The first lesson of the "Tiangong Classroom" on the Chinese space station began

Students watch Wang Yaping, right, at the China Science and Technology Museum in Beijing demonstrate how to drink reclaimed water in space

At 15:40 yesterday, the first lesson of the "Tiangong Classroom" was officially opened, and after 8 years, Chinese astronauts once again taught space. "Space Teachers" Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu brought a wonderful space science lesson to the majority of teenagers on the China Space Station, which was the first space teaching activity of the Chinese Space Station.

In the about 60-minute lecture, Shenzhou 13 flight crew astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu vividly introduced and demonstrated the work and life scenes of the space station, demonstrated the miraculous phenomena of cytology experiments, human movement, liquid surface tension and so on in the microgravity environment, and explained the scientific principles behind the experiments. During the lecture, the astronauts interacted with teachers and students in the ground classroom in real time through video calls. The space teaching activity was broadcast live throughout the whole process, with the main ground classroom set up in the China Science and Technology Museum, and 4 ground sub-classes in Nanning, Guangxi, Wenchuan, Hong Kong and Macao, and a total of 1420 representatives of primary and secondary school students participated in the on-site activities.

What does the "space teacher" say?

Demonstration of cytology experiments in a microgravity environment

According to the China Manned Space Engineering Office, at 15:40 Beijing time on December 9, 2021, the first lesson of the Tiangong Classroom was officially opened. Space teachers Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu brought a wonderful space science popularization class to the majority of teenagers on the China Space Station, which was the first space teaching activity of the Chinese Space Station.

In the about 60-minute lecture, Shenzhou 13 flight crew astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu vividly introduced and demonstrated the work and life scenes of the space station, demonstrated the miraculous phenomena of cytology experiments, human movement, liquid surface tension and so on in the microgravity environment, and explained the scientific principles behind the experiments. During the lecture, the astronauts interacted with teachers and students in the ground classroom in real time through video calls.

The space teaching activity was broadcast live throughout the whole process, with the main ground classroom set up in the China Science and Technology Museum, and 4 ground sub-classes in Nanning, Guangxi, Wenchuan, Hong Kong and Macao, and a total of 1420 representatives of primary and secondary school students participated in the on-site activities.

The lecture activities were co-sponsored by the China Manned Space Engineering Office, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the China Association for Science and Technology, and the Central Radio and Television Corporation, and supported by the China Science and Technology Museum and the relevant participating units of the manned space engineering. In the follow-up, the "Tiangong Classroom" will continue to carry out space teaching activities, actively disseminate manned spaceflight knowledge and culture, and continue to carry out various forms and rich content of space science education.

How is the live streaming screen transmitted back?

High-speed data transmission terminal "shoulders the heavy responsibility" in space teaching

It is reported that the first space teaching activity of the Chinese space station will be broadcast live to the world. Live broadcasting is not unfamiliar to netizens, but how does the space live broadcast room, where Chinese astronauts serve as "space teachers", transmit content from the space station back to Earth?

Public information shows that the technology is inseparable from the wisdom of the Tenth Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation - the relay satellite Tianlian No. 1 03 satellite high-speed data transmission terminal. The Skylink series of satellites is mainly used to provide data relay and measurement and control services for manned spacecraft such as spacecraft, space technology laboratories, and space stations, data relay and measurement and control services for satellites such as remote sensing, surveying and mapping, and meteorology in low and medium orbit, and measurement and control support for spacecraft launches.

High-speed data transmission terminal in this space teaching, undertake the space station through the Tianchain No. 1 03 star forwarding downstream broadband video signal for demodulation decoding, and real-time distribution to the center server for data processing of the important role, a total of 4 high-speed data transmission terminals to participate in this mission, during the entire mission period, high-speed data transmission terminal work is stable, reliably guarantee the smooth implementation of the space teaching mission.

It is understood that from the call with the Shenzhou 11 astronaut through the Tianlian-1 high-speed digital transmission in 2016, to the call with the Shenzhou 12 astronaut through the Tianlian-2 high-speed data transmission, and then to the global live broadcast of the "Tiangong Classroom" today, there are the figures of the Tenth Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation.

What is the significance of "Tiangong Classroom"?

Achieve "zero breakthrough" in China's space station teaching

In fact, this is not the first time that Chinese astronauts have taught in space. On June 20, 2013, astronaut Wang Yaping, assisted by Nie Haisheng and Zhang Xiaoguang, conducted the first space lecture gyro movement demonstration. With the help of the two brothers, Wang Yaping completed 5 basic physics experiments in the state of weightlessness: mass measurement, pendulum motion, gyro motion, water film and water balloon. The wonderful physical phenomena demonstrated by the astronauts have sown a seed about the sea of stars in the hearts of countless children.

For the space teaching activities, aerospace expert Song Zhongping commented that the teaching is of great significance, achieving a breakthrough in the zero teaching of the Chinese space station, "This course is called the 'Tiangong Classroom' class, which indicates that our 'Tiangong Classroom' will become a series of courses and the beginning of the normalization of space teaching." ”

He also said that from the live broadcast, it can be seen that teenagers everywhere are full of interest and enthusiastic in asking questions, which shows that space teaching is very successful and plays a huge role in China's space science popularization for teenagers. In addition, China's "Tiangong Classroom" is broadcast live to the world, which will not only drive Chinese teenagers to actively learn and explore aerospace knowledge, but also help drive global teenagers to yearn for space. "Just as Wang Yaping mentioned in his lecture, the friends of young students are the flowers of the motherland, the future of China's aerospace industry, and even the future of human spaceflight, which is precisely in young people."

For the difficulty of space teaching, Song Zhongping believes that it is the construction of platforms such as the space station. He said: "In fact, technical problems such as space communication and live broadcasting are not difficult for China, which has solved the problems of flying around the moon and the fire of the Mars rover. The biggest bottleneck in the teaching of the space station is actually the construction of the space station itself. Compared with the imminent expiration of the life of the International Space Station, China's space station may be the only space station for mankind for some time to come, which in itself is enough to prove China's strength and contribution to all mankind. ”

Classroom interaction

What happens when an effervescent tablet meets a water balloon?

Students conduct experiments in parallel with the "Space Teacher"

On Earth, effervescent tablets encounter water and produce a lot of bubbles, so what happens in space when effervescent tablets meet water balls? In the "Tiangong Classroom", space teacher Wang Yaping made such an experiment. I saw that the effervescent tablets were constantly bubbling in the water ball, but in the weightless environment, the bubbles continued to be generated, but they did not leave the water ball. As the bubbles continue to increase, the water balloon gradually becomes a bubble ball full of joy.

The Beijing Youth Daily reporter noted that many students who watched the live broadcast of the course in China and Wang Yaping in space were simultaneously carrying out effervescent tablets into the water experiment. The differences in the "Heaven and Earth" experiment allow students to more vividly observe the similarities and differences of physical laws.

In addition, in the "Tiangong Classroom" held yesterday, Wang Yaping, with the assistance of Zhai Zhigang and Ye Guangfu, took out an origami flower that he completed with his daughter and demonstrated the water film test to everyone. Subsequently, the flower bloomed in space.

Data show that the weightless environment will cause the blood distribution of the human body to be different from the ground, and the blood of the lower limbs will rise, which will affect the health of the human body, how to reduce the impact of weightlessness on the body? At the "Tiangong Classroom", space teacher Zhai Zhigang showed the astronaut's secret weapon.

Zhai Zhigang showed in the live broadcast: "Students, weightlessness has an impact on our cardiovascular system, has an impact on our bones, and has an impact on our muscles. In order to protect against weightlessness leading to muscle atrophy, in addition to the running platform, bicycles, and pullers, there is also a secret weapon in our space station. ”

He pointed to Ye Guangfu, who acted as a "model", and explained: "The clothes worn by Teacher Ye look no different from the appearance, but the two adjustment rings of the chest pull can be used to adjust the elastic pull of the chest. Through these pull straps to bind the human body tightly, so that the muscles can maintain a certain tension for a long time, you can effectively prevent weightlessness to bring us muscle atrophy, the name of this set of clothes is called penguin suit. ”

The third space teacher, Ye Guangfu, showed the miraculous changes of cells in space in the "Tiangong Classroom". In his lecture, Ye Guangfu showed the footage observed by cardiomyocytes under a fluorescence microscope. "Have the students seen a flash of fluorescence and know why?" In fact, this is a reaction of the cell's own bioelectricity, because these cells are alive, and we can see such a picture by using a special means of bioelectric excitation fluorescence. ”

Expert interviews

The content of space lectures is exquisitely selected

Weight and volume of teaching aids "carefully calculated"

The first lesson of "Tiangong Classroom" was successfully held, which is the first live broadcast of space lectures on the Chinese space station, so what is special about this lesson? Yang Yuguang, vice chairman of the Space Transport Committee of the International Astronautical Federation, interpreted this in an interview with the media a few days ago.

What kind of preparations do astronauts and ground workers need to do in space teaching? Yang Yuguang said that space teaching requires meticulous preparation. From the perspective of engineering technology, the biggest challenge is a smooth communication link, to ensure that the video is clear and not stuck, it is necessary to cooperate closely with the "Skylink" relay satellite, space station, and ground measurement and control station.

In addition, the auxiliary teaching aids for space teaching need to be sent to the space station through the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft or with the Shenzhou spacecraft. Although the Tianzhou spacecraft can carry more than 6 tons of materials, most of them are consumables and scientific research supplies needed for astronauts' lives, leaving little space for teaching aids, which requires careful calculation. Teaching aids have limits on weight and volume, and require special design and consideration. During the transportation process, the teaching aids will also experience a harsh environment of overweight and violent vibration, so it is necessary to conduct vibration experiments and other assessments on the teaching aids in advance.

Yang Yuguang said that in terms of curriculum selection, the phenomenon of difference between heaven and earth is more suitable as a teaching content, such as physical and chemical phenomena under microgravity conditions. He said that the research carried out by astronauts on the space station includes two categories: scientific research and engineering research. The former is the study of natural phenomena, such as fluid flow under microgravity conditions, physical and chemical phenomena such as object combustion, and the latter includes engineering practices such as water purification systems and urine treatment systems.

Yang Yuguang said that in the future, aerospace science popularization education activities can be developed from two directions: breadth and depth. First, the teaching content is wider, not limited to the physical and chemical phenomena under microgravity conditions, but also can introduce space science research and engineering research; the second is that more in-depth and influential activities can be carried out, China already has a cube star made by students, with the space launch mission into space, the future can also have student-designed space science experiments into space, such as the Us space shuttle has carried the scientific experiment project designed by Chinese students to fly, One such experiment was to study the growth and reproduction of grasshoppers in a weightless environment.

This edition of the article / reporter Li Yan part of the comprehensive China News Agency

Co-ordinator / Liu Xiaoxue

Photo courtesy of Xinhua News Agency