More than 200 pieces of cargo arrived at the Chinese space station!
At 1:56 a.m. on May 10, the mainland successfully launched the Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft using the Long March 7 Yao-5 carrier rocket at the Wenchang Cosmodrome in Hainan, and adopted rapid rendezvous and docking technology to smoothly dock with the core module of the space station after about 6.5 hours. This marks the first successful launch mission of the Chinese space station construction mission in 2022.
Dang Rong, deputy chief designer of the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft system of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group, said in an interview with the Global Times reporter that as the first spacecraft in the construction stage of the continental space station, the successful launch and smooth docking of the Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft marks the official opening of the curtain of the comprehensive construction stage of the Chinese space station, which will lay the foundation for steadily advancing the engineering mission of the continental space station and building a national space laboratory.
The Tianzhou cargo spacecraft is an exclusive spacecraft for the ground logistics supply of the Chinese space station, known as the "courier brother" of the Chinese space station. The spacecraft adopts a type spectrum scheme, designed to meet the needs of different cargo transportation fully sealed, semi-sealed semi-open, fully open three cargo compartment modules, combined with the general propulsion module can form a fully sealed cargo spacecraft, half-sealed semi-open cargo spacecraft and fully open cargo spacecraft three types of spectrum. The Tianzhou cargo spacecraft is also the world's largest cargo transport capacity and the most comprehensive on-orbit support capacity of the active cargo spacecraft. Among them, the Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft launched this time is a fully sealed cargo spacecraft, which undertakes the tasks of providing material support, space station orbit operation support and space science experiments for the Shenzhou 14 crew, and will carry out cargo replenishment, propellant replenishment and space science experiments during the docking of the space station.
In this mission, the Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft has loaded a total of more than 200 pieces (sets) of astronaut systems, space station systems, space application fields, and cargo spacecraft systems, including cargo package cargo and direct installation cargo, and carries about 750 kilograms of supplemental propellant, and the total weight of uplink materials is about 6,000 kilograms, which will provide material support for the 3 astronauts of the Shenzhou 14 crew to stay in orbit for 6 months, assemble and build the space station, carry out material science, microgravity, aerospace medical experiments and other space application fields.
Dang Rong said that the status of the Tianzhou series cargo spacecraft from No. 2 to No. 5 is not completely consistent. Among them, the Tianzhou-3 and No. 4 cargo spacecraft use a one-layer tank that can carry 750 kilograms of supplemental propellant; while the Tianzhou-2 and the Next Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft that will be launched are two-layer tanks that can provide more supplementary propulsion to the space station, and the previous Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft can carry 3 tons of supplemental propellant. "The dynamic adjustment of the storage box of the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft is also formulated according to the mission needs of the space station," Dang Rong said.
In order to ensure the safe delivery of goods to the "Space Home", Tianzhou-4 adopts a variety of cargo loading methods such as cargo bags, brackets, and storage boxes, and the types and quantities of goods can be dynamically configured according to the needs of the space station; at the same time, it also has the ability to undertake space station operation support tasks such as space station attitude orbit control, grid-connected power supply, space station telemetry, data transmission support, and space science experiment support capabilities.
As the general research and development unit of the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft system, the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group also adheres to the people-oriented concept in the process of spacecraft development, and continuously improves and optimizes the cargo spacecraft according to the opinions of the astronaut crew on-orbit use. "After the three astronauts of the Shenzhou XII crew returned, through talking with them, we made color improvements to the bags in the cargo hold. When Tianzhou-2 went up, it was mainly to identify the goods by the labels outside the cargo bag, although there was an intelligent cargo management system, but the astronauts still could not see which system of goods were in the shipping package. Therefore, after arriving at Tianzhou No. 3, we used colored logos on the labels and handles of the goods, so that we could intuitively see which system of goods it was, and it was more convenient and efficient to find the goods," Dang Rong said.
On May 10, the Wenchang Launch Site Accusation Hall congratulated the Launch Mission of the Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft on its complete success. (Source: People's Vision)
In addition, in order to facilitate astronauts to operate the loading adapter plate in orbit and avoid the step of accurate alignment screws every time, Tianzhou-4 has added a buckle belt to the adapter plate and the corresponding shelves, thereby achieving convenient anti-drifting during the on-orbit period; and in order to reduce the on-orbit space occupation of the buffer packaging material, facilitate storage and storage, the buffer foam in the cargo bag is miniaturized and optimized, and the cushioning scheme of the gas column is added to reduce weight. "The total weight of the cargo carried by Tianzhou-4 has increased, all thanks to the increase in the density of loading in the design, so the ability of cargo spacecraft to go uplink materials has been improved, and follow-up development personnel will also develop newer cargo spacecraft to further improve the ability of material transportation," Dang Rong revealed.
As the first mission of the six missions of this year's manned space project, the Tianzhou-4 mission has undertaken the heavy responsibility of "taking the lead". Previously, Berlin Hou, deputy chief designer of the space station system of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group, said in an interview with the Global Times reporter that the tasks in the comprehensive construction stage of the Chinese space station have several major characteristics, one of which is the large task density and high coupling, and the success of each mission will be directly related to whether the follow-up mission can be implemented normally. Therefore, the complete success of the Tianzhou-4 mission is of great significance.
In this regard, Dang Rong said that "success only represents the past", and the cargo spacecraft system will firmly establish the concept of "one success is not equal to the second success" and adhere to the standard of the first flight. With the spiritual realm of "success does not have to be in me" and the historical responsibility of "success must have me", anchor the goal, silently dedicate, and go all out to ensure the successful completion of the space station construction task.
Source: Global Times- Global Network/Fan Wei