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China is developing a cargo spaceship to supply the nation's future space station, said Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China's manned space program.

Supply technology is one of the keys to sustaining a space station's operation with regular deliveries of fuel, food and equipment, as well as experimental devices.

"The Soviet Union's Mir space station, which de-orbited in 2001, needed supplies from a cargo ship four times a year. Our cargo spaceship will have more capacity than that, so we will need to make fewer deliveries," Zhou said.

"It is unlikely we will rely on a manned spaceship to ferry food and fuel to a space station, as a manned spaceship can take only 300 kg of cargo, far from enough for future space station operations," he said.

This cargo spaceship, yet unnamed, will weigh 13 tons when fully loaded, Zhou said without elaborating on how much cargo exactly it can carry.

With a diameter of 3.35 meters, it will look like the Tiangong-1 space module that was launched on Thursday as part of China's first spacecraft rendezvous and docking mission.

It is a two-module structure - a resource module providing propellant and electricity and another module carrying supplies, he said.

Different from the manned Shenzhou spaceships that transport astronauts between Earth and space, a cargo spaceship will not return to Earth, which will save costs, he said.

At present, a new launch vehicle, Long March VII, is under development for sending the cargo spaceship into space, he said.

China plans to build a 60-ton space station around 2020, made up of three capsules, according to China's manned space program.

Questions:

1. When did the Soviet Union’s Mir space station de-orbit?

2. How much cargo can a manned spaceship take?

3. What year will China build the 60-ton space station?

Answers:

1. 2001.

2. 300 kg.

3. 2020.

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.