Commercial aerospace is ushering in another wave of enthusiasm around the world.
In 2021, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin have successively achieved suborbital tourism.
On September 16 of the same year, SpaceX (Space Exploration Technology Corporation) of the United States realized the first "all civilians" space tourism... So, when will Chinese space travel come?
In recent years, under the favorable policy, China's commercial aerospace market has grown rapidly, and more and more private enterprises are joining the torrent of exploring the vast sky.
In just a few years, China's commercial aerospace industry has grown from scratch, from small to large, and is now beginning to take shape.
At present, leading companies have emerged in the fields of launch vehicles and satellite applications, forming a complementary pattern between the "national team" and private enterprises. The number of launches, the quality of launch loads, and the scale of satellites in orbit are among the top in the world.
How did Chinese commercial aerospace companies catch up?
How will aerospace commercialization empower thousands of industries?
How will it change our daily life?
cost must be reduced
In the age of great voyages, humans could not reach the New World without large sailing ships.
In the era of commercial spaceflight, commercial rockets as vehicles also play a fundamental role.
"Reducing manufacturing and launch costs is the primary problem facing commercial rockets." Cheng Wei, CEO of Rocket Group (Taicang) Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd., said, "The solution is decoupling and reuse. The better these two points are done, the better the research and development The higher the efficiency, the lower the manufacturing cost."
To reuse means to reuse.
"In the past, rockets were used and discarded. If they can be made into recyclable rockets and used many times, the cost will naturally come down." Cheng Wei said.
"Decoupling is actually breaking down the whole into parts, turning one hundred-ton large engine into ten ten-ton small engines, producing them in batches, and then connecting them through the control system, thereby reducing R&D and manufacturing costs." Cheng Wei Said, "In this way, other advanced manufacturing technologies can be better utilized, and different supply chains can be introduced to drive the further development of aerospace industrialization."
Dismantling the rocket manufacturing and launch process, Cheng Wei selected a development path for the Rocket School: In the future, the star-rocket integration model will be adopted, and the spacecraft and the rocket’s final stage will share power, control, communication and other systems, with low cost, high integration and repeatability. The method of use improves the utilization rate of resources such as space and electric power of biological load devices.
The Rocket Pi follow-up uses an electric pump engine, the principle, structure and control method are simpler than the traditional method; in terms of repeated use, it also has advantages over the traditional turbo pump cycle.
For recoverable rockets, the secondary ignition of the engine is one of the core technologies.
Deepblue Aerospace, a rocket research and development company, has attracted the attention of the industry because it successfully tested a reusable and reusable rocket for the first time in China.
"In September last year, Deep Blue Aerospace completed the second start-up test of China's commercial aerospace reusable liquid oxygen kerosene engine. Soon after, the second start-up test of this engine was successful again, marking that the test engine has the ability to be reused. Subsequent rocket entry, recovery and reuse provide technical support." Jiangsu Deep Blue Aerospace Co., Ltd. CEO Huo Liang told reporters, "This year Deep Blue Aerospace plans to complete the high-altitude recovery test of the first sub-stage of the 'Xingyun-1' rocket into orbit. And in 2024, we will choose an opportunity to complete the first orbital launch-recovery mission of the 'Xingyun-1' carrier rocket."
Look at the satellites again.
Rockets are just means of transportation, and satellites with different functions will be transformed into different consumption application scenarios.
For example, China's Beidou and the United States' "Starlink" have accumulated a large number of users around the world and created multiple industry tracks.
Therefore, the cost of satellite manufacturing and launch is related to whether a market with a large enough scale can really be formed.
To reduce the cost of satellites, the first secret is to "reduce weight" for it.
Chang Guang Satellite is China's first commercial remote sensing satellite company.
Through technological breakthroughs, the company launched the "Jilin-1" high-scoring 03A satellite in 2019. It used the "load platform fusion design" for the first time, which greatly reduced the platform structure, and the electronics software and hardware are highly integrated, and the payload ratio is significant. promote.
The innovative design has greatly reduced the "weight" of the satellite.
It is reported that the "weight" of the "Jilin-1" high-scoring 03 satellite has dropped to 40 kilograms, which is only 1/10 of the first-generation satellite, but the weight has not dropped. The resolution has always remained at a high level of 0.75 meters.
The weight is reduced, and the cost of rocket delivery is also reduced.
The price for launching one star in the past can now launch 10 or more satellites.
Empower thousands of industries
What can commercial aerospace do?
"Connect to space, upgrade the earth, and use space to upgrade the earth's industries." This is Cheng Wei's answer.
Rocket School first aimed at the field of space life sciences.
Cheng Wei said that the weightlessness and microgravity environment in space has always been regarded as a valuable experimental resource, and using the special environment in space to carry out space life science research is an important subdivision track in the space economy.
Not long ago, the Rocket School successfully sent the first space life science experimental satellite "Torch-1" of China's commercial aerospace industry into the predetermined orbit, and successfully completed the one-month flight control mission.
This experiment is mainly to detect the influence of the space environment (including microgravity, cosmic radiation and other factors) on the growth of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria in the intestinal tract.
Ren Guangxu, an associate researcher at the Food and Nutrition Development Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, believes that this scientific exploration has clarified the growth characteristics of this type of probiotics in a space environment, and the research results will be used to develop probiotic products that improve the intestinal health of astronauts and provide The research and development of functional food provides a scientific basis.
In addition, in the future, probiotic subspecies with stronger industrial performance can be screened out to serve the food industry.
"Space life science is a by-product of manned spaceflight. All spaceflight is 'manned' spaceflight, and it must always serve human beings." Cheng Wei said, "The rocket school should adopt the model of 'integration of satellites and rockets', relying on carrying Rockets, build a space biological laboratory, provide commercial space technology products and services for the biomedical industry, and make the space microgravity environment within reach.”
4G and 5G mobile phone signals have already entered our daily life.
However, according to statistics from the International Telecommunication Union, there are still nearly 3 billion people in the world who do not have access to the Internet, accounting for nearly 40% of the global population.
There are also coverage blind spots in some remote areas of China, and there are no mobile phone signals in some deep mountains, deserts, and Gobi deserted areas.
Industry insiders pointed out that the cost of laying optical fiber in underdeveloped and remote areas is expensive, and the penetration rate of Internet users is still at a relatively low level.
With the advantages of wide coverage and low cost, satellites can become an effective supplement to optical fiber Internet and mobile Internet, and truly build a space-ground integrated information network to achieve seamless global coverage.
Whether it is daily travel navigation, the current hot autonomous driving, or agricultural production monitoring soil moisture, observing rice growth, locating herds, or resource exploration, forest fire prevention, emergency rescue and other scenarios, satellites have long been everywhere.
Among them are not only "national team" players like Beidou, but also many commercial satellites of private enterprises.
Zhejiang Shikong Daoyu Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Geely Group, has formed an entire industrial chain system covering satellite R&D, manufacturing, measurement and control, and operation since its establishment five years ago.
"Our main purpose is to promote and realize the application scenarios of aerospace technology in various industries, which can provide support for many fields such as smart travel, smart manufacturing, drone transportation, urban management, consumer electronics, and emergency rescue." Time and Space Road Yu Wang CEO said.
deep into daily life
The rapid development of commercial aerospace has spawned many emerging application fields, and it has also given rise to people's demand for more future application scenarios of commercial aerospace.
When Dennis Tito, a wealthy American businessman, became the first space tourist in 2001, many space tourists boarded the International Space Station one after another, realizing their dream of traveling in space.
"Space tourism is an important application field in commercial spaceflight. Foreign 'space tourists' are often wealthy, and the cost of going to space is tens of millions of dollars each time. High costs and certain risks are the main problems facing the commercialization of space tourism. "Huo Liang said, "There are no technical obstacles to completing such a space trip to the space station for a short stay, a meal, and activities outside the cabin. The key is to improve the reliability and ease of use of the rocket."
Regarding the specific time node, Yang Yiqiang, the first commander-in-chief of the "Long March 11" rocket and the founder of Zhongke Aerospace Exploration Technology Co., Ltd., predicted that China is expected to start suborbital travel in 2025, with a ticket price of about 2 million to 3 million yuan.
The so-called "suborbital flight" is to fly at an altitude of 20-100 kilometers from the earth. Strictly speaking, it has not really entered space. , but suborbital flight is also enough to make many people feel excited.
However, although the price of millions of yuan is much lower than that of international counterparts, it is still higher than the spending power of most Chinese people.
Huo Liang believes that changes on the supply side will create strong demand.
"Just like in the early stages of the development of the civil aviation industry, the cost of transatlantic flights was also very high." Huo Liang said that with the development of technology and the popularization of new formats, the price of space travel can also be accepted by more people.
When the launch and operating costs are reduced enough, ordinary people can also directly use satellites to do many things.
Take satellite remote sensing as an example.
Don't think that remote sensing is so mysterious. Simply put, it is to use satellites to take pictures.
In the past, the cost and usage threshold of a remote sensing photo was very high, and it could not be taken anytime and anywhere.
When a large number of low-cost remote sensing satellites are launched and networked, ordinary photographers can use remote sensing satellites to obtain an aerial photo from a space perspective at a relatively low price.
"In the future, the key to the development of China's commercial aerospace is not rockets or satellites, but applications. The closer to the business of the public and end users, the higher the income. Commercial aerospace will also usher in the best period of development and penetrate into the daily lives of ordinary people." Yang Yiqiang said.
Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, not only enterprises, universities, scientific research institutes, etc. can launch their own satellites, but ordinary people can also order a satellite privately, send it to the sky, and let it be in the vast sky, gazing at our life. Earth.
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