Chinese Space Station System R&D Team: Tiangong Zhucheng

  China News Weekly reporter/Peng Danni

  Published in the 1076th issue of "China News Weekly" magazine on January 9, 2023

2022 Scientific and Technological Person of the Year China Space Station System R&D Team

Award reason

  In 2022, China's space station will complete the basic configuration of the three-chamber "T" in orbit, and for the first time six astronauts will meet in space.

The "third step" of the "three-step" strategy of China's manned spaceflight project at the age of 30 has made important progress, and the comprehensive performance of China's manned spacecraft has reached the international advanced level.

The Chinese space station system research and development team has made unremitting efforts to this end.

  On November 29, 2022, the launch vehicle carrying the Shenzhou 15 manned spacecraft was successfully launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

The next morning, the three astronauts Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming, and Zhang Lu entered the Chinese space station, and realized the first "space rendezvous" with the three astronauts on the crew of Shenzhou 14.

  The launch of Shenzhou 15 marks the completion of all 12 launch tasks in the key technology verification and construction phase of the Chinese space station.

Since the launch of the "Tianhe" core module at the end of April 2021, China has successively launched 3 space station modules, 4 manned spacecraft, and 4 cargo spacecraft. The shortest interval between two missions at the same launch site is only 12 days.

Since then, China's space station has entered the operation stage, and will maintain long-term manning, and crew rotation in orbit will become the norm.

  Manned spaceflight is a high-investment, high-risk, high-tech system engineering. In the world, only Russia, the United States and China independently master the manned spaceflight technology.

In September 1992, the central government decided to implement the manned spaceflight project, code-named "921 Project", and determined the "three-step" development strategy.

Thirty years later, with the full completion of the space station, China has taken another key step in the process of building a space power.

  At the end of October 2022, the well-known American science and technology magazine "Wired" pointed out in the article "China is now a major space power" that China has now independently completed what Russia and the United States did decades ago. Tiangong space station It was done so quickly, and some designs and technologies are more advanced than previous space stations.

Very complete aerospace system

  Ten days after the 50th anniversary of the launch of the world's first space station "Salyut-1", on April 29, 2021, the core module "Tianhe" of Tiangong was launched.

China's Tiangong space station consists of three parts, including the core module "Tianhe", two experimental modules "Wentian" and "Mengtian", which are T-shaped as a whole.

  The core cabin is the command and control center of the space station. It has the capabilities of rendezvous and docking, repositioning and parking, long-term crew stay, astronauts leaving the cabin, and supporting space science experiments; the airtight cabin is equipped with working areas, sleeping areas, sanitation areas, The dining area, medical supervision and medical insurance area and exercise area can provide comfortable and good protection for astronauts' work and life.

  On July 24, 2022, the "Wentian" experimental module was launched into space, which can perform system-level backup of the platform functions of the "Tianhe" core module, and can "overall take over" the space station in case of emergency.

It supports astronauts to stay in orbit, provides special airlock cabins and emergency shelters, and also supports the development of scientific experiments and technical experiments inside and outside the airtight cabin.

  On October 31, 2022, the Long March 5B Yaosi carrier rocket carrying the "Mengtian" experimental module was launched in Wenchang, Hainan, and successfully entered the predetermined orbit about 8 minutes later.

This is the third module and the last module of the Chinese space station.

On November 3, as the "Mengtian" experimental module successfully completed the relocation, the basic configuration of the "T" character was assembled in orbit, and the construction of the Chinese space station with an overall activity space of 110 cubic meters was completed.

  The space station project is the third step of China's manned spaceflight project.

The first step of the "three-step approach" is to develop a manned spacecraft to achieve the goals of astronauts going back and forth between heaven and earth; the second step is to master the space laboratory stage, to master the technology of leaving the cabin, rendezvous and docking, and verifying the technology of propellant replenishment in orbit. Complete tasks such as transporting cargo supplies; the third step is the space station construction task, specifically, it includes three stages of key technology verification, assembly construction and operation.

  The development of China's space station is under the control of the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology").

The research and development team has focused on completing the system design of the Tiangong space station, the development and launch of the core module and the Wentian module, and the key technology verification and assembly of the space station in orbit.

The team has made breakthroughs in many key technologies such as the development of ultra-large manned spacecraft systems, rendezvous and docking of large manned spacecraft and cabin section indexing, multi-task high-rigidity and high-precision robotic arm in-orbit operation.

  Hu Jun is the deputy chief designer of the manned spacecraft system of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group.

In July 1993, after graduating from Peking University with a Ph.D., he joined the Fifth Academy and devoted himself to the just-started "921" project, witnessing how China's manned spaceflight, which has a weak foundation, took off step by step.

  In an interview with China News Weekly, he said that at that time, China had a weak foundation in aerospace technology, industry and talents, and all tasks, large and small, had to be explored from scratch.

For example, the development of software related to the manned spaceflight project had to start from scratch. At that time, the three software programming designers were all fresh out of school, and they worked hard on research and development while learning.

  Hu Jun participated in the research of key control technologies such as manned space and ground safety round-trip, integrated navigation system, and space rendezvous and docking technology. "Return control technology, strapdown inertial integrated navigation, and ground experiments are relatively difficult." Hu Jun Said, so from 1993 to 1999, China did not launch Shenzhou-1. At that time, old comrades led young people to explore it a little bit.

  In 2003, Shenzhou 5 sent Chinese astronauts into space for the first time.

Looking back, Hu Jun said that in the first 10 years of difficult start, although there were many difficulties, a lot of work was indeed done, which laid a good foundation for the second and third steps of the manned spaceflight project.

  For example, in the first step, China established a modern Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, an astronaut training base, and established new technical systems for measurement and control, rocket launch, spacecraft manufacturing, and landing rescue.

More importantly, a group of newcomers like Hu Jun who have just joined the work have experienced the training from Shenzhou 1 to Shenzhou 5, and have gradually grown into experts in their respective fields.

Coupled with the comprehensive improvement of the overall national strength and industrial level, the second and third phases of the manned spaceflight project have been carried out more smoothly.

  The "921" project has driven the progress of China's overall aerospace technology.

For example, in order to support China's manned spaceflight project, China has built its own relay satellite.

Since the launch of the Tianlian-1 01 satellite in April 2008, China has built a relay satellite system with global coverage capabilities, so that the implementation of space station rendezvous and docking technology will not be constrained by measurement and control resources.

  "Our country currently has a very complete aerospace system." Wang Xiang, the commander-in-chief of the space station system of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group, said in an interview with CCTV in August 2022. Moreover, many technical capabilities are completely autonomous and controllable.

A global space research base

  In October 2022, in an interview with "Nature" magazine, Paul Sosa, a professor of space technology research and development at Griffith University in Australia, said that China's construction of the Tiangong space station is a huge achievement.

"It's outstanding," he added, adding that the space station has opened up a new scientific research base for Chinese researchers.

  The space station is an outpost for humans to fly to deep space, and it is also a large-scale scientific experiment platform for humans in space.

"Nature" magazine pointed out that Tiangong is currently the only laboratory in space, and it is expected to carry out more than 1,000 scientific experiments during its life cycle of at least 10 years.

  Although the space station operates in a low-earth orbit 340 to 450 kilometers from the ground, which is much closer than the distance from the earth to the moon, Mars and other celestial bodies, it has entered space and can obtain a microgravity environment, which provides the possibility for many researches sex.

  In May 2022, the return capsule of the Shenzhou 13 manned spacecraft opened in Beijing. In addition to the astronauts, there were also crop seeds selected by China Agricultural University, Beijing Forestry University, and the Space Breeding Industry Innovation Alliance.

This time, there were about 12,000 seeds that returned to Earth on the spacecraft with three astronauts, including Chinese medicinal materials, grass, rice, lettuce and other plant seeds.

  The biggest advantage of space breeding lies in the high mutation rate of space mutagenesis materials and short breeding cycle, which can create germplasm resources with high yield, early maturity, and disease resistance in a relatively short period of time.

Over the past 30 years, China has screened more than 1,200 new materials through space breeding and cultivated more than 260 new varieties of rice, wheat, soybeans, and vegetables.

  In July 2022, the article "Research and Construction Progress of my country's Tiangong Space Station" published by Wang Xiang, the commander-in-chief of the space station system, pointed out that Tiangong Space Station, as a national space laboratory, will use 25 experimental cabinets inside the cabin and 67 exposed loads outside the cabin. Supporting facilities to carry out various researches on a continuous rolling basis.

The main research directions include aerospace medicine, space life science and biotechnology, space astronomy and astrophysics, microgravity fluid physics and combustion science, etc.

  The space station experiment project adopts a rolling collection, selection and implementation mechanism, and a project collection is carried out every 2 to 3 years according to the plan.

Unlike the International Space Station, which shuts out scientists from countries other than the partner country, the laboratory resources on the Chinese Space Station are global.

Zhou Jianping, the chief designer of China's manned spaceflight project, once said that for some countries that are willing but unable to independently engage in manned spaceflight activities, China can provide opportunities for spaceflight and scientific research.

  The high-speed communication system of the Tiangong space station can send several 10G data to the ground every day.

This will allow scientists to analyze all the data that may contain significant discoveries, such as very faint gamma-ray bursts, or other astrophysical activity that may be dismissed as noise.

Tiangong is also equipped with a supercomputer that can analyze data in space, and this information can then be shared with scientists on the ground so that research can be carried out in parallel.

  After the space station is completed, the survey space telescope, which is expected to be put into operation around 2024, will also fly in co-orbit with it, observing the universe with optical and ultraviolet wavelengths in nearby orbits.

The aperture of the sky survey is two meters, the resolution is equivalent to that of the Hubble telescope, and the field of view is more than 300 times that of the Hubble. It is China's first space astronomical telescope with a large aperture and a large field of view.

When the survey telescope needs maintenance, propellant replenishment, and load equipment upgrades, it can dock with the space station, and when it operates alone, it will not be affected by other cabins.

  Wang Xiang and others pointed out that this mode of long-term co-orbital flight and short-term docking and docking is an important innovation in the operation of Tiangong space station.

In addition to the space survey telescope, there may be more spacecraft co-orbiting with the Tiangong space station in the future to receive on-orbit services, and the Tiangong space station will gradually play an important role as a "space home port".

  2022 is the 24th year of the International Space Station's work. The long service period has made the performance of the space station's equipment seriously aging. The annual maintenance cost is as high as 5 billion US dollars, and its damage is still unable to be repaired.

In 2021, the Biden administration gave a deadline: the International Space Station may be decommissioned as early as 2030.

However, this also depends on the willingness of the partner countries.

  In other words, for a long time to come, the Tiangong Space Station may become the only space station in low-Earth orbit.

Therefore, its significance in space science research will be more significant.

Jiao Weixin, a professor at the School of Earth and Space Sciences at Peking University, once emphasized in an interview with China News Weekly that all progress in the construction technology of the space station itself is also in the service of scientific experiments, and there must be original and distinctive results and new technological applications. , "This is our main goal and the fundamental direction for us to transform from a space power to a space power."

Focus on application benefits and operational economics

  In terms of space station technology development, the most representative ones were the Soviet Union's "Mir" space station and the International Space Station jointly built by 16 countries.

  In 1986, the Soviet Union's "Mir" space station was launched. This is the representative of the third-generation space station. Its multi-chamber structure can also be called a combined and building block space station.

The "Mir" space station consists of 1 core module and 5 experiment modules, and the 5 experiment modules are closely connected with it through the interface on the core module, like building blocks.

  China's Tiangong is also a third-generation space station.

Aitan Teppel, a professor of space governance at Indiana University in the United States, and others pointed out in an article in the academic media "Dialogue" in December 2022 that Tiangong refers to the design of the Soviet era. However, the Tiangong space station has undergone a large number of modern improvements. .

  Space manipulator technology is one of the highlights of Tiangong space station.

Tiangong Space Station is equipped with a 7-degree-of-freedom large robotic arm with a working radius of 10 meters in the "Tianhe" core cabin; , Combined or coordinated use, to complete the tasks of cabin translocation, assisting astronauts to get out of the cabin, transferring cargo outside the cabin, and hovering to capture visiting aircraft.

  With its huge scale and cool appearance, the International Space Station has become a symbol of spaceflight in the contemporary world.

It is led by the United States and Russia, participated by Japan, Europe, and the Canadian Space Agency, and jointly built and operated by 16 countries.

On November 20, 1998, the "Dawn" functional module, the first component funded by the United States and made in Russia, was successfully launched. In the following 10 years, the International Space Station expanded from 2 space capsules to 15 space capsules until 2010. The final construction is completed and transferred to the full-scale use stage.

  The year the International Space Station was completed, China's manned space station project officially started.

Compared with the International Space Station, although Tiangong started later, it has more latecomer advantages.

As Hu Jun pointed out, “Aerospace engineering in every era bears the imprint of that era.” He said that when designing the Tiangong space station, a large-scale central control system was considered, and all kinds of space were distributed as much as possible. The resources in each cabin section are integrated to realize the reorganization and integration of resources and reduce redundant design.

For example, in terms of information technology, the point-to-point communication of foreign space stations is no longer used, but a full bus structure, which not only can greatly reduce the weight of cables, but also has a larger amount of data, and can realize data sharing.

  The New York Times pointed out that Western aerospace experts said that the scale of the International Space Station is more than necessary, especially considering that since 1994, computers and other scientific equipment have been miniaturized.

On the contrary, the Chinese space station has absorbed the experience and lessons of foreign space stations to minimize the cost of assembly, construction and operation, and support scientific experiments to the greatest extent.

The article published by Wang Xiang and others wrote that the design of the Tiangong space station proceeded from China's national conditions, followed the principles of moderate scale, doing something and not doing something, fully adopting contemporary advanced technology, focusing on application efficiency and operating economy, and achieving leapfrogging style development.

  For example, in the International Space Station, the United States, Russia, Japan, and the European Space Agency each have an experimental module that is mainly used to carry out experimental work, and the actual module used for experiments accounts for less than 20% of the weight of the entire space station.

In addition to the two experimental cabins of the Tiangong space station, the core cabin can also carry out some experimental work.

Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China's manned spaceflight project, said in an interview recently that through efficient space management, the number of experimental cabinets provided by China's space station will be four-fifths of that of the International Space Station.

  As early as 2016, Zhou Jianping once talked about that the aerospace industry is very expensive, and China has been thinking about saving money.

At that time, he revealed that China was studying the recycling of manned spacecraft, and the next development goal was to recycle and reuse manned spacecraft.

  In December 2022, in an interview, Zhou Jianping reiterated this goal and said, "I believe that within a few years we can realize the reuse of the return capsule of the new generation of spacecraft." Rocket, November 26, 2022, A rocket engine prototype that burns liquid oxygen and kerosene developed by the Sixth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology has successfully tested the prototype.

  After the space station entered the operation stage, Hu Jun, the deputy chief designer in charge of the manned spacecraft system of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group, said that the space station has regular and routine launch missions, and it needs manned spacecraft and cargo spacecraft to provide support services to realize astronauts and spaceships. The exchange of goods.

Therefore, his team still needs to ensure the two basic missions of the spacecraft system: rendezvous and docking and return more safely and reliably.

In the future, an autonomous rapid return system will be further developed.

"We need to plan ahead and consider more scenarios and possible contingencies," he said.

  The next goal of China's manned spaceflight is the moon.

On November 28, 2022, at the press conference of the Shenzhou 15 manned flight mission, Ji Qiming, assistant director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, said that China's manned space exploration will not only stay in low-Earth orbit.

The moon is an ideal base and outpost for human beings to expand, develop and utilize extraterrestrial space, and lunar exploration has always been the focus and focus of manned spaceflight development in the world today.

  Wang Xiang also mentioned in an interview with CCTV in December that the forward direction of the Tiangong space station can continue to launch and dock with an expansion module, thus providing more docking ports for the space station.

In the future, if manned lunar exploration is to be carried out, the technology of some aircraft or the technology of a new generation of spacecraft can be verified in the sky using this platform of the space station.

"The application and development of the space station has just started."

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