Tiangong (core module)
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.
Turn it in 3D
Open the 3D viewer (www.spaceradar.ai).
The viewer loads when you ask: about 700 kB the first time (three.js and the model), much less after.
Pictures 4
Three-quarter view
From the side
From behind
From above
About this model
Tiangong (core module) is one of the 203 3D models Space Radar made itself: a crewed craft or station, built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh.
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified. It has 26,734 triangles in a 206 kB glTF file, and is 56 m across at full scale.
On Space Radar’s live map it is drawn for the object with NORAD catalogue number 48274, where its published orbit puts it now. Open it on the map.
Dimensions and their sources
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Length | 55.6 m |
| Core length | 16.6 m |
| Lab length | 17.9 m |
| Diameter | 4.2 m |
Wikipedia, opened 2026-10-20: 'Tiangong space station' infobox, length '~55.6 m'; 'Tianhe core module': 'The module is 16.6 m long, with a maximum diameter of 4.2 m'; 'Wentian experiment module' and 'Mengtian experiment module' infoboxes: length 17.9 m, diameter 4.2 m; both: 'With a wingspan of over 55 m (180 ft), each array has an energy collection area of 110 m2'; Wentian: 'a small 5 m long robotic arm'; 'On 30 September 2022, the module was relocated to the starboard port'; Mengtian 'relocated to the larboard port'. READ OFF THE PICTURES (approximate, ours): the node 2.8 m across, Tianhe's small section 2.8 m across and 3.6 m long, its large section 6.6 m and its aft section 2.8 m long; each laboratory's work cabin 8 m long and its outer section 3.2 m across and 5.9 m long; each laboratory wing two blankets 2.0 m wide and 24 m long either side of a lattice mast, its root 3.2 m from the laboratory's axis (so 55.6 m tip to tip, the cited figure); Tianhe's pair two blankets 2.0 by 12 m each side; every box, dish, arm and platform. (read 2026-10-20)
How it was made
Built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh. 3D model: built by Space Radar from published dimensions and photographs by the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CC BY 4.0) and Shujianyang (CC0).
The full record
built by this project in code (tools of release 1.3.0 stage W1-a: a part library of tiled hulls, docking mechanisms, flexible wings, arms and dishes, kept in the maintainers' handoff), from the cited dimensions and the pictures under `references`; no image-to-3D model was used, and no published mesh (CMSA publishes none; NASA's and ESA's model collections have none of this station)
Where the map uses it. the catalogue name CSS (TIANHE) (NORAD 48274), which draws the whole T: Tianhe with Wentian to starboard and Mengtian to port. It was the procedural T of cylinders (scene/models.js buildTiangong), which is still drawn while this file is on its way; public #936, #267
Licence note. CC BY 4.0 and CC0 (the photographs the layout was read off: looked at, with credit; nothing of them is in the file); the shape is this project's, under this repository's licence. The CC BY-SA drawing under references was looked at only. NO FLAG, LOGO OR LETTERING is on the mesh: the red panels where the flag and the CMS logo are painted are plain red
References 5
What the shape was compared with. None of these pictures is in the file.
- Rear view of Tiangong Space StationChina Manned Space Engineering OfficeCC BY 4.0 (from Wang et al., Space: Science & Technology 2023, doi:10.34133/space.0035; Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-20)
- Tiangong mockup at ZHAL 01 to 06ShujianyangCC0 (Commons' LicenseShortName of all six, read 2026-10-20)
- Tianhe solar arrayChina Manned Space Engineering OfficeCC BY 4.0 (Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-20)
- Tiangong expansionWang Xiang, Zhang Qiao, Wang WeiCC BY 4.0 (Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-20)
- Tiangong Space Station config 2022 ENShujianyangCC BY-SA 4.0 (read on the file's page); NOT REPRODUCED
Use it
The model is under the MIT licence: use it, change it and share it, in any project, also a paid one. Keep the credit:
Tiangong (core module) 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT LicenseAny glTF 2.0 loader that reads meshopt compression (EXT_meshopt_compression) opens the file: three.js with its MeshoptDecoder, Babylon.js, model-viewer. Tools such as glTF-Transform can write an uncompressed copy.
Or embed the viewer in your page:
<iframe src="https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=tiangong" title="Tiangong (core module), 3D model by Space Radar" width="600" height="450" loading="lazy" style="border:0;max-width:100%"></iframe>Related models
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