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Text|Small Dumb Science Popularization Bureau
Editor|Small Dumb Science Popularization Bureau
«——[·Preface·] ——»
As we all know, China's space technology is already at the world's leading level, and at present, in addition to the United States and Russia, only we have the ability to send people into space.
Every successful launch of the mainland "Tiangong" means that the construction of our space station has once again "added bricks and bricks", and the construction of the space station is another new starting point for China's space industry.
It also means that we are the only country in the world other than the United States that can afford to build its own space station.
According to Academician Zhou Jianping, the construction of our space station cost about 8 billion US dollars. The American media was shocked when they learned about it, and even questioned China's ability: What space station can be built with such a small amount of money?
The New York Times openly "mocked" China's technological backwardness, and proudly said that the US space station cost $100 billion, and China was only a fraction of them.
However, the fact soon hit the face, China's space station construction will spend all the money on the "blade", in contrast, the United States has become a "big wrong" in the construction of the space station.
«——[·History of the development of the International Space Station, small cooperation and big investment·] ——»
In the last century, the United States and the Soviet Union competed for hegemony, and the Soviet Union took the lead in sending mankind into space, and since then the United States has not been able to sit still, and quickly chased after it. In fact, the competition in science and technology in various countries has always been fierce, and whoever can master technology first has the right to speak, and there is no need to worry about being subject to others.
And European and American countries have always had an unwritten idea: you can make scientific and technological progress, you can develop well, but you must not surpass me.
It is precisely based on this that the United States will not only not watch the exploration of the space field, but also find ways to obtain the "first place" in all aspects.
So, after a few years of competing with each other, in 1969, the United States took the lead in using Apollo 11 to send astronauts to the moon, and the United States became the only country in the world that has the ability to send manned spacecraft to the moon.
After the failure of the moon landing, the Soviet Union turned to other directions, and the concept of "space station" was proposed more than a hundred years ago, and it was not easy to land on the moon, but there was still a chance to launch space capsules into Earth orbit.
So in 1971, the Soviet Union launched Salyut One, which was also the first space station successfully launched in orbit in human history. Unfortunately, the Soviet Union at that time was in a hurry, many details were not complete, and the pressure relief valve of the return module of the three astronauts was shaken open when they returned to Earth, and they died heroically.
Shortly after the Soviet Union launched the space station, the United States also began its own space station construction program. In 1973, the United States launched the "Skylab" into space, and then completed the docking of the space station, completing more than 200 experiments in the sky, providing a large amount of data for researchers on the ground.
At this point, the Soviet Union was completely defeated in the space race. The United States is indeed the top in the field of aerospace, it can be said that it is a monopoly, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia inherited its aviation strength, but there is no much threat to the United States.
It was not until China's Shenzhou 5 was successfully launched and China became the third country to send humans into space that the United States suddenly realized that China's strength could not be underestimated.
In the 80s, U.S. President Ronald Reagan authorized NASA to start the International Space Station construction program, which required the participation of multiple countries and was completed within 10 years.
There are 16 countries mainly involved in the construction, and in addition to the main experimental modules provided by the United States and Russia, Japan, Canada and other Western European countries also provide financial and material support such as trusses. The design drawings were completed by the United States in 1993 and construction did not begin until 1998.
The International Space Station is mainly used by countries to complete space experiments together, it can accommodate 6 astronauts at a time, for the health of astronauts, it needs to work in shifts every six months.
Since 2000, astronauts have been stationed on the International Space Station. The main reason why the International Space Station cost hundreds of billions of dollars is that many of its important components are too expensive, and the underutilized part also takes up a lot of resources.
The main experimental module of the International Space Station is divided into the Russian zone and the American zone, and the Russian functional module is used for experiments, in addition to a fully equipped service module. There are solar panels on both sides of the function cabin, which will naturally open after entering orbit.
The United States uses the space shuttle to send the experimental module up, and then docking with the Russian cabin by the docker, they are arranged in orbit in turn, and the space station can be regarded as expanding a little after the docking is successful.
In addition to the United States and Russia, Japan has also built a vacuum chamber on the International Space Station, a biochemical laboratory, and European countries have funded the launch of Colombian capsules for their own research. In contrast, Canada has mainly produced several robotic arms, although very useful, but compared with the experimental cabin is obviously inferior.
Let's talk about the interior of the space station, the interior of the International Space Station is relatively messy, don't look at the investment is not small, the living conditions of the astronauts are not as good as imagined. Astronauts can only eat special space food, in previous years they did not have a separate room, can only shrink in sleeping bags, the space for activity is small, even if it is improved later, but the space station has not been used for a few years.
The space station is in a lower orbit than Sputnik, about 400 kilometers above Earth, and circles the Earth about every 92 minutes. The operating space station will still be resisted by a small amount of gas, there will be a drop in altitude, and in order to prevent crashing, it must be periodically propelled.
Without atmospheric protection in outer space, high-energy radiation in the universe hits the surface of the space station nakedly, causing the materials on it to age or even peel off.
The space station is also directly exposed to the sun, the backlit surface is more than minus 20 degrees, but the photosurface is more than 150 °C, and the alternation of cold and hot is a test for the best materials. Since its completion, the annual maintenance cost of the International Space Station has been difficult for many countries.
«——[·Comparison of the construction of the space station between China and the United States, more money is not necessarily fragrant.] ——»
The establishment of the International Space Station is the product of countries striving to maximize their own interests in space exploration, although under the banner of cooperation, in fact, the pattern is not much.
Only the United States and Russia are the only countries involved in the construction of the International Space Station capable of launching manned spacecraft, and although everyone benefits the International Space Station, it is clear that the United States has the sole control.
The United States has never invited China to participate in the construction of the International Space Station, and China has not thought of relying on others. At the beginning, the United States offered us conditions to spend billions of dollars to participate in the International Space Station project, but it would not teach us any technology, which was naturally nakedly squeezing out the continent.
Fearing more mainland achievements in spaceflight, the United States also passed the Wolf Clause in 2011, which was designed to limit NASA's contact with its Chinese counterparts and was unwilling to let China "steal" anything.
Interestingly, the mainland is not restricted by American regulations, and their clause is now shooting themselves in the foot. Without anyone's help, we built the space station ourselves, and built it faster and better.
China's space station takes its name from mythology and is called "Heavenly Palace". As the name suggests, the mainland's space station is indeed as beautifully built as the "Heavenly Palace".
Compared with the International Space Station, the Chinese space station has more space for activities, although our space station is much smaller in appearance, but it is still in the growth period and has not been fully built.
On the other hand, the construction of the continental space station is spent on the "blade", and the solar panels we use are flexible three-junction gallium arsenide cells, which are more than twice as efficient as the International Space Station.
The continental space station adopts more advanced technical means, and the facilities equipped with it have been modularized, saving a lot of time for astronauts. In terms of overall structure, the continental space station uses fewer trusses and increases the relative area of energy panels, and we have avoided many problems in the construction of the International Space Station.
The structure of the construction of the International Space Station has many details that are not reasonable, and it can even be said that it is pure waste, and in terms of cost performance, the International Space Station can be said to be throwing money.
In addition to these hardware facilities, the mainland space station has given more consideration to the space experience of astronauts, space meals are no longer a single liquid food, Chinese astronauts can enjoy dishes from all over the world, and it is not a dream to eat some fruits, which also makes many foreign netizens envious.
In addition to diet, mainland astronauts sleep in their own "bedrooms", which are spacious to ensure that they can have a comfortable rest space.
There is also an interesting little detail in the construction of the Chinese space station, all the text descriptions used in the space station, including the operating system, are all Chinese, which also more intuitively shows the mainland's current aviation research capabilities.
In fact, 8 billion US dollars is only a rough calculation of the construction of China's space station, the construction of the space station is a long process, need to be assembled and expanded many times, but also need to be maintained all the time, expensive to spend. Due to aging materials and space radiation, the service life of the space station is also very limited.
For example, the International Space Station was built in 1998, and it took more than ten years to formally assemble, and from the day it was officially commissioned, the International Space Station could only be used for fifteen years.
Once it loses its value, the space station will crash into the atmosphere and be wiped out. The mainland's space station is initially estimated to have a service life of ten years, and if it is well maintained, it is not impossible to extend it longer.
When the mainland made achievements in the field of the space station, the United States, which once excluded us, saw that the International Space Station was about to retire, and secretly rubbed it with a new idea.
«——[· The rise of China's space technology, the United States is afraid of being overtaken and will inevitably be red-eyed.] ——»
The US-led International Space Station is coming to an end, building a space station requires huge costs, and no one wants to give up space experiments.
The Chinese space station is still under construction, but the experimental module has been put into normal use, and for the development of international space industry and the progress of human science, the mainland has very generously allowed foreigners to join our space station. And the United States has long forgotten how it pinched China in the first place, and very brazenly asked to join after learning about the Chinese space station.
The application of the United States was naturally rejected by us, and the so-called feng shui took turns.
Up to now, there are 17 countries that have applied to join the Chinese space station for scientific research activities, but we have only rejected the United States, which is also in some ways "abiding" by the "Wolf Clause" formulated by the United States more than a decade ago.
However, ironically, the American media loudly accused China, saying that the construction of the Chinese space station did not meet "international standards", just because all the words on it are Chinese, in order to target other countries, which is simply nonsense.
American netizens can't even stand their own official style and fiercely spit on the behavior of politicians.
In fact, China has always been a big country with a pattern, and China's space industry has been built step by step by itself. Chinese's yearning for the sky has been around for a long time, and every space vehicle and rocket has its own name, whether it is "Tiangong" or "Chang'e", it is an exclusive Chinese of feelings and romance.
The development of science and technology is the core strength of every country, which is a matter of great importance, and all science and technology have national boundaries, which is related to the fate of every citizen.
Although China's exploration of space started late, the purpose of our exploration has never been to compete with anyone, Chinese we just want to constantly surpass ourselves.
In the field of aerospace we still have a long way to go, we still have to go to the moon, we have to explore the sea of stars farther, I believe we can always overcome all difficulties and set sail farther.