China News Agency, Beijing, September 17 (Mar Shuaisha Guo Chaokai) The Shenzhou 12 astronauts have worked and lived in orbit for 90 days, setting a record for Chinese astronauts' space residence time in a single mission.
Yang Yuguang, vice chairman of the International Astronautical Federation Space Transportation Committee and researcher of the Second Academy of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, recently said in an exclusive interview with China News Agency that the long-term on-orbit flight not only supports scientific research activities, but also goes further for the future. Lay the foundation for the deep space.
Yang Yuguang, vice chairman of the International Astronautical Federation Space Transportation Committee and researcher of the Second Academy of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Jiang Qiming
"Long-term stay has to solve many problems," Yang Yuguang mentioned as an example the problem of muscle atrophy and bone calcium loss under conditions of weightlessness.
He introduced that this time the "Tianhe" core module is equipped with a space treadmill and a space bike, which is more reasonable than the previous design and allows for more effective exercise.
"Another problem that must be solved for long-term space stay is the renewable environmental control and life support system, and many resources have to be recycled." Yang Yuguang said, taking urine processing as an example, actually sending urine to a vapor compression distillation device. First, let it become a very low pressure, which is easier to evaporate and vaporize. After vaporization, the water vapor is separated, and the water vapor is condensed to form distilled water. After some treatment, it is filtered through the purification system to reach the standard of drinking water.
Yang Yuguang said that astronauts usually draw blood regularly, and the blood samples should be brought back to Earth for study.
In the future, astronauts will be in orbit for more than half a year from Shenzhou 13 onwards.
The various problems discovered this time can lay a very good foundation for the future stay in orbit.
He also pointed out that in addition to supporting scientific research activities, on-orbit flight also lays the foundation for further deep space in the future.
For example, it takes more than a year and a half for an expedition from Earth to Mars, and most of the time is spent in a spacecraft. Such a process must first be verified in a low-Earth orbit space station.
Yang Yuguang noted that from the published plans for the life and work of astronauts in orbit, the time and intensity of daily exercise will increase when the astronauts are approaching return.
"This is a very good preparation," said Yang Yuguang. In order to ensure that bone calcium is not lost and muscles atrophy, astronauts must exercise enough every day to re-adapt to gravity as soon as possible after returning to Earth.
Regarding the shape of the complete Tiangong space station, Yang Yuguang said that the initial plan of the Tiangong space station is a T-shaped configuration. There is a node cabin at the front end of the Tianhe core module. The Wentian experimental cabin, on the left is the Mengtian experimental cabin. The two experimental cabins and the core cabin weigh more than 20 tons. This is the basic configuration of the space station.
"The space station in the future also has the ability to expand, and it can add a second core module, and the largest future can be expanded to a combined size of 180 tons." Yang Yuguang emphasized that the weight of 180 tons is less than half of the International Space Station, which is more in line with China as a developing country. A country, but it is also positioned as a large aerospace power, that is, it has a moderate scale and pays more attention to efficiency to complete more scientific experiments and make contributions to the progress of human science.
"In addition to the basic configuration of the space station, there will also be an independent flying optical capsule, the sky survey telescope, which can image a wide range of the sky and obtain massive scientific data. It operates on the same orbit as the space station, and normally operates independently. Yes, it can be docked with the space station when repairs are needed, and the astronauts will perform maintenance operations on it." Yang Yuguang said.
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