Shenzhou 14 manned spacecraft will create multiple "firsts"

Completed the construction of Tiangong Space Station during the mission and completed the National Space Laboratory

　　□ Our reporter Lian Yingting

　　At 11:9 on June 6, the astronaut crew of the Shenzhou 14 manned spacecraft, which has been stationed in the Tianhe core module of the space station, successfully opened the cargo compartment door of Tianzhou 4.

At 12:19, the three astronauts Chen Dong, Liu Yang, and Cai Xuzhe successfully entered the Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft.

　　At 10:44 on June 5, the Long March 2 F Yao 14 carrier rocket (hereinafter referred to as the "Chang 2 F Yao 14 rocket") carrying the Shenzhou 14 manned spacecraft was successfully launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

　　In this mission, the Shenzhou 14 manned spacecraft developed by the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation will set a number of "firsts":

　　It is the first manned mission after the Chinese space station mission has been transferred to the construction stage.

　　During the orbital operation of the spacecraft and the space station, other spacecraft will be welcomed for the first time - Wentian experimental module, Mengtian experimental module, Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft, and Shenzhou-15 manned spacecraft.

　　The Shenzhou 15 manned spacecraft will be ushered in space to dock with the space station, and for the first time two manned spacecraft will be in orbit at the same time.

　　For the first time, the rotation of the astronaut crew in orbit was realized.

　　The crews of the Shenzhou 14 manned spacecraft and the Shenzhou 15 manned spacecraft will stay in orbit at the same time, and six Chinese astronauts will gather in space.

Astronauts face many challenges while in orbit

　　According to Lin Xiqiang, spokesman for China's manned space project and deputy director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, the Shenzhou 14 mission is the first manned mission during the construction phase of my country's space station. During the mission, the Tianhe core module will be fully completed. , Wentian experimental module and Mengtian experimental module are built for the basic configuration of Tiangong space station, and a national space laboratory is built.

　　Specifically, the Shenzhou 14 astronaut crew will cooperate with the ground to complete the rendezvous, docking and repositioning of the two experimental modules and the core module; it will be stationed in the Wentian experimental module and the Mengtian experimental module for the first time to establish a manned environment; cooperate with the ground to carry out Two-cabin assembly, three-cabin assembly, large and small robotic arms, airlock cabin exit and other related functions; the first time to use the airlock cabin located in the Wentian experimental cabin to carry out 2 to 3 cabin exit activities; complete the Wentian experiment More than ten scientific experiment cabinets in the cabin and Mengtian experimental cabin were unlocked and installed; continued to carry out "Tiangong Classroom" space lectures and other public welfare activities.

　　In addition, the Shenzhou 14 astronaut crew will also carry out on-orbit health monitoring and inspection, protective exercise, on-orbit training and drills, as well as a large number of space station platform inspection tests, equipment maintenance, repair verification, material management and station maintenance. management, etc.

　　"During the orbit, the astronaut crew will face many configurations (in which they have experienced 9 combinations of configurations), new states (to control the small robotic arm and the combined arm, and perform the exit from the airlock cabin), tasks The challenges such as the implementation of 5 rendezvous and docking, 3 separation and evacuation, 2 transpositions, 2 to 3 exits, and each mission are interlocking) and other challenges, put forward high requirements for the crew's ability to perform tasks." Lin Xiqiang said .

What practical (test) projects will be carried out in the experimental cabin

　　Lin Xiqiang said that as a national space laboratory, 25 scientific experimental cabinets can be deployed in the Chinese space station cabin. Each experimental cabinet is a small space laboratory, which can support the development of single- or multi-disciplinary space science experiments. International advanced level.

　　Among them, the Wentian experimental cabin is mainly for space life science research, equipped with experimental cabinets such as life ecology, biotechnology and variable gravity science, which can support the growth, development, genetics, Research on response mechanisms such as aging, as well as experimental research on closed ecosystems, and support multi-level biological experimental research on molecules, cells, tissues, organs, etc. through various online detection methods such as visible light, fluorescence, and microscopic imaging, and can also provide 0.01g The variable gravity simulation of up to 2g supports the comparative study of the growth mechanism of organisms under different gravity conditions.

　　The Mengtian experimental cabin is mainly for microgravity scientific research. It is equipped with multi-disciplinary experimental cabinets such as fluid physics, material science, combustion science, basic physics, and aerospace technology experiments. It supports the development of multiphase flow and phase change heat transfer under the cover of gravity. , basic combustion process, material solidification mechanism and other essential laws of matter research, as well as cutting-edge experimental research such as ultra-cold atomic physics.

At the same time, on the basis of the Tiangong-2 space cold atomic clock, the world's first set of space cold atomic clocks consisting of hydrogen masers, rubidium clocks and optical clocks will be established, forming the time frequency with the highest frequency stability and accuracy in space. system, and carry out cutting-edge scientific research such as gravitational redshift and fine structure constant measurement.

　　In addition, an out-of-vehicle exposure test device for materials and an out-of-vehicle general test device for components and assemblies are also arranged outside the cabin to carry out out-of-vehicle experimental projects.

In the follow-up, the research facility of the Sky Survey Space Telescope that will fly in co-orbit with the space station will also be launched to carry out wide-area sky survey observations.

　　For the above-mentioned in-vehicle scientific experiment cabinets, out-of-vehicle test devices and sky survey space telescopes, nearly 100 experimental research projects have been arranged during the construction phase of the space station.

Three "most" astronauts' exclusive trains

　　As an exclusive train for astronauts, the Chang 2F Yao 14 rocket developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (hereinafter referred to as the "Rocket Academy") affiliated to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation has three "bests".

　　"Standing" the longest time.

According to Chang Wuquan, the chief designer of the 2F rocket, the director of the rocket, since the implementation of the "God 12" mission, the Chang 2F carrier rocket has adopted the launch mode of "launching 1 round, backing up 1 round" and "rolling backup".

The Chang 2F Yao 14 rocket launched this time is the emergency rescue rocket for the "Shen 13" mission.

With the successful return of the Shenzhou 13 flight crew on April 16, the Chang 2 F Yao 14 rocket also ended the emergency rescue duty mission, and changed from the emergency state to the normal task state, plus the launch preparation time, the Chang 2 The F Yao 14 rocket has been standing for nearly 10 months.

　　Highest reliability.

In order to further improve the reliability of the rocket and eliminate weak links, the developers continue to make technical improvements.

When the reliability of the rocket is getting closer and closer to 1, the small change of every number after the decimal point is extremely difficult to achieve.

Qin Hao, the deputy chief designer of the 2F rocket, said: "In the case where the reliability is already quite high, the difficulty can be imagined." From 0.97 required by the index to 0.9894, the safety evaluation value of astronauts guaranteed by the escape system has reached 0.99996.

　　Payloads are the most precious.

"The payload of other rockets is valuable, no matter how precious it is. The payload of the Chang-2F rocket is the astronauts, and their lives are priceless." The chief designer of the rocket Dean 2F rocket said easily.

In order to ensure the safety of the astronauts, the Chang-2F rocket has specially designed an escape system. If the rocket has an accident, the escape system will be activated, and the escape vehicle will fly away from the faulty rocket with the return capsule like "pulling a carrot".

After the return capsule is separated from the escape vehicle, open the parachute and slowly descend to the ground.

"We develop escape rockets according to the highest standards and strictest quality. It condenses the efforts of several generations of astronauts, but it is the wish of every astronaut to never enable this function, which means that our rocket can last forever. It's a success." said Qian Hang, the software designer of the 2F rocket inspection software, the director of the rocket.

Ensuring astronauts 'feel good to pass'

　　The docking mechanism developed by the Eighth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation has built a safe and reliable "life channel" for astronauts to stay in the space station.

　　After the spacecraft and the space station are successfully rendezvous and docked, entering the space station from the spacecraft is not as simple as walking into the house.

After docking steadily at the space station, the astronauts must first open the return cabin door of the Shenzhou 14 spacecraft and come to the door of the orbital cabin of the spacecraft.

At this time, a channel with a diameter of 80 cm and a length of about 1 meter has been formed between the front-end active docking mechanism of the orbital module and the passive docking mechanism of the core module. This is the "porch" for astronauts to enter the space station. The crew has enough space to take out the "key" and open the double safety door leading to the core compartment.

　　At the beginning of the development of the docking mechanism, the designer adopted a heterogeneous and isomorphic peripheral docking mechanism to benchmark the international advanced technology.

The advantages of this docking mechanism are that the diameter of the docking surface is large, the channel after docking is unobstructed, and at the same time, it has strong adaptability and large carrying capacity, and can adapt to the docking of spacecraft of various tonnages. Components, pipelines, etc. must be installed around the docking mechanism, which brings certain challenges to the design and assembly work.

　　In order to create a space for the astronauts to enter and exit freely, the designer integrated the design of the products installed on the docking mechanism, and with reference to ergonomics, etc., and finally built a circular channel with a diameter of 80 cm for the astronauts. Equivalent to the width of a normal room door.

Not only that, the designer also conducts various simulation experiments on the ground. One of them is to invite a designer who is 1.8 meters tall and weighs more than 80 kilograms to conduct on-site ergonomic evaluations according to the largest envelope of the astronaut's body, so as to ensure the ergonomics of space travel. "Passage feels good".