb)
Dimensions 9 m × 3.35 m (29.5 ft × 11.0 ft)

ATV
Height: 10.3 m (34 ft)
Diameter: 4.5 m (15 ft)[2]
Launch Payload: 7,667 kg (16,903 lb)[3]
Mass at launch: 20,750 kg[2]
Pressurized Volume: 48 m3[4]

HTV - H-II Transfer Vehicle
Height: ~9.8 m (including thrusters)[1]
Diameter: 4.4 m[1]
Spacecraft Mass: 10,500 kg[1]
Total Launch Payload: 6,000 kg[2] / 6,200 kg[3]
Pressurized Payload: 5,200 kg[2]
Unpressurized Payload: 1,500 kg[2] / 1,900 kg (HTV-6 - )[4]
Return Payload: None[5]
Mass at launch: 16.5 ton[2]
Pressurized Volume: 14 m3[6]

Jeff
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