Too advanced to display!China's mysterious spacecraft was launched, and then six small aircraft were launched behind it, which attracted the attention of the world. What is the real identity of this spacecraft?Why is the United States so concerned?
On December 14, Beijing time, China announced that it had successfully launched a reusable test spacecraft at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, which will return to the surface after a period of orbital operation.
However, the description of this news is too concise to be sure what kind of spacecraft it is in space, which is why we say it is mysterious. This also reminds many people of the hottest sentence in my ** field in recent years:Too advanced to display!
We all know the word "spacecraft", that is, a vehicle that can operate in space in accordance with the laws of celestial mechanics;The word "experiment" is also easy to understand, that is, it has not yet been fully developed, but it has entered the verification stage;The most noteworthy thing is the first five words - reusable.
Up to now, the reusable spacecraft invented by humans can be roughly divided into four categories, which are:Reusable rockets, reusable spacecraft, space shuttles, and space planes。And the last situation is what the United States and other Western countries are most worried about.
An aerospace aircraft, also known as an aerospace aircraft, means that it can fly both inside and outside the atmosphere. The most important thing is that it has a very wide range of applications, not only to promote the development of aerospace science and technology, improve satellite technology, but also to be applied in the military field, as a powerful ** to participate in operations in space.
The United States has been very jealous of the development of China's aerospace industry, and now that the aerospace aircraft, as the next generation, has an important position in influencing the pattern of war, it is even more impossible for the United States not to pay attention to it.
The United States is not without its own aerospace aircraft, developed by Boeingx-37bAlthough it is not completely successful at present, it has been verified in orbit many times, and great breakthroughs have been made, and it is a leader in the world. But as soon as our country develops the same technology in the same field, they feel threatened.
It is worth mentioning that just recently, the American side was preparing for a new round of tests of the X-37B. This round of testing has been postponed many times, and was once postponed to the launch of China's spacecraft on the same day. Originally, this topic attracted attention, and the reusable spacecraft of the two countries were almost launched on the same day, which seemed to have a more competitive flavor, and the United States did not use this topic to hype up.
For example, the US magazine "Aerospace Power" quoted Saltzman, the head of the country's Space Force Operations Department, as saying that it is "perhaps not a coincidence" that the two countries launched spacecraft at the same time. It's just that the United States postponed the launch time again, but they paid no less attention to our spacecraft.
In addition to the official United States, there are also astronomical observers who are very interested in the mysterious spacecraft of our country. Some amateur astronomers used observation equipment to track and found that China's reusable spacecraft also dropped six small vehicles behind it, which was an unprecedented attempt.
For China's reusable spacecraft, Western countries have generally identified them as aerospace aircraft, but for these six small aircraft, they are still a little confused. China has not made an official announcement on these 6 aircraft, and foreign countries can only temporarily call them object a to f.
Some people speculate that the six small spacecraft launched by China may be the so-called companion satellites. In other previous space missions, China has also launched such small satellites. As the name suggests, they will follow the normal spacecraft, proceedingMonitor the escort, provide ancillary services, or carry out some technical verification
They even monitor the electromagnetic signals emitted by these small spacecraft to try to find clues from them and thus determine their use. However, our small spacecraft are all sending mixed signals, which makes them have no idea where to start.
But then again, the reusable spacecraft launched by my country has not been mysterized after all, can the true identity be determined?
We note that every time a test flight of a reusable spacecraft is carried out, our country uses itLong March-2F launch vehicle。Friends who are familiar with aerospace know that this rocket is a special rocket for China's manned spaceflight, and the Shenzhou series of manned spacecraft are all lifted off on this rocket without exception. In this case, could it be that reusable spacecraft is another identity - manned spacecraft?
According to current plans, our country is expected to achieve the feat of manned landing on the moon in 2030. In order to achieve this feat, we need to develop not only new rockets, but also new manned spacecraft. So, will this time it be a new spacecraft that will launch a manned landing on the moon?
This probability is actually not very large. The performance of the new generation of manned spacecraft is indeed superior, but it is also larger than the Shenzhou spacecraft. As we mentioned earlier, the new generation of manned spacecraft has different forms, but even the form of performing near-Earth missions has a similar mass14 tons
And the Long March-2F launch vehicleThe carrying capacity of low earth orbit is only 88 tons, not up to the task. If you want to validate the next generation of manned spacecraft, you will probably need more powerful rockets.
As for the other two reusable spacecraft – the reusable rocket and the space shuttle – the possibilities are even lower. Reusable rockets are no longer an advanced technology, and there is no need to keep them secret. As for the Space Shuttle, the United States has proven how chicken this spacecraft is, and there has never been news of the development of a Space Shuttle in our country, and it is unlikely.
In this way, it is indeed the most likely that it is still an aerospace aircraft.
If it is true, then there is a good chance that its true identity is legendary"Shenlong" aerospace aircraft
In 2011, my country was to:H-6 bomberAs a launch platform, flight tests of the Shenlong aerospace aircraft were completed. This take-off method is very special, that is, after the H-6 is lifted into the air to a certain altitude, Shenlong will take off from this platform. Since it already has a certain initial speed and altitude, the difficulty of the dragon entering space is greatly reduced. Whether it is foreign media or domestic **, they all believe that the current one in orbit is likely to be the Shenlong Aerospace Aircraft.
However, at the end of the article, we still have to mention that neither the United States nor China is yet mature in the field of research and development of so-called aerospace aircraft. According to the concept of an aerospace aircraft in the true sense of the word, the last two words of such a spacecraft are the key. That is to say,Not only does it taxi on the runway like an airplane when it lands, but it also takes off parallel to the runway when taking off.
This technology is naturally much better than with the help of a rocket, after all, it can save the high cost of one rocket. It is a pity that the scientific and technological level of human beings has not yet reached such a height, and the "early aerospace planes" we currently see still need to use rockets or airplanes and other equipment to enter space.
Judging from the current science and technology and progress of various countries in the world, if there are two countries that are the first to develop real aerospace aircraft, it is probably China and the United States. Although the United States started earlier than us and is also more advanced in science and technology than us, considering the speed of our country's catch-up, it is really difficult to say who will win this "world first" at that time.
Having said that, every time our country declares to the world that our reusable spacecraft is ".Provide technical support for the peaceful use of space”。As we said earlier, aerospace aircraft are not only used for military purposes, but can also be used in the aerospace field. At present, our country has plans to push space tourism to reality, and perhaps in the future, we will use this kind of space aircraft.
The reusable test spacecraft was successfully launched