Tiangong-2

Tiangong-2, China's first true space laboratory, remained in orbit for over 1,000 days, successfully completing multiple core missions. Telecom cables, serving as the “nerve transmission network,” provided critical support for its stable operation and technological breakthroughs.
Telecommunication cables played a significant role in core technology verification missions. During the first in-orbit propellant refueling between Tianzhou-1 and Tiangong-2 in 2017, specialized telecommunication cables—capable of withstanding extreme temperatures and radiation—transmitted real-time data from pressure sensors and flow controllers to the control system. This ensured precise propellant delivery, helping China master this core space station technology. During autonomous rapid rendezvous and docking, telecommunication cables connect navigation and positioning equipment to the central processor, swiftly transmitting position and attitude data. This reduced docking time from two days to 6.5 hours, ensuring efficient and precise docking.
The successful execution of space science experiments also relies on telecommunication cables. The world's first space-operated cold atomic clock connects its laser control module and atomic detection device via low-signal-loss telecommunication cables. These cables transmit real-time control commands and detection data, ensuring the clock operates with high precision—an error of just one second over 30 million years—providing critical data support for space-based time standard research. In space materials science experiments, temperature and pressure parameters from high-temperature alloy furnaces are relayed in real time via heat-resistant telecom cables to the experiment control system, maintaining stable conditions for developing high-performance materials. Atmospheric monitoring data captured by Earth observation equipment is rapidly transmitted through high-bandwidth telecom cables to data storage modules, delivering high-quality data for Earth science research.
Furthermore, during astronauts' 30-day mid-term stays, telecom cables sustain ground-space communications and life support systems. Voice/video calls and email transmission between astronauts and ground control rely on telecommunication cables connecting communication terminals to relay antennas, ensuring stable signal transmission. Parameters such as oxygen concentration and temperature from the space station's life support systems are transmitted in real time via telecommunication cables to the ground control center, safeguarding astronaut safety in orbit. The success of the Tiangong-2 mission owes much to telecommunication cables, whose reliability has accumulated invaluable technical experience for China's subsequent space station construction.