Tianzhou goes out again to dock with the space station "cargo ship" matures and becomes more standardized

　　China News Agency, Wenchang, September 20 (Mar Shuaisha Guo Chaokai) At 22:08 on September 20, under the control of the guided navigation and control (GNC) system, the Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft and the Tianhe core cabin completed the entire Autonomous and rapid rendezvous and docking.

The whole process lasted about 6.5 hours.

　　The Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft was developed by the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

As the second applied flight of the cargo spacecraft, like Tianzhou II, the docking between Tianzhou III and the space station also adopts the "all-phase and fully autonomous rapid rendezvous and docking scheme", that is, whether the spacecraft is long-distance guidance or short-distance rendezvous. , Are all completed autonomously and intelligently, without manual intervention in the whole process.

Tianzhou-3 is indeed different from Tianzhou-2 in rendezvous and docking time, but only the initial conditions are different and there is no difference in capability.

　　Compared with Tianzhou-2, Tianzhou-3 has undergone a number of technical upgrades and configuration optimizations. For example, the performance of the controller hardware of the guidance, navigation and control system is upgraded, the computing power is greatly improved, and the controller software is optimized for multiple functions. , To further improve the full autonomy of the spacecraft in complex working conditions.

Tianzhou-3 has added, deleted and upgraded some equipment to reduce costs while improving system reliability.

　　The successful docking of Tianzhou-3 with the core module has fully verified the correctness of various technical upgrades, and is another successful practice of all-phase and fully autonomous rapid rendezvous and docking technology.

With the transition of the space station from the construction stage to the long-term operation stage, based on the standardization of the design, testing, and launch processes that have been achieved, the series of cargo spacecraft will tend to be standardized.

　　In the future, the GNC system of the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft will adopt the same standardized system configuration to adapt to the subsequent mass development of cargo spacecraft.

The system will also be more mature and stable, and more suitable for the long-term high-frequency cargo transportation needs of the space station.

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