Mega Spaceship: Is It Possible For China To Build A Kilometre-Long Spacecraft?

Buoyed on by its successful Moon missions, China has launched a five-year study to investigate the possibility of building the biggest-ever spacecraft

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“It’s about ambition, long-term thinking and instilling a sense of purpose. Such long-haul thinking does not fit in well with shorter-term Western thinking”

The Chinese space programme has been raising eyebrows again – this time because of its proposal to study how to build a large spacecraft, at least one kilometre in length.

To put that into perspective, the International Space Station (ISS) is just 109 meters across, yet it cost $150bn (£110bn approx) and took 30 missions over the course of a decade to build. China’s proposal is for a spacecraft 10 times the size of the ISS. It may sound crazy, but don’t make the mistake of dismissing it just yet.

“It’s about ambition, long-term thinking and instilling a sense of purpose. Such long-haul thinking does not fit in well with shorter-term Western thinking, which might mistakenly dismiss this as propaganda,” explains space writer Brian Harvey, author of the book China In Space: The Great Leap Forward.