Tiangong Space Station: Opening a New Era of Chinese "Space Settlement"
From May 2022, the Chinese space station project will enter the construction phase.
The completed Chinese space station consists of 3 modules, 2 manned spaceships and 1 cargo spaceship, with a total mass of nearly 100 tons, loaded with space life and biological science, material science, combustion and microgravity fluid science, basic physics, etc. A large number of advanced experimental devices in the field.
◎Reporter Fu Yifei
In 2022, the National People's Congress and astronaut Wang Yaping was "forced" to ask for leave.
At this point, she had been on a "business trip" for more than 140 days in space about 390 kilometers above the ground.
On April 29, 2021, the Tianhe core module of the Tiangong Space Station was successfully launched, announcing that my country has opened a new era of space station missions.
In the same year, my country launched 2 manned spaceships and 2 cargo spaceships, and the key technology verification stage of the space station launched five battles and five victories.
Tiangong space station is called "space villa" by astronauts.
Zhou Jianping, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chief designer of China's manned space project, introduced: "We have carefully designed the configuration and layout of the space station to ensure that the space station has stronger scientific and application capabilities; To ensure that the space station can be further expanded."
Li Hong, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and deputy general manager of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, said that in 2022, China's manned space project will complete 6 launch missions, including Tianzhou-4 and Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft, Shenzhou 14 and Shenzhou The No. 15 manned spacecraft, as well as the Wentian experimental module and the Mengtian experimental module were launched, and the on-orbit rendezvous and docking, exit activities and spacecraft return missions were carried out, and the space station was fully built.
Construction begins in May this year
At 11:23 on April 29, 2021, the Long March 5B Yao-2 carrier rocket carrying the core module of the space station was ignited and lifted off from China's Wenchang Space Launch Site, and the launch mission was a complete success.
"The core module is the control module of the space station, and it is the most important module." Zhou Jianping said.
According to Yang Hong, chief designer of the space station mission of the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the Tianhe core module is the largest spacecraft currently developed in my country. It can support three astronauts to stay in orbit for a long time, and support the development of space science experiments and technologies inside and outside the cabin. test.
Zhou Jianping introduced that the Chinese space station started relatively late, but it has the advantages of late technology.
It can be said that China's large-scale space station construction capabilities are at the forefront of the world.
On the one hand, the technology is new. For example, the photoelectric conversion efficiency of the Tiangong space station energy system exceeds 30%, and the power supply capacity is stronger.
Tiangong Space Station adopts an electric propulsion system, which has a high specific impulse, which is 5 times that of chemical propulsion, which can greatly reduce propellant consumption.
On the other hand, the construction guarantee is strong. The Tianhe core module security technology is completely developed by self-reliance, and the environmental control and life security technology has the highest degree of closure, which makes the economy of the space station more prominent.
After the successful launch of the core module, my country has successively launched the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft, the Shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft, the Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft, and the Shenzhou-13 manned spacecraft.
"The Tianhe core module has been running safely and stably for 10 months. The two astronaut crews of Shenzhou 12 and Shenzhou 13 have successively performed key technology verification tasks for the space station." "Introduction, "As of now, the Shenzhou 13 crew has completed all the planned flight missions. They will return to the earth home from the vast space in more than 40 days, which will mark the successful conclusion of the key technology verification phase of the Chinese space station."
From May 2022, the Chinese space station project will enter the construction phase.
The reporter learned that the completed Chinese space station consists of 3 cabins, 2 manned spaceships and 1 cargo spaceship, with a total mass of nearly 100 tons. It is loaded with space life and biological science, material science, combustion and microgravity fluid science. , a large number of advanced experimental devices in the fields of basic physics and so on.
Outboard tasks are more complicated
Spacewalking is one of the three key technologies for manned spaceflight.
The installation, maintenance and replacement of the external equipment of the space station all require astronauts to leave the capsule.
Compared with the 20-minute evacuation in the Shenzhou 7 mission, the complexity and technical content of the space station evacuation mission have been greatly improved.
The crew of Shenzhou 12, Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming, and Tang Hongbo, carried out 2 outings, which lasted about 13 hours. They successfully completed the equipment assembly and other tasks, and tested the functional performance of my country's new generation of extravehicular spacesuits. The ability of the astronauts and the manipulator to work together has verified the reliability and safety of the support equipment related to the exit activities, and has laid an important foundation for the smooth implementation of the space station's subsequent exit activities.
The Shenzhou 13 crew carried out two out-of-vehicle missions, which not only completed the installation of the mechanical arm suspension device and adapter, and the test of typical extravehicular movements, but also set a record for the two astronauts: three out-of-vehicle missions. Zhai Zhigang became my country's astronaut with the most astronauts, and Wang Yaping became my country's first female astronaut.
Next, the astronauts' missions on the space station will be more complex.
Zhou Jianping revealed that during the in-orbit flight of the Shenzhou 14 crew, the construction of the Tiangong space station will be completed with the Tianhe core module and the Wentian and Mengtian experimental modules as the basic configuration.
Their tasks include state monitoring and control if necessary during the rendezvous, docking and indexing of the two cabins, as well as a lot of state setting and transition work after docking.
Before the end of this year, the crew of Shenzhou 15 will fly to the space station to join forces with the crew of Shenzhou 14, and will fly together in orbit for about a week.
The main work of the subsequent Shenzhou 15 crew will turn to space science and applications, including the installation and commissioning of experimental equipment and scientific experiments.
Build a broad platform for space science research
At the National Two Sessions in 2022, Zhao Xiaojin, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Secretary of the Party Committee of the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, put forward suggestions on making full use of space resources to strengthen space biological research and development innovation.
"my country's space station will be fully completed this year, which can provide a long-term and stable scientific research platform for space experiments, guarantee space biotechnology and safety research, and improve the national biosafety level." Zhao Xiaojin said.
Since the launch of the Shenzhou-1 mission, China's manned space project has carried projects with scientific research value or social benefits in each mission, and played an active role in serving and driving scientific research, agricultural development, and industrial upgrading.
The Tiangong Space Station aims to build a national-level space laboratory. It will focus on innovative experiments and applied research at the forefront of science, and continue to promote the progress of space science and technology.
"The main purpose of building a space station is to build large-scale space facilities, and to carry out large-scale space science space applications and space technology verification and research in orbit, so as to drive scientific progress and technological development." Zhou Jianping said.
In terms of international cooperation, Tiangong Space Station will also build a broad platform.
In May 2018, the China Manned Space Engineering Office and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs issued an announcement to solicit space science application projects around the China Space Station.
After two rounds of selection, the first batch of 9 projects from 17 countries and 23 entities were selected, covering the fields of space life science and biotechnology, space astronomy, microgravity fluids and combustion, etc.
Subsequent batches of cooperation projects will be collected in succession.