Cargo spacecraft to help advance space research

The experimental cargo includes zebrafish embryos, mouse embryos and stem cell-derived artificial human embryos. The human embryos, although not true life forms, will help simulate the earliest stages of human development, according to reports from China Central Television.

The experiments in orbit will help establish a space-based embryo research system spanning lower vertebrates to higher mammals. The biological research will provide insights into how the space environment, specifically microgravity and radiation, affects reproduction and development, laying the foundation for long-term human habitation in space.

Among the payloads are flexible solar cells. With a thickness of just 80 micrometers — roughly the same as a human hair — these cells can be folded and rolled, allowing a greater number of solar panels to be packed into a given amount of space. Subjecting this new technology to the extreme space environment will help verify and improve its long-term power-generation stability, paving the way for supplying energy to China's large-scale satellite internet constellations.

The greenhouse gas monitor, developed under the leadership of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, is designed to track concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane across global middle and low latitudes.

Tianzhou 9, the predecessor of Tianzhou 10, undocked from the Tiangong space station on May 6 after completing a 296-day flight. It reentered Earth's atmosphere the next morning. While most of the spacecraft burned and disintegrated during reentry, a small amount of debris fell into designated areas of the ocean, the agency said.

Xinhua contributed to this story.