China News Agency, Beijing, September 29th, Question: In ten years, how did China Aerospace make "myth" into reality?
——Interview with Yang Yuguang, Vice Chairman of the International Astronautical Federation Space Transportation Committee
Author Ma Shuisha
Tiangong, Chang'e, Jade Rabbit, Magpie Bridge, Zhu Rong, Xihe... Over the past decade, China Aerospace has used its hard-core strength to interpret and splendidly interpret ancient stories and legends, combining the ancients' longing for the splendid galaxy with future generations' appreciation of the vast universe. Explore the implication, perfectly integrate modern technology with traditional culture, and step by step let the "myth" come into reality.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "Exploring the vast universe, developing the aerospace industry, and building a strong aerospace country are our unremitting pursuit of the aerospace dream." The steps will be bigger and farther.”
Data map: Citizens visit Chang'e 5 to back up and store lunar samples.
Photo by Yang Huafeng
In the past ten years, China's aerospace industry has achieved fruitful results.
The Shenzhou-9 mission achieved China's first manned rendezvous and docking, "Chang'e-3" made China the third country in the world to achieve a soft landing on the lunar surface, the Beidou-3 global satellite navigation system was completed and opened, and "Chang'e-4" realized human The probe made a soft landing on the back of the moon for the first time. "Tianwen-1" made China the second country to successfully land on Mars. "Chang'e-5" started a trip to return samples of Chinese extraterrestrial celestial bodies, and the space station realized the long-term presence of Chinese astronauts in orbit. Stay, "Xihe" is leading China into the "era of exploration of the sun" day by day... China Aerospace is continuing to approach the world's advanced level.
Yang Yuguang, vice chairman of the International Astronautical Union Space Transportation Committee, said in an exclusive interview with China News Agency "China Focus Face-to-Face" recently that this decade is a decade that links the past and the future. It is not only the fruit of the past layout, but also a solid foundation for future development. China Aerospace is moving from the follow-up stage to the parallel-run stage in the past, and has even achieved a lead in some fields.
China News Agency "China Focus Face to Face" interviewed Yang Yuguang, vice chairman of the International Astronautical Federation Space Transportation Committee.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Tian Yuhao
Looking back at the history of China's spaceflight, when China successfully launched its first artificial earth satellite, foreign countries have already achieved manned landings on the moon.
With the continuous "acceleration" of China's aerospace industry, some aerospace technologies have now "overtaken on curves", and satellite applications have changed from key technology verification to focusing on application benefits to facilitate people's daily life.
Yang Yuguang pointed out that China's aerospace industry started as early as foreign countries and has a good foundation. The reason why these fruitful results have been achieved is not only due to the long-term accumulation of astronauts, but also closely related to the long-term rational planning of China's aerospace industry.
China Aerospace has almost no mistakes and repetitions in the process of decision-making and plan implementation, effectively avoiding waste of money and time.
Facing the future, China Aerospace has also made a comprehensive and scientific layout.
The Chang'e 6 mission is expected to achieve the first human sample return on the far side of the moon. The Chang'e 7 and Chang'e 8 missions will survey and select sites for the construction of an international lunar scientific research station. The Mars exploration plan will implement Mars sampling and return, and the asteroid exploration will achieve near-Earth through one mission. Asteroid sampling return and asteroid belt observation are two goals. Jupiter system exploration has also been included in the deep space exploration plan, and the construction of a defense system for near-Earth small objects has been put on the agenda... China's aerospace footprint has gradually extended to farther and deep space. Stage more "cosmic romance".
At 9:58 on October 16, 2021, after the Shenzhou 13 manned spacecraft and the space station combination successfully achieved autonomous and rapid rendezvous and docking and completed various tasks according to procedures, astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu successively entered the Tianhe core cabin.
The picture shows the screen of the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center showing Zhai Zhigang opening the door of the Tianhe core cabin.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Hou Yu
China's aerospace achievements are blooming everywhere, and it also provides more possibilities for wider and deeper international cooperation.
After the Chinese space station is completed, it will become an important platform for international cooperation in spaceflight.
Yang Yuguang believes that in the future, not only foreign scientific experimental projects can be carried out on the Chinese space station, but also foreign astronauts are expected to "occupy", and even foreign spacecraft "visit" is also technically feasible.
In addition, China aims to build an international lunar scientific research station at the south pole of the moon, and people expect more countries to join and share scientific research results.
"These different levels of international cooperation are an important part of China's transformation from a space power to a space power." Yang Yuguang said that he believes that China will continue to uphold an open attitude and cooperate with traditional space powers, space powers and emerging countries in the third world. Space countries carry out more in-depth exchanges and cooperation, explore common ground in aerospace development, and create a bright spot for international cooperation.
(Finish)
Yang Yuguang, vice-chairman of the International Astronautical Union Space Transport Committee.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Tian Yuhao
Excerpts from the interview are as follows:
China News Agency reporter: China Aerospace has been in the "fast lane" of innovation and development in the past ten years, and has made important achievements in rocket launch development, space station construction, and deep space exploration. What do you think are the characteristics and trends of the development of China's aerospace industry, and why can it achieve diverse and rich results?
Yang Yuguang:
In a nutshell, we are currently moving from the follow-up stage to the parallel-run stage, and we have even achieved a leading position in some areas.
This decade is very crucial, and it is a decade linking the past and the next, laying a solid foundation for more brilliant achievements in the future.
Looking back at China's spaceflight history, when China successfully launched the first artificial earth satellite "Dongfanghong-1" in 1970, the United States has achieved manned moon landing in 1969. The gap is huge.
With economic development and scientific and technological progress, especially from the 1990s to the beginning of this century, China's aerospace technology has made great progress.
Since 2012, the Shenzhou-9 mission has achieved China's first manned rendezvous and docking, and the Chang'e-3 mission has made China the third country in the world to achieve a soft landing on the lunar surface. Without the short message communication function, the Chang'e-4 mission achieved the first soft landing of a human probe on the back of the moon, and the Tianwen-1 mission made China the second country to successfully land on Mars. While the Chang'e-5 mission retrieved lunar samples, Realize the first unmanned rendezvous and docking of human lunar orbit.
From these achievements, we can see that many of China's aerospace technology indicators have reached the world's advanced level.
On June 29, 2012, the Shenzhou 9 manned spacecraft successfully returned to Earth after completing its orbiting flight and space docking mission. my country's first female astronaut, Liu Yang, exited the capsule.
(Author: Wang Jianmin)
The reason why China Aerospace can achieve fruitful results is related to the accumulation of long-term efforts on the one hand, and the reasonable long-term planning of China Aerospace on the other hand.
The foreign aerospace industry started early and has a good foundation, but sometimes due to the uncertainty of decision-making, plans are repeated back and forth, resulting in a waste of funds and time. China has hardly made major mistakes and repetitions in this process, which is what we can develop rapidly. important reason.
China News Agency reporter: The application of aerospace technology has entered all aspects of people's daily life, such as aerospace breeding, weather forecasting, and satellite navigation. What is the effect of the transformation of China's aerospace technology achievements? How does it change our daily life? Commercial space travel has begun abroad, is space travel still far away for us?
Yang Yuguang:
If manned spaceflight, deep space exploration and other aerospace achievements are of symbolic significance to a country's scientific and technological level, the application of satellites directly serves the national economy and people's livelihood.
The field of satellite application in China started relatively early. It started in the 1970s. After years of development, it has shifted from the previous stage of focusing on verification and mastering key technologies to the current stage of mastering key technologies and focusing on application benefits. .
The ocean satellites, meteorological satellites, resource satellites, etc. launched by China are not aimed at commercial profit, and ordinary people cannot see or touch them, but they provide important information guarantee and support for the national economy and people's livelihood.
For example, when an earthquake occurs, the Earth Observation Satellite can image the earthquake-stricken area, so that the disaster relief headquarters can keep abreast of the latest situation in the disaster area. Another example is the China-Pakistan Earth Resources Satellite, which can provide useful information for local fishermen to fish.
Regarding space travel, we already have the technology.
However, according to foreign conditions, space travel is expensive and only a few people can afford it.
In addition, it also involves safety issues during the launch flight, such as how to ensure the personal safety of passengers and not cause losses to third parties such as the launch site, etc., which involves a lot of policy and legal work.
But I believe this is still a promising market for China.
The picture shows people watching the launch of the Long March 5B Yaosan carrier rocket at Qishuiwan Beach in Wenchang, Hainan.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Luo Yunfei
China News Service: On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the manned space project, the Chinese space station will be completed by the end of the year. Compared with the International Space Station, what are the characteristics of the Chinese Space Station? After the Chinese space station enters the operation stage, what impact will it have on China's international cooperation in aerospace?
Yang Yuguang:
The human space station has now reached its fourth generation.
The three-cabin combination of the Chinese space station weighs more than 60 tons, far less than the 400-ton weight of the International Space Station, but it has a moderate scale and high efficiency.
In terms of basic architecture, it adopts the building block design of the third-generation space station, but in terms of performance and technical level, it belongs to the fourth-generation space station as the International Space Station. The capacity and the weight ratio of the scientific experiment load to the entire space station are not lost to the International Space Station.
After the completion of the Chinese space station, it will be an important platform for international cooperation in spaceflight.
At present, 9 projects from 17 countries and 23 entities have become the first batch of selected projects for the China Space Station Science Experiment, and they are expected to be delivered to the space station by the end of the year at the earliest.
Previously, foreign astronauts expressed their intention to go to the Chinese space station on social media, and European astronauts Samantha and Mathias also participated in China's maritime search and rescue training in Yantai.
It is a high probability event that foreign astronauts will visit the Chinese space station in the Shenzhou spacecraft in the future.
From a technical point of view, there is also the possibility of foreign spacecraft visiting.
These different levels of international cooperation are an important part of China's transformation from a space power to a space power.
China News Service reporter: The Chinese space station will be in orbit for at least ten years in the future, which means that more astronauts will be needed to enter space. At present, how is the construction of the Chinese astronaut team? Astronauts can be divided into space pilots, space flight engineers and payload experts. Which type of foreign astronauts is most likely to be stationed in the Chinese space station? When can they join?
Yang Yuguang:
China's first and second batch of astronauts were selected from the Air Force pilots.
Among the third batch of astronauts currently undergoing training, in addition to professional pilots, there are also astronauts from engineers and scientists who can carry out more extensive and in-depth scientific experiments on the space station. The figures of these astronauts.
From the perspective of international cooperation, it is very likely that foreign scientists and engineers will visit the Chinese space station in the future.
Such examples are common abroad.
Foreign countries are also divided into three categories of astronauts. The sky-earth shuttle generally requires two people with driving ability to ensure flight safety. Therefore, the commander is usually selected from pilots, and other crew members can be selected from scientific researchers to carry out biological research. , physics and other fields of research.
I believe that in the future, Chinese and foreign astronauts will also carry out scientific experiments on the Chinese space station.
Chang'e 5 lunar soil samples.
Photo courtesy of the Science and Technology Photography Alliance of the Science Communication Bureau of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
China News Service: At present, the world's major space-faring countries are actively participating in the lunar exploration boom. Compared with other countries, how is China's lunar exploration progress? What are the advantages? China proposes to build an international lunar scientific research station. How will China carry out international cooperation in lunar exploration in the future?
Yang Yuguang:
The long-term strategy of China's lunar exploration project is "exploration, landing, and stationing", which respectively refer to the exploration of the moon, the realization of manned landing on the moon, the construction of a lunar base and the realization of long-term human residence.
Since the end of the last century, China has completed the "circumference, fall, and return" of the moon, that is, orbiting the moon, soft landing on the lunar surface, and sampling return.
The fourth phase of China's lunar exploration project, which includes the Chang'e 6, Chang'e 7 and Chang'e 8 missions, has been launched this year.
The Chang'e-6 mission will return samples from the back of the moon. At present, the lunar samples obtained by humans are all collected from the front of the moon. If the Chang'e-6 mission successfully collects samples from the back of the moon, it will become another example of China's aerospace industry taking the lead.
The missions of Chang'e 7 and Chang'e 8 are mainly for the construction of basic services for the international lunar scientific research station.
The construction of the lunar base can be divided into three steps of "exploration, construction and use", on-the-spot investigation, site selection and construction, and finally application.
The Chang'e 7 mission requires a lunar landing inspection, and the Chang'e 8 mission also needs to verify a number of key technologies during the inspection.
China is making technical preparations for manned landing on the moon, such as a large liquid oxygen kerosene rocket engine with a thrust of more than 400 tons, and a new generation of manned spacecraft.
Astronaut Wang Yaping also expressed his desire to set foot on the moon in the future.
On June 29, the China National Space Administration released the recent images of Mars taken by the Tianwen-1 probe.
The picture shows the image of Mount Askela taken by the Zhongfen camera, with a diameter of 456 kilometers and a height of 18 kilometers. The image shows the characteristics of the crater on the top of Mount Askela, and there are multiple crater collapse events.
Photo courtesy of the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences issued by China News Agency
China News Service reporter: The Tianwen-1 mission left China's imprint on Mars for the first time. It was the first time to complete the orbit, orbit and patrol of Mars in one mission, marking China's entry into the world's leading ranks in the field of planetary exploration. In the future, what other wonderful performances do you expect China to have in Mars exploration?
Yang Yuguang:
As a developing country, China's aerospace plan is mainly based on the consideration of national economy and people's livelihood, scientific and technological development needs, and contribution to human cognitive breakthroughs.
The deep space exploration project also attaches great importance to low investment and high return.
At present, China has planned a total of two Mars exploration missions, namely the Tianwen-1 mission and the subsequent Mars sampling return mission, and only through the "Tianwen-1" mission, it has mastered many Mars orbiting, orbiting, and patrolling missions. This key technology shows its high efficiency.
In fact, landing on Mars is many times more difficult than landing on Earth and the moon.
The spacecraft's moon landing in a vacuum environment only needs to rely on reverse thrust rockets, while landing through the Earth's atmosphere relies on heat shields and parachutes, but the Martian atmosphere is thin and in between, its landing plan is more complicated.
The Tianwen-1 mission made China the second country in the world to successfully land on Mars.
In the future, China will also explore the Jupiter system and even more distant planets. Our achievements in lunar exploration and fire landing in the past ten years have laid a solid foundation for further deep space exploration.
China News Agency reporter: At present, other spacefaring countries have achieved asteroid sampling and return, and have successively announced relevant research results. What is China's asteroid exploration plan? Compared with lunar exploration and fire exploration, what is the difference between asteroid detection?
Yang Yuguang:
Asteroids are known as "living fossils of the solar system".
Like the earth, most asteroids were formed more than 4 billion years ago, but they are different from large celestial bodies such as Mars and the earth. They rarely undergo violent geological tectonic movements, so their surfaces still retain the features and traces of the early solar system. It is of great scientific significance for mankind to trace the traces of the early solar system. Scientists often compare asteroid detection to "archaeology of the solar system".
In addition, there are many resources on asteroids waiting for human beings to develop and utilize.
China's asteroid exploration plan will achieve two goals through one mission. After the probe completes sampling of a near-Earth asteroid, it will use the return capsule to bring the sample back to Earth, while the orbiter will change its orbit and go farther than Mars. asteroid belt exploration.
China News Service reporter: We have noticed that the government has proposed to demonstrate the construction of a defense system for small near-Earth objects to improve monitoring, cataloguing, early warning and response capabilities. What do you think of the threat posed by near-Earth objects to the earth, and what aspects should human beings carry out global multilateral cooperation?
Yang Yuguang:
Many mass extinctions in the history of the earth are related to the impact of small celestial bodies on the earth. For example, it is widely recognized that the important reason for the extinction of the dinosaurs was that a small celestial body with a diameter of about 10 kilometers hit the earth, which changed the earth's environment.
At present, small celestial bodies over 1 km detected by humans will not hit the earth within this century.
However, the probability of small celestial bodies with a diameter of less than 100 meters hitting the earth is still very high, and even we experience these small celestial bodies every day. detection, and many.
For the defense of small near-Earth celestial bodies, the small celestial bodies that have been discovered should continue to be closely monitored, and the large celestial bodies that have not yet been discovered need to concentrate the wisdom and strength of all mankind.
In addition to actively discovering threatening small celestial bodies, active defense is also required.
Foreign countries are trying to collide with small celestial bodies, and some people have proposed to drag or destroy small celestial bodies.
These technologies have a long verification period and a large investment, and more need to carry out international cooperation to protect human safety.
At 21:18 on September 13, China successfully launched the "Zhongxing 1E" satellite into the sky using a modified Long March 7 rocket at the Wenchang Space Launch Site.
Photo by Luo Yunfei
China News Service: At present, a number of highly competitive commercial aerospace companies have emerged in China, and the construction of China's first commercial space launch site has also started. What are the similarities and differences between domestic commercial aerospace development and international development? What do you think are the advantages and potential of China's commercial aerospace development?
Yang Yuguang:
There are differences in the definitions of commercial spaceflight at home and abroad. For example, the United States defines it as spaceflight activities undertaken by private enterprises.
In my opinion, all space activities carried out for commercial purposes or in the form of commercial operations can be called commercial spaceflight.
China's commercial aerospace development is very rapid, most of which are engaged in satellite manufacturing and its upstream and downstream industries, including component production, satellite data processing and application, and have formed a huge industrial chain.
In addition, there are also private enterprises engaged in rocket launches.
The development and launch threshold of rockets is very high, which not only requires strong technical strength and financial resources, but also involves the acquisition of launch licenses and safety.
At present, two private enterprises in China can provide launch services, and state-owned enterprises have also developed many rockets specifically for the commercial launch market.
In the future, how the country can regulate, protect, encourage and promote the development of commercial aerospace at the level of laws and regulations will be an important topic. There are also many foreign experiences worth learning from.
China News Service: What are the characteristics of China's international cooperation in aerospace in the past ten years? What important international cooperation results have been achieved? What do you think will be the focus of China's aerospace international cooperation in the future?
Yang Yuguang:
International cooperation has always run through China's major space activities. For example, astronauts have gone abroad for training, and China's overseas deep space measurement and control station in Argentina has an irreplaceable role in China's deep space exploration mission.
In the future, in addition to international cooperation in the field of manned spaceflight engineering, in deep space exploration and space science, Chinese-developed probes carrying foreign payloads and the coordinated operation of Chinese and foreign satellites will be important forms of cooperation.
China proposed to build an international lunar scientific research station at the south pole of the moon. We also expect more countries to join and share scientific research results.
It is believed that China will continue to uphold an open attitude, carry out broader and more in-depth exchanges and cooperation with traditional aerospace powers, aerospace powers and emerging aerospace countries in the third world, explore common ground in development, and create bright spots for cooperation.
China News Service: How will China participate in the global governance, exchanges and cooperation of outer space in the future, and promote the long-term sustainable development of human space activities?
Yang Yuguang:
Global governance, exchanges and cooperation in outer space include many issues, among which the mitigation of space debris is a practical issue facing mankind.
In the early stage of the development of the aerospace industry, due to the immature technology, many satellites with end of life or failure remained in orbit, resulting in a lot of space debris, which affected the spacecraft working in orbit.
More and more people are aware of the seriousness of the space debris problem, and an intergovernmental and non-governmental space debris mitigation mechanism is gradually being established internationally.
As a responsible major country, China will announce the parameters of the rocket's final stage wreckage every major space launch.
Outer space governance also involves rulemaking.
The frequency resources and orbital resources for satellite launch are limited, and a more complete international coordination mechanism should be established to avoid the danger of spacecraft collisions. This is also what every responsible spacefaring country should take.
There is still a lot of work to be done on how to better use space peacefully and avoid the militarization of space in the future.
China will consolidate its technological foundation and play a better role in global governance, exchanges and cooperation in outer space.