2021 is a big year for China's aerospace: the assembly and construction of the Chinese space station in orbit is in full swing; the "Tianwen-1" probe successfully landed on Mars; the Shenzhou 12 crew lived in the "Tianhe" core capsule for three months; the first solar exploration science and technology test satellite "Xihe" was successfully launched; Shenzhou 13 set out, and 3 astronauts began a 6-month mission...
This year is also the 11th year that Shi Qing, a technical expert at the 704 Institute of the Ninth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, has worked at the 704 Institute. For the designer of precision devices in the aerospace field, the feeling of "too fast, fleeting" condenses the rigor of tackling the problem and the tension before product delivery.
Shi Qing worked in the post of chasing the light and chasing dreams for more than a dozen Spring and Autumn Periods. She was promoted to mom 10 months ago, and the arrival of a new life made her re-recognize the boundaries between work and life. Now, Shi Qing often tells young people engaged in scientific research and design, "Go out and play after work, don't stay in the laboratory."
On December 21, at the 704th Institute of the Ninth Academy of Aerospace, Shi Qing adjusted the optical path in the laboratory. Beijing News reporter Wang Jianning photographed
The biggest crash is that there is a problem before the product is delivered
In 2010, Dr. Qing Shi graduated. The year before graduation coincided with the tenth anniversary of the establishment of China Aerospace Science and Technology Group and the year of the death of Qian Xuesen, the "father of China's aerospace".
When she was a student, Shi Qing listened to many stories about Qian Xuesen, and Books such as "Engineering Cybernetics" and "On System Engineering" written by Qian Lao were also her spiritual food. She regards Qian Lao as an idol that she sincerely admires.
After returning from Australia as a visiting scholar in 2009, Shi Qing went directly to the universities of China Aerospace Science and Technology Group to recruit.
She clearly remembers the words she said during the interview: "I hope to make a contribution to China's aerospace with what I have learned." I will feel very honored and proud to be a Chinese astronaut. ”
Less than two years after joining the company, Shi Qing participated in the research and development of an important project. From the preparatory laboratory, to the full distribution of key equipment, to the design of key devices, they gradually formed a small team of 4 people. The team members rushed into the laboratory and worked day and night.
"During that time, I felt that the most leisure time was a meeting, because I could finally sit down and rest for a while." Shi Qing said jokingly.
On December 21, at the 704th Institute of the Aerospace Ninth Academy, Shi Qing tied his hair before entering the ultra-clean room to avoid hair falling in the ultra-clean room. Beijing News reporter Wang Jianning photographed
The research and development of new products must not only achieve product functions, but also undergo strict environmental assessment. After a year of hard work, the product was delivered, but before the moment when the product was escorted to heaven, the hanging heart was always worried.
In Shi Qing's view, linking theory with practice is to turn the knowledge learned in textbooks into laboratory products and really send them to the sky, and send them up without mistake.
The first time to send the product developed to the sky, in addition to overcoming technical problems, overcoming psychological pressure is also a huge challenge.
The most frustrating phase is the product delivery period. "Before the product can be delivered, it must pass 100% of the environmental tests, however, this time to everyone's surprise, the performance of the product is very affected by the environment, which makes everyone's nerves tense."
On December 21, at the 704th Institute of the Ninth Aerospace Academy, Shi Qing was inspecting the sample shell. Beijing News reporter Wang Jianning photographed
Problems with the product before delivery meant that the design had to be revised and revalidated. After 5 days of racing against the clock, Shi Qing's team accurately found the cause of the error, fundamentally solved the problem, and finally stabilized all the data.
In January 2015, the product developed and designed by Shi Qing's team successfully flew on a certain model for the first time. This is also the first time she has personally experienced the touch and pride of being an astronaut.
Solve problems for the Long March 5, Beidou system, etc
In the closet of the office on the second floor of the 704 Institute, there are certificates of awards for Shi Qing and the team's scientific research achievements. Among them, Shi Qing personally won the honorary title of National March 8th Red Flag Bearer and led the team to win the Platinum Award and Gold Award of the International QC Conference.
On December 21, at the 704th Institute of the Ninth Aerospace Academy, the closet of Shi Qing's office was filled with medals and certificates won by Shi Qing and his team. Beijing News reporter Wang Jianning photographed
At the end of the day, the door of "Shi Qing Innovation Studio" 201 was not closed much. Colleagues would come to her workstation one after another to discuss the solution of scientific research practice. Shi Qing couldn't hide his emotions. She listened attentively and studied carefully every time, but as soon as the topic was over, she smiled and joked.
"On the issue of professional and technical fields, Director Shi has one thing to say. But outside of technology, everyone chats happily. Dr. Huang of the office said.
On December 21, at the 704 Institute of the Ninth Academy of Aerospace, Shi Qing and his colleagues held a project discussion. Beijing News reporter Wang Jianning photographed
Shi Qing's team has gradually grown, from the original 4-person group to a think tank with a total of 30 people in three engineering groups and an average age of 30 years old.
Over the past ten years, Shi Qing has led the research and development of a number of new technologies and new topics, providing new methods and new principles for many key model projects such as the Long March 5 and the Beidou system, and solving the problems that cannot be solved by traditional methods.
The Long March 5 carrier rocket is China's largest carrier rocket at present, Shi Qing led the team to innovatively use optical fiber sensing technology on the rocket, effectively completed the full-cycle health monitoring of the structure on the arrow.
"It's a measurement system, like a physical exam, where there's a problem, and the results can be output in real time." Shi Qing introduced that under the premise of tight time and great difficulty, they fully considered the characteristics of special working conditions, small space, large shock and strong vibration on the arrow, etc., broke through a number of technical problems, and provided a basis for judging the safety and health of the structure on the arrow.
By refining the general process, Shi Qing's team developed its own automated processing equipment for optical fiber sensing products, completed the product processing and index testing at the same time, increased the product yield from 50% to 98%, and reduced the error caused by human factors, and ensured high-quality rapid processing with the least number of workers.
On December 21, in the laboratory of the 704 Institute of the Ninth Academy of Aerospace, Shi Qing and colleagues inspected the internal structure of the tooling. Beijing News reporter Wang Jianning photographed
It is also exciting that in May this year, the "Zhu Rong" rover left the landing platform and reached the surface of Mars to begin to patrol the exploration, the rover front and rear obstacle avoidance camera recorded the departure process, and the recording device obtained the sound data of the departure process. The audio includes live sounds such as the rover drive mechanism starting to move, ramping, and driving on the surface of Mars.
The Mars sound sensor that successfully detected this set of sound data was developed by the 704 institute of the Ninth Academy of Aerospace and has completely independent intellectual property rights.
"Sound sensors are like the ears of a rover, 'listening' to natural sounds such as the wind on Mars, as well as sounds such as body movement and mast rotation from the rover itself, allowing us to feel Mars from the auditory dimension." Shi Qing introduced that considering the harsh environmental conditions of Mars, the team innovatively proposed a sound sensor scheme based on the principle of optical fiber sensing that resists wide temperature zones, and successfully obtained the real sound signal on Mars.
To do research and development, we must have both a sense of innovation and make the product reliable
On December 21, at Shi Qing's home, Shi Qing picked up the child after work, and she said that the child liked the feeling of "flying". Beijing News reporter Wang Jianning photographed
The clean room on the first floor of the 704 Institute is the position of scientific research designers. They often wear airtight clean clothes and spend a day at the lab table. There are a variety of automated equipment in the clean room, and according to the allocation of related projects, they are independent, keeping an eye on the data and fiddling with the devices.
In addition to following up on the progress of the project, Shi Qing will also care about the graduation of the interns. "You hurry to ask the school's graduation requirements, theoretical knowledge is best to have the results of practice, so as not to ask for things when the time comes, and you don't have them on your side." Have difficulty telling me directly. Shi Qing told a postdoctoral intern.
There is a transition from student to astronaut. "The masters and doctors of colleges and universities issued papers, and they did ten experiments and published the results of the successful paper once, which is innovation." But from the perspective of the aerospace field, we do experiments, we do a hundred times, as long as one of them is not successful, it is a failure. That's the difference. Shi Qing said.
In this stage of transformation, the spirit of hard work of the older generation of colleagues also brought a lot of strength to Shi Qing. Now she has also slowly immersed this dedication in the young colleagues who are about to transform from students to astronauts.
Innovation is extremely important for space research and development. "Sometimes I see these young colleagues who are particularly capable, and I admire them and praise them for their intelligence." Shi Qing said that smart is a very high evaluation, and in her case, saying that a person is smart is an absolute compliment.
The reliability of the product is one thing that Shi Qing must mention at his regular meeting every month. She wants to often remind young colleagues that in the field of aerospace product research and development, we must have a sense of responsibility. The young team provides the driving force for innovative research and development, but because of the lack of experience, it will also bring some mistakes.
Because of the experience, Shi Qing feels that this is also a process of gradual maturity, "Learning is a lifelong thing, but also a never-ending thing." ”
Beijing News reporter Zhang Jianlin photojournalist Wang Jianning
Edited by Zhang Lei, Proofreader Li Lijun