China News Service, Beijing, February 3: Title: "Prefabricated" rocket Jielong 3 will make its first flight in 2024 to welcome "foreign" passengers
China News Service reporter Ma Shuaisha
On February 3, the Jielong 3 carrier rocket was ignited and lifted off from the sea near Yangjiang, Guangdong, successfully sending 9 satellites into the predetermined orbit in a "carpooling" manner, completing the first launch of this type of rocket in 2024. What are the characteristics of this launch? Experts related to the Jielong 3 launch vehicle made interpretations.
At 11:06 on February 3, Beijing time, China's Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center used the Jielong 3 carrier rocket in the waters near Yangjiang, Guangdong to successfully launch the DROL satellite, Zhixing 2A, Dongfang Huiyan Gaofen 01, and Weihai 1. A total of 9 satellites, No. 01~02, Star Times-18~20 and NEXSAT-1, were launched. The satellites successfully entered the scheduled orbit and the launch mission was a complete success. This mission is the third flight of the Jielong 3 launch vehicle. Photo by Andy
Find a new launch site
This mission is the third sea launch of the Jielong 3 rocket. Let the rocket stand firmly on the ship; put on "thermal clothing" for the rocket to ensure a comfortable maritime transportation environment; find a launch point with better sea conditions... During this period, the rocket team continued to "run in" with the sea to adapt to the sea launch mission.
Compared with land launch, the advantage of sea launch is that the launch point is more flexible. How to choose a launching point on the vast sea? Liu Wei, deputy chief designer of the Jielong-3 launch vehicle of the First Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, said that this is precisely the difficulty.
Liu Wei said that although the last launch point met the satellite orbit requirements, it was very windy and wavey. By analyzing the maritime department's actual measurement data of nearby sea areas in the past five years, the team found that the sea conditions would drop by one level near the coast, so they selected a new point closer to the shore with less wind and waves. "The seemingly simple task of 'moving a place for the launch' involved a lot of calculations, design and coordination, and the rocket team completed the work within a month."
Turn rockets into "precooked dishes"
It is reported that during this mission, the scientific research team adjusted the overall circuit design of the rocket and identified and stripped out more "prefabricated" parts of the rocket. In this regard, Liu Wei made an analogy: "It's like cooking. In the past, after receiving orders from customers, we would buy vegetables, wash vegetables, cut vegetables, and stir-fry vegetables. It took a long time. Now, we have developed part of the rocket Production is completed ahead of schedule.”
The "prefabricated" part of the Jielong 3 launch vehicle launched this time was completed as early as the first half of last year. It is understood that from the overall design, product production supporting to final assembly, the "prefabricated" part of the development and production of the Jielong 3 rocket now accounts for about 70%.
Talking about the benefits of "prefabricated" rockets, Liu Wei calculated the manpower account: "Originally, a team could only carry out four launch missions a year, but now it can carry out 12 launches under extreme conditions."
Carrying foreign "passengers" for the first time
This launch and the Long March-2C carrier rocket launch mission on the same day were both commercially operated by China Long March Rocket Co., Ltd. This is the first time that a domestic commercial aerospace company has completed two commercial launch missions in a single day. With the continuous development of domestic satellite technology, the demand for batch launch of small satellites and constellation networking is becoming increasingly strong. In order to meet the growing demand for commercial launches and provide a lower-cost and more flexible launch method, rocket "carpooling" services have become popular, such as the familiar group buying and carpooling travel.
This space "carpool" includes a foreign "passenger" - the Egyptian NEXSAT-1 satellite. This is the first foreign satellite cooperated with the Jielong 3 rocket. Liu Wei said, "In order to better match the satellite and the rocket body, the team developed a special transfer structure to ensure that the satellite interface can adapt to our impact reduction device."
Currently, the Jielong-3 rocket has entered the application launch stage. According to previously disclosed information, in 2024, the Jielong-3 rocket plans to perform more than five launch missions. (over)