Tianzhou No. 4 under development Courtesy of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group
At 1:56 a.m. on May 10, the Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft was successfully launched by the Long March 7 Yao-5 carrier rocket at the Wenchang Cosmodrome in China, and after about 6.5 hours, it successfully docked with the core module of the space station and entered the flight state of the three-cabin (ship) combination. This is the first launch of the space station construction mission in 2022, officially opening the curtain on the full construction of the Chinese space station.
Tianzhou-4 was developed by the Fifth Academy of the Aerospace Science and Technology Group and was the first spacecraft in the formation stage of the continental space station. "As the opening battle of the space station construction stage, the Tianzhou-4 mission is also a key battle to fully complete the construction of the space station and achieve the grand strategic goal of the 'three-step' manned space project, which will lay a solid foundation for steadily advancing the engineering mission of the continental space station and building a national space laboratory." Yang Sheng, the overall chief designer of the Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group, pointed out.
As a ground logistics supply spacecraft of the space station, the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft adopts a pattern spectral scheme, designs a fully sealed, semi-sealed semi-open, and fully open cargo compartment module that meets different cargo transportation needs, and combines with the universal propulsion module to form a fully sealed cargo spacecraft, a semi-sealed semi-open cargo spacecraft and a fully open cargo spacecraft. Among them, Tianzhou-4 is a fully sealed cargo spacecraft, which is the world's largest cargo transportation capacity and the most comprehensive on-orbit support capacity of cargo spacecraft, and undertakes the task of providing material support, space station operation support and space science experiments for the Shenzhou 14 crew.
Tianzhou No. 4 under development Courtesy of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group
In this mission, Tianzhou-4 loaded more than 200 pieces (sets) of cargo, including cargo packages and direct installations, including cargo packages and direct installations, and carried about 750 kilograms of supplemental propellant, and the total weight of uplink materials was about 6,000 kilograms, which would provide material support for the 3-person crew of Shenzhou XIV to stay on orbit for 6 months, the formation of the space station, and the research in space application fields such as material science, microgravity and aerospace medicine. According to Yang Sheng, in order to ensure that the goods can be safely delivered to the "Space Home", Tianzhou-4 adopts a variety of 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 the space station's attitude orbit control, grid-connected power supply, and space station telemetry, data transmission and other operational support capabilities.
In the development process of the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft system, the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group has always adhered to the principle of people-oriented, continuous improvement and optimization. "According to the on-orbit use opinions of the astronaut crew, in order to find the cargo more convenient and intuitive, we increase the color identification of the cargo bag through the color design of the label and the handle; in order to facilitate the astronauts to operate the loading adapter board in orbit, we have added a buckle belt for the adapter board and the corresponding shelf, which can effectively prevent drift during the orbit; in order to reduce the buffer packaging material occupying the space on the orbit and facilitate storage and storage, we also optimize the miniaturization of the buffer foam in the bag, and reduce the weight by increasing the gas column buffer..." In Yang Sheng's view, these ingenious designs can allow Tianzhou-4 to better serve the Chinese space station.
(Guangming Daily all-media reporter Zhang Lei correspondent Pang Dan)
Source: Guangming Daily all-media reporter Zhang Lei correspondent Pang Dan
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