When the weather is cold, we all have to wrap ourselves in small quilts, but have you ever seen a rocket cover quilt? Is the rocket also afraid of the cold?
Today, let's learn about rockets that need to be "covered with quilts".
The rocket has to be covered with a quilt when it's cold?
On 21 December 2002, eight days before the scheduled launch time of the "Shenzhou-4" spacecraft, a powerful cold current swept through the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, and the heavy snow lasted for two days and two nights, and the temperature dropped almost to minus 30 degrees! Even in the Gobi Desert, where the climate is harsh, it is still a low-temperature weather not seen in 30 years.
In the face of the unprecedented low-temperature weather in the manned space project, all the scientific research personnel at the launch site were nervously busy; according to the launch regulations, the minimum temperature of the rocket launched by the rocket should not exceed minus 20 degrees Celsius! Because the low-temperature launch has many disadvantages to the rocket, such as causing the sealing ring to fail, causing fuel leakage, inducing pipeline blockage, causing poor cable plug contact, and so on. The U.S. space shuttle Challenger caused the explosion due to a fuel leak caused by low temperatures.
The U.S. space shuttle Challenger crashed and exploded due to low temperatures
In order to keep the rocket warm, the launch site staff first got two hot air blowers to send hot air to the rocket engine room, but the rocket was made of metal, and the hot air was sent in and it quickly cooled. So more than 20 high-power air conditioners were activated, and they forcibly warmed the rocket around the clock. Then, the rockets and spacecraft were put on "winter suits", covered with styrofoam, and baked with several kilowatt light bulbs......
Zhang Jianqi, commander of the launch site, gave an order and asked the soldiers of the unit to quickly carry 200 quilts from the guest house, and then wrapped the quilts one by one on the key parts of the rocket spacecraft. In order to prevent omissions when the quilts were removed, the staff numbered the 200 quilts one by one and designated a person in charge to ensure that all the quilts were removed 40 minutes before takeoff.
At 00:40 on 31 December 2002, following the commander's order, the rocket took off into the air, and the "Shenzhou-4" successfully took off and accurately entered orbit! This launch not only created a miracle of China's ultra-low temperature launch, but also set a new record for ultra-low temperature launch in the history of world space launches!
This is the thrilling story behind the rocket cover quilt, the quilt is a temporary measure after all, later, in order to avoid falling into trouble again, astronauts have developed an exclusive "quilt" for the new generation of carrier rockets on the mainland, which is a new type of "flexible thermal insulation material", the story about it will be revealed to you in the future, if you want to know more about aerospace knowledge, pay attention to Hanghang Jiajia!
Source: "The Story of Chinese Astronauts" (Author: Ding Nan)
Source: Hanghang Jiajia public account