Building a Dream "Space House"-A Record of the Construction of China's Space Station⑨

"Flying Tabard" escorted out of the cabin

　　Our reporter Liu Yao

　　At 14:33 on August 20th, after about 6 hours of exiting activities, the Shenzhou 12 astronaut crew worked closely and successfully completed all the scheduled tasks during the exiting activities. Astronauts Nie Haisheng and Liu Boming returned to the Tianhe core capsule safely. , About an hour earlier than the original plan, the second astronaut out of the space station stage was a complete success.

　　On August 20th, Shenzhou 12 crew astronauts Nie Haisheng and Liu Boming wore a new generation of "Flying" extravehicular spacesuits independently developed by China. They successfully exited from the space station sky and core module node modules, and successfully completed the second. All the scheduled tasks for the second out of the cabin.

　　In space, the "Flying" extravehicular spacesuit is particularly eye-catching.

The extravehicular spacesuit is the astronaut's "flying robe" and the "body armor" for carrying out the activities of exiting the cabin.

In the second out of the cabin, the functional performance of the extravehicular spacesuit was further tested, demonstrating the strength of China's manned spaceflight.

　　Provide environmental protection and life protection

　　The extravehicular spacesuit is equivalent to a miniature manned spacecraft.

Although it may not look amazing, it is a guarantee for the safety of astronauts, represents cutting-edge technology in the high-tech field, and is an important manifestation of a country's manned spaceflight strength.

　　The risk of exiting the cabin is extremely high.

In 1965, when Russian astronaut Alexey Leonov, the first person on the space walk, first exited the capsule, the space suit was inflated due to the pressure difference, and he almost could not return to the capsule.

The environment in space is extremely harsh. In order to withstand adverse conditions such as strong radiation, high and low temperatures, extravehicular spacesuits must provide astronauts with safe and effective environmental protection, environmental control in confined spaces, and life support.

　　In 2008, during the Shenzhou VII mission, Chinese astronaut Zhai Zhigang wore a "Flying" extravehicular spacesuit and successfully exited the capsule for the first time.

Compared with the Shenzhou-7 mission, the astronauts in the space station mission have to carry out long-term extravehicular operations, which puts forward higher requirements on the performance of the extravehicular spacesuit.

　　According to experts, the new generation of "Flying" extravehicular spacesuits has undergone a lot of improvements and upgrades, with higher safety and reliability, longer time to support extravehicular activities, and stronger test and maintainability.

Zhang Wanxin, director of the Spacesuit Engineering Department of China Astronaut Center and deputy chief designer of astronaut systems, said that the new generation of extravehicular spacesuits has undergone important improvements in three aspects: one is to change the structural layout design; the other is to increase the lifespan of the clothing. ; The third is to improve the ability to serve.

　　The new-generation extravehicular spacesuit is about 2 meters high and weighs more than 100 kilograms.

Although it looks heavy and heavy, it is actually heavy and not clumsy-the astronauts wearing the "jacket" can not only resist the environmental risks of space, but can also move flexibly and complete missions.

As astronaut Liu Boming said, wearing a new generation of extravehicular space suits developed by China, he is more confident to deal with various challenges.

　　The extra-vehicle space suit's super protective effect on vacuum, radiation and high and low temperature is mainly derived from the multi-layer design of the clothing.

The innermost layer of the space suit is the lining and urine collection device; outside the lining is a liquid-cooled ventilation layer for heat dissipation, and water is used as a coolant to cool the heat emitted by the astronaut’s body; the outside of the liquid-cooled ventilation layer is used to generate a certain pressure The outer layer is a restrictive layer that restricts the expansion of the pressurized inner layer; outside the restrictive layer is a thermal insulation layer to deal with large temperature changes outside the cabin; the outermost layer is a protective layer, consisting of a variety of Fiber composite.

　　The flexibility of extravehicular spacesuits is inseparable from sophisticated design.

Experts said that China's extravehicular space suits use an integrated helmet and torso design.

The limbs can be adjusted, using a bionic structure, and airtight bearings are used at the joints of the upper and lower limbs to make the joints move more freely, which can meet the requirements of the aerospace crowd from 1.62 meters to 1.80 meters.

　　Guaranteed 15 outings in 3 years

　　Compared with the first exit on July 4, the astronauts in the second exit are different.

However, this does not affect the wearing and use of extravehicular spacesuits.

　　Wang Chunhui, deputy chief designer of the astronaut system of the China Astronaut Center, said that the "Flying" extravehicular spacesuit has good fitness and can be adjusted to adapt to the body parameters of different heights and weights.

Nie Haisheng, who performed the second out of the cabin, wore the extravehicular spacesuit worn by Liu Boming last time, while Liu Boming wore the extravehicular spacesuit worn by Tang Hongbo last time.

　　Wang Chunhui said that in accordance with the design standards of extravehicular spacesuits, spacesuits must be guaranteed to work in orbit for 3 years, and astronauts must ensure 15 out of the spacecraft activities.

Therefore, the astronauts wearing the outer suits may come from different crews. This time it is the astronauts of the Shenzhou 12 crew. The next wave will usher in the astronauts of the Shenzhou 13 crew.

　　Thanks to the exquisite design and technological upgrades, although the extravehicular spacesuit weighs more than 100 kilograms, it is extremely convenient and quick to put on and take off.

Zhang Wanxin said that it only takes 5 minutes to put on the extravehicular space suit.

In previous experiments, the subjects, including the astronauts, only needed about 3 minutes under normal circumstances.

　　At the same time, in order to ensure the reliability of the extravehicular space suit, every time the space suit is used out of the cabin, the astronauts must carry out comprehensive and meticulous maintenance and maintenance of the outer suit, including ventilation, purification, drying, and microbial treatment and replacement of consumables. Statistics, etc.

　　During the two trips, the Chinese astronauts spent about six or seven hours in their activities.

According to experts, the new generation of extravehicular spacesuits can ensure the survival and work of astronauts in the vacuum environment of space. The design standard is "7+1" hours. It seems that 8 hours may be no problem now.

　　In order to monitor the consumables balance of the outer space suit in real time during the first outing, the researchers developed a predictive analysis software for consumables, which can predict the duration of follow-up work by monitoring the existing data. In order to prevent the software from malfunctioning, they also synchronized Perform manual calculations.

After prediction, it was found that the two sets of clothing for the mission to perform the mission can guarantee more than 8 hours, and the facts also verify this conclusion.

　　At the same time, on the day of the first out-of-vehicle activity, the staff also prepared a new set of extravehicular space suits in the ground astronaut support hall, and simultaneously prepared the desktop joint test site of electrical products, the overall companions of the extravehicular suits and on-board equipment. Fly to the scene so that when there is a problem with the space suit during the mission, the space and earth can be synchronized in time to troubleshoot.

　　Technical research to ensure foolproof

　　The structure of the extravehicular spacesuit is complicated, and it can affect the whole body. It must carry out meticulous technical research and sufficient ground experiments.

　　Zhang Wanxin introduced that each key function of the extravehicular spacesuit has a redundant backup. Once the main copy fails, the backup can continue to work to ensure the safety of the astronauts.

In addition, after the development and production of each suit, many tests are required, and it is possible that personnel wearing space suits will have to try them on.

　　Before carrying out the exit activity, the scientific research personnel of the extravehicular spacesuit support post conducted a 24-hour test on the extravehicular spacesuit and its cabin equipment to ensure that the functions of oxygen supply, power supply, water supply, and communication are normal.

Among them, clothing air tightness inspection is a key item-in a vacuum, the nitrogen in the human blood will become a gas, so the spacesuit must be pressurized and inflated, otherwise the astronauts will be life-threatening due to the large pressure difference between the body and the outside. .

　　In the production of extravehicular spacesuits, every process and craft must be refined.

It is understood that it takes more than 260 hours to make only the lower limb restraint layer of an extravehicular space suit, and it takes nearly 4 months to assemble an extravehicular suit.

An extravehicular space suit consisting of more than 100 stand-alone products has to undergo strict self-inspection, mutual inspection, and special inspection in the process of stand-alone development and production and system final assembly, as well as environmental testing, pressure performance testing and ergonomics. Verification and evaluation, etc., to ensure that the quality is foolproof.

　　During the exit activity, the golden window on the helmet of the Chinese astronaut was impressive.

As a window for observing the outside world in space, the helmet face window of the extravehicular spacesuit has a 4-layer structure-the inner layer is a double-layer pressure window; the middle layer is filled with nitrogen, which plays a role of heat insulation and anti-fogging; the outer layer It is a protective face window that can be replaced on orbit.

　　Deng Xiaowei, deputy director of the R&D and General Assembly Testing Department of the China Astronaut Center, said that in order to make the helmet absolutely safe and reliable, the pressure-bearing materials used in the production have to go through multiple rounds of selection and testing, and 47 processes such as dust removal, glue, stitching, and sealing need to be spent. Two months.

Among them, only the process of dust removal on the front window needs to be blown first, and then wiped continuously for about two hours, until no trace of dust is visible to the naked eye.

　　Deng Xiaowei said that in the process of making double-layer pressure surface windows, two pieces of sealant once entered the sealed surface window interlayer.

Technologists tried various methods, but in the end they could only sweep the debris to the edge area.

In order to make a perfect face window, the technicians changed the production process and completely solved the problem of excess sealant puncture.