In recent years, China's aerospace industry can be described as a record high, not only has a huge Long March family, but also the development in the field of aerospace is also "in full swing". For example, the Chang'e lunar exploration project, the Beidou satellite positioning system networking project, and the space station construction project have been completed, so it can be said that China has reached a leading position in the field of aerospace. It is likely that in a few years or decades, China will become the only space station in the world to have its own in space.
However, looking back at the history of China's aerospace development, when the United States, the Soviet Union, Japan, and France competed to launch the first artificial satellite, China followed in launching the Dongfanghong-1 satellite in 1970, becoming the fifth country in the world with the ability to launch artificial satellites. Today, 51 years have passed since Dongfanghong I entered space, and China's first artificial satellite has also been flying in space for 51 years, and has not yet entered the atmosphere to destroy.
It should be known that the artificial satellites built at that time did not have the ability to provide independent power supply, that is to say, they did not carry solar sails, but chose to use smaller silver-zinc batteries for power supply. This led to dongfanghong no. 1 losing contact with the ground due to insufficient energy. However, because the Dongfanghong-1 satellite weighs more than the satellites of the same period, it is pushed to a longer distance at the time of launch, and the flight orbit of the Dongfanghong-1 is also a little higher than that of ordinary satellites.
So why didn't our country take it home by grabbing it with a robotic arm? You know, the most advanced robotic arm in the world should be a robotic arm developed in Canada, with 6 control joints, and can also be installed on the longitudinal beam of the space shuttle, and the current International Space Station uses the Canadian No. 2 robotic arm.
According to the understanding, the latest robotic arm developed in Canada has three parts, such as the movable base system, the space station remote control robotic arm, and the special dexterous mechanical arm, and although the weight is as high as more than 1,000 kilograms, it does not affect the normal operation of the International Space Station. After years of research, China Aerospace has also installed a robotic arm on our own space station, the weight of this domestic robotic arm is about 738 kg, the negative weight is about 25 tons, the length can reach about 10 meters, and it has a key role in capturing cargo spacecraft and space station construction.
The biggest reason why it is impossible to take Dongfanghong No. 1 home is that there is still a key technology left, that is, it is based on the base for grasping and releasing, and even sliding through the truss. The Chinese robotic arm does not currently have this capability, after all, the Chinese space station is not yet equipped with trusses. Therefore, once the Chinese space station has a truss, it can be brought back to Dongfanghong I through the robotic arm.
That is to say, at present, China is still one step away from bringing back the Dongfanghong-1 satellite, and according to the strength that China's aerospace now has, it will not take long to complete this step. This means that the days from which the Dongfanghong-1 satellite will return home will not be too far away, after all, China has indeed reached a leading position in the field of aerospace. It's just that the development of anything and a project needs to be gradual, and the steps can't be too big.