China News Service, March 13 (Zheng Yingying, Guo Chaokai) At 10:19 on March 13, Beijing time, China used the Long March 4C carrier rocket at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center to successfully integrate remote sensing with the "one arrow and three stars in series" method. The 31st 04 satellites were launched into space.

The "Samsung Tandem" is the first configuration of the Long March 4 series of carrier rockets. Since the first use of the Long March 4B series rockets in 2010, the "Samsung Tandem" configuration of the Long March 4 carrier rocket has achieved 10 successful launches.

A reporter from Chinanews.com interviewed Liang Yanqian, assistant chief designer of the Long March 4 series of carrier rockets of the Shanghai Aerospace Technology Research Institute of China Aerospace Science and Technology Group, currently in Jiuquan, to interpret the difficulties and highlights behind the "Samsung Tandem".

　　Before the "Samsung Tandem", how did the "Satellite Passenger" sit?

Liang Yanqian said that in the past, rockets may rarely carry multiple large satellites of the same size at a time. The previous "multiple satellites with one arrow" was more of a major large satellite, and then other small satellites weighing tens of kilograms. In this way, there is no need to make major changes in space and structural cabins; while three large satellites of comparable mass bring new challenges. The first configuration of "Samsung Tandem" started with the Long March 4 series of carrier rockets.

At 10:19 on March 13th, Beijing time, China used the Long March 4C carrier rocket at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center to successfully launch the Remote Sensing 31 Group 04 satellites in the "one arrow three-star tandem" method.

Photo by Sun Gongming

　　Liang Yanqian said, if you take a visual analogy, the “Samsung Tandem” is like a “candy haw skewer”, each large satellite weighing several hundred kilograms has its own “small single room”; another multi-satellite launch method can be "Pin font" means that several large satellites are placed side by side side by side, but this requires a lot of changes to the satellites, such as designing them to be elongated.

　　The “Samsung Tandem” row of seats makes it more convenient for the “big satellite passengers” taking the rocket. Not only does it not need to strictly limit the “body size” of the passengers, but the passengers can also have their own “small private rooms” to make more space for the satellite design. More space.

Liang Yanqian said that the difficulty of the "Samsung series" is mainly to control the height of the whole arrow. After the series connection, the length of the whole arrow will increase, bringing about changes in the starting characteristics and control characteristics of the whole arrow. These changes may not have been verified in the past. In the past, experiments and simulations need to be done on the basis.

For example, in this launch, in order to meet the satellite load requirements, the developers used composite material cabins to further tap the rocket's carrying potential.

　　The Long March 4 series of carrier rockets were developed by the Shanghai Aerospace Technology Research Institute of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

After the successful first flight of the Long March 4A carrier rocket in 1988, the Shanghai Astronaut developed the Long March 4B and Long March 4C carrier rockets on this basis.

In the "rocket family", the Long March 4 series of carrier rockets have relatively many tandem configurations. Liang Yanqian informed that the Long March 4B rocket had also adopted the "two-star tandem" configuration at the earliest, and the current Long March 4 The series of "Samsung Tandem" configuration continues to expand.

　　He further stated that “multi-satellite launch” is an option for the overall configuration design of the rocket. Except for the “Samsung Tandem” of the Long March 4 series of carrier rockets, other Long March series of carrier rockets are also adopting such methods to improve efficiency and satisfy satisfaction. The needs of satellite users.

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