The moon is our close neighbor to the blue planet and a transit point for humanity to move further into deep space. At present, Continental is carrying out the fourth phase of lunar exploration. Not long ago, China's manned lunar landing also has a schedule, and the mainland's new generation of manned rockets are expected to make their first flight in 2027, and the first landing on the moon will be achieved before 2030 for Chinese.
Space development, power first. Recently, the main engine of the mainland manned lunar rocket developed by the Sixth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group - the 130-ton pump rear swing liquid oxygen kerosene engine completed the sixth test run after the test bench, the cumulative test time of the engine reached 3300 seconds, and the working time exceeded 10 times the task time, which verified the reliability of the engine and once again created a new record for a single test of the mainland 100-ton engine.
How difficult is the development of a rocket high-thrust engine? Why repeat the "test run"? In the future, can there be a thrust engine of more than 1,000 tons that can help China's aerospace move deeper into space?
▲At 21:22 on May 10, the Long March-7 Yao-7 carrier rocket carrying the Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft was ignited and launched at the Wenchang Cosmodrome in China. (Photo from China News Agency)
What is a "rocket engine ignition test"?
First of all, let's focus on the "main engine of the lunar landing rocket". The engine is the core component, the "heart" of a rocket. The greater the kinetic energy and the greater the strength of the heart, it can lead heavy rockets to higher orbits for space exploration. This time, the test time of the main engine of the mainland manned lunar rocket set a new record, which is another leap forward in the verification of "high-thrust" engine technology in China's aerospace power industry.
What exactly is a "rocket engine ignition test"? Engine commissioning, simply put, is the process of igniting the engine and verifying its design rationality and process reliability, which is an indispensable and important part of the development and delivery of any type of engine. The so-called "test run", in fact, there are dozens of types, will run through all stages before and after engine development, each stage of test driving has different meaning, ignition time also varies from a few seconds to hundreds of seconds.
Experts said that in the development stage of a certain type of engine, the engine will complete a complete set of complex processes from single component testing to full-system testing, from a valve to a complete engine, which needs to undergo thousands of trials. After the development phase, the engine test will enter the qualification phase. After completing the test run in the qualification stage, this type of engine can be delivered to the rocket for use, but this does not mean the end of the test run, each engine needs to "warm up" on the test bench to meet the standard. With the continuous progress of the mainland's aerospace industry, the test bench is becoming more and more busy.
What are the characteristics of solid rocket motors and liquid rocket engines?
The engine is the core component of the rocket, and the current mainstream launch vehicle engines are mainly divided into liquid rocket engines and solid rocket motors. So, what are the characteristics of both engines?
Solid rocket motors, as the name implies, are rocket engines that use solid fuel as propellants, and the counterpart is liquid rocket engines, which work on the same principle, both of which generate huge thrust by igniting propellants to send spacecraft into predetermined orbits of hundreds or even tens of thousands of kilometers.
The difference is that the solid fuel mainly used in the solid engine is a solid fuel, that is, a high-energy gunpowder, and the Long March 11 carrier rocket uses solid fuel. The liquid engine mainly uses liquid propellants such as liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, and the well-known Long March 5 rocket uses liquid hydrogen liquid oxygen.
Due to the different fuels used, the characteristics of each are also different. Liquid engines have the characteristics of strong controllability and long ignition time, while solid engines have the advantages of simple structure, flexible maneuverability and large instantaneous thrust. In the future, the engine combination mode based on the combination of the advantages of the two will also become a new design idea, which is also the direction that the world's aerospace powers are committed to developing.
How much thrust is needed for a manned lunar rocket engine?
A few days ago, at 9:31 on May 30, the Long March 2F Yao-16 carrier rocket carrying the Shenzhou 16 manned spacecraft was ignited and launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and achieved complete success, and this time carrying the Shen 16 astronaut crew to the space home is the "divine arrow" of China's manned spaceflight that we are most familiar with - the Long March 2F series, which is a well-deserved "space special train".
The Long March 2F carrier rocket, with a total length of about 58.3 meters, is bundled with four boosters, takes off with a takeoff weight of about 500 tons, and about 90% of the weight of the rocket comes from the fuel it carries, which allows it to reach a first cosmic speed of 7.9 kilometers per second in about 580 seconds of full acceleration.
The development of a new generation of manned and heavy rockets is progressing in an orderly manner
At this moment, the Chinese space station is located in an orbit 400 kilometers from the earth, but the average distance between the earth and the moon is 384,400 kilometers, which requires the help of a new generation of manned rockets with a stronger "heart". The continent is demonstrating a manned lunar landing plan, and a new generation of manned launch vehicles is also expected to have its first flight in 2027. In the near future, Chinese astronauts are expected to land on the moon, followed by the construction of an international lunar scientific research station. How much thrust does a rocket need to complete these tasks? What new requirements are needed?
According to reports, the arrow body diameter of the new generation of manned rocket is comparable to that of the Long March 5 carrier rocket, and through the comprehensive application of mature rocket technology, it will meet the mission needs of the mainland manned lunar landing.
Long Lehao, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and consultant to the chief engineer of the Aerospace Science and Technology Group: It is equivalent to the core stage of three Long March 5, bundle it, each core stage is three combinations in parallel, each combination has 7 engines, each engine thrust is nearly 120 tons, just such a behemoth. Of course, there is also a second stage, so that the three Chinese are launched in two times, the carrying capacity of low earth orbit can reach about 70 tons, and the ability of the Earth-Moon transfer orbit, that is, the carrying capacity of the Earth-Moon transfer orbit is about 27 tons, so that it may be launched in two parts, and three Chinese will be achieved to land on the moon before 2030.
At the same time, Academician Long Lehao introduced that the mainland heavy launch vehicle is also under development, its arrow body diameter of 10.6 meters, height of about 110 meters, low orbit carrying capacity can reach more than 150 tons, the ability of the earth and moon to transfer orbit to reach more than 50 tons, which will be the strongest rocket in the future.
Long Lehao, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and consultant to the chief engineer of the Aerospace Science and Technology Group: Such a rocket exceeds the carrying capacity of all rockets that can be said to be in history, in the future, in addition to achieving our more distant ones, such as manned Mars exploration, as well as the establishment of a lunar base, and even direct civilian use in the future, let it build a space solar power station to transport, now the progress is not bad, the specific appearance has been made, produced, The engines of the first, second and third stages have been correspondingly tested for the short-range hot test of the whole system, which means that the specific plans have been decided.
What progress has been made in the development of rockets with greater thrust?
In fact, the rocket engine independently developed by the mainland has been frequently successful.
In November last year, China's largest thrust liquid rocket engine, independently developed by the Sixth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group, was successfully tested for the first time. This type of engine is designed to have a thrust of 500 tons, and it is also the world's largest dual-thrust chamber high-pressure fueled liquid oxygen kerosene engine. According to reports, the thrust of the 500-ton liquid oxygen kerosene engine is 4 times that of the current 120-ton liquid oxygen kerosene engine. The success of the first test of the whole machine marks a major breakthrough in the development of this type of engine.
At the end of last year, the first hot test of the 80-ton liquid oxygen methane engine with the largest continental thrust independently developed by the Sixth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group was a complete success, providing the main force for the mainland commercial space launch vehicle and laying an important technical foundation for the development of reusable vehicles. How big the thrust of the engine is, how big the stage for astronautics is. With the tremendous development of power technology, I believe that China's aerospace industry will achieve a greater leap.
At what stage is the preparation for the continental manned lunar landing?
With less than 7 years to go until 2030, what stage has the continent been prepared for a manned lunar landing? How many steps are there to go to the moon next? Let's listen to the introduction of Ji Qiming, assistant director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office.
Ji Qiming, assistant director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office: To achieve the landing of Chinese astronauts on the moon before 2030, we have completed the key technical research and program development of the relevant aircraft of the lunar landing mission, and of course, we have also completed the demonstration and preparation of the overall plan for the lunar landing, which is the current progress.
As for the next seven years, I think it should be divided into three major stages: the first stage is to complete various development and construction tasks, which include the completion of a new generation of manned launch vehicles, a new generation of manned spacecraft, lunar landers for landing on the moon, including the development of lunar landing suits, manned lunar rovers and other flight products, as well as supplementary construction of Wenchang Cosmodrome, as well as measurement and control communication landing sites and other related ground equipment and facilities. The second stage will enter the verification phase of unmanned flight, and if the mission goes well, we will enter the third stage, which is the flight phase of manned lunar landing. (End)