China’s space program plans to complete construction of a new space station and send it into orbit by 2022, Zhou Jianping, the program’s chief designer, said at an engineering forum Sunday in the southern Guangdong province.

The station will weigh 100 tons and be able to accommodate three astronauts, with the possibility to be expanded if needed, Zhou said according to Xinhua. The space station’s core cabin module, Tianhe, will be launched in the next two or three years, after which add-ons like the Wentian and Mengtian laboratory cabin modules can be separately launched and connected.

Since its inception in 1992, the Tiangong space station program, has aimed to create a permanent space base capable of operating independently, without relying on support from other countries. Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2 — temporary precursors to the expected 2022 space station — served as test beds for key technologies but deorbited in April 2018 and July 2019, respectively.

China is going all-in on becoming a space superpower. In January, the country sent a domestically made spacecraft, the Chang’E-4, to land on the far side of the moon. And on Friday, the country’s space program successfully completed a Mars lander test as part of its plans to put a rover on the Red Planet next year.

The upcoming space station will serve as China’s main platform for space science research, according to Zhou. (Image: Xinhua)