China plans to expand its space station to six modules（舱） from three in coming years, a researcher at the China Academy of Space Technology said on Wednesday.
The space station will play important role as "space home port", （provide） an alternative platform for near-Earth missions as the International Space Station （ISS） nears the end of its lifespan （寿命）. The ISS （expect ） to be decommissioned（退役） after 2030. The lifetime of the Chinese space station will be more than 15 years. It is longer than the 10 years the country （previous ） announced.
China's self-built space station, also （know ） as Tiangong, or Sky Palace in Chinese, has been full operation since late 2022. And it hosts a maximum of three astronauts at an orbital altitude of up to 450 kilometers.
It will have a weight of 180 tonnes after expansion, about 40 percent of the mass of the ISS, has been in orbit for over two decades.
Regarding the expansion, another module is also in the plan. Other plans, including the development of large space telescopes, 3D printers, intelligent robots a warning system, are also underway.
Chinese state media said last year that China would be matchless as the ISS was approaching（retire ）, and added that China had been requested by several countries （send） their astronauts to the Chinese station.
