Using the Long March 5 to launch a satellite, how big does this satellite have to be?

Mondo Science Updated on 2024-01-30

It's normal to launch satellites, but it's not normal to launch with the Long March 5, what kind of satellites need to be launched with the Long March 5?

The Long March 5 Yao-6 rocket has just successfully launched the Remote Sensing 41 satellite into orbit

What does Chang Wu do?It is the carrier rocket with the largest thrust in China, and it is a special courier for the Tiangong space station

"Remote Sensing-41" is a real satellite.

It is an optical satellite in geosynchronous transfer orbit, which is mainly used in the fields of land census, crop yield estimation, environmental management, meteorological early warning and forecasting, and comprehensive disaster prevention.

But what I don't understand is, why are you such a big agricultural satellite?

Is the pest that needs to be observed flying too fast or will it be stealthy and will dive?

Remote sensing satellites are equivalent to a person standing in the sky with a telescope to look at you, different from the American keyhole reconnaissance satellite, the keyhole is a low-orbit satellite, that is, more than 300 kilometers of appearance, although the same is to take a telescope to look at the ground, the lower the orbit in the case of the same resolution, the clearer you can see, but the low-orbit satellite has a over-the-top time, not you want to see, you can see if you want to see, the over-the-top time is **, I just take precautions when you go over the top, no matter how powerful you are, you can't take me.

The geosynchronous transfer orbit is different, first of all, it has an altitude of 360,000 kilometers, the orbital period is the same as the Earth's rotation period, that is, satellites orbiting in this orbit are always above the equator and stationary relative to the Earth's surface.

Theoretically, only three such satellites, evenly distributed over the equator, can completely cover all areas except a small part of the North and South Poles, and can really be seen anytime, anywhere, all day and all day.

Of course, there is a prerequisite that the problem of resolution is solved, and what does the resolution depend on?

In fact, it's not that complicated, the larger the diameter of the mirror, the higher the resolution, the clearer it can see, it's so simple and crude, which is why the key reason for using the Long March 5 is to use it.

This time, the fairing of the long five is a full 185 meters long, the diameter came to 52 meters, about the size of two subway cars tied together, the height of the entire rocket increased to about 63 meters, and the three data are the largest in China and even Asia.

Fairing diameter 52 meters, then it can be considered that the diameter of the load is not less than 4 meters, which is equivalent to 13 times, so how many times is the unfolded area of the mirror, I dare not think.

That is why we have the confidence to put remote sensing satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbit, and the Americans do not know that this is the best place for reconnaissance satellites?It's not that they don't know, it's that their strength doesn't allow it.

The Long March 5 can be said to be the strongest carrier rocket in China's active service35 meters diameter booster, each booster uses two YF-100 engines, the core stage also has two YF-77, 10 engines provide a total of 1068 tons of thrust, take-off weight of 860 tons, with a carrying capacity of 25 tons in low earth orbit and 14 tons in geosynchronous transfer orbit.

And we are a big agricultural country, and from time to time we send an agricultural satellite to the sky, this is very understandable, right?

We have a large land area, complex climate, environment, geology and landforms, and it is easy to understand that the function of satellites is getting stronger and stronger, and the volume is getting bigger and bigger, right?

Therefore, it is easy to understand the use of the Long March 5.

Saying so much earlier, it is to explain the working principle of remote sensing satellites at the technical level, and in essence it does not change the fact that the remote sensing 41 satellite is an agricultural satellite, the Chinese have always loved peace, we just want to see the growth of crops in the field, observe the activities of various pests, reduce their harm and impact on economic products, whether they can be stealthy or can gallop in the Pacific Ocean at a speed of 30 knots, they cannot escape our eyes.

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