CALT's Mengzhou capsule should be made big enough to support both crew and logistics . If a single launch of Mengzhou can do both Tianzhou and Shenzhou tasks then it means 2 rocket launches and 2 spacecrafts cost can be saved by a single Long March 10-A launch . Moreover, reusability of booster and reusability of Mengzhou will make additional rocket launches more and more cheaper and just like SpaceX , CALT can only develop few boosters and few Mengzhou spacecrafts to support all future launches by using same boosters and same Mengzhou again and again.
Mengzhou can't do everything Tianzhou can, for example refueling the space station's electric and conventional propulsion systems, so the two spacecraft will fly concurrently. For that, it is expected that the Long March 10A will eventually launch both for Tiangong operations.
Oh , Yes , those chemical dudes known as Hydrazine and Denitrogen tetroxide which the Tiangong space station needs to orient itself and move sometimes in case of docking , maintaining orbit and avoid debris collision . I guess the reason is that space is a vacuum and you cannot push against anything in space so naturally you need to throw something out to mimic thrusts and that something throwing out must be propellants.
CALT's Mengzhou capsule should be made big enough to support both crew and logistics . If a single launch of Mengzhou can do both Tianzhou and Shenzhou tasks then it means 2 rocket launches and 2 spacecrafts cost can be saved by a single Long March 10-A launch . Moreover, reusability of booster and reusability of Mengzhou will make additional rocket launches more and more cheaper and just like SpaceX , CALT can only develop few boosters and few Mengzhou spacecrafts to support all future launches by using same boosters and same Mengzhou again and again.
Mengzhou can't do everything Tianzhou can, for example refueling the space station's electric and conventional propulsion systems, so the two spacecraft will fly concurrently. For that, it is expected that the Long March 10A will eventually launch both for Tiangong operations.
Oh , Yes , those chemical dudes known as Hydrazine and Denitrogen tetroxide which the Tiangong space station needs to orient itself and move sometimes in case of docking , maintaining orbit and avoid debris collision . I guess the reason is that space is a vacuum and you cannot push against anything in space so naturally you need to throw something out to mimic thrusts and that something throwing out must be propellants.