Three minutes to talk about popular science
Suzaku 2 is the first civilian commercial launch vehicle in China, and the development of the launch vehicle is the Blue Arrow Aerospace, which was established in 2015The launch vehicle successfully launched two satellites, Tianyi-33 and Honghu, into orbit.
The length of the rocket as a whole is 495 meters with a diameter of 335 meters, take-off weight without load is 220 tons, thrust is 268 tons.
The scene of the first launch in July of this year).
Four parallel engines are used in the first stage area, and two engines are used in the second stage rocket, and its effective carrying capacity is 1Between 5 tons and 4 tons. It is capable of all the deployment of satellites in low-earth orbit, as well as the transportation of space missions.
In July this year, Suzaku 2 had its first test launch. The successful launch of the rocket into orbit marks that China has a liquid oxygen methane rocket, which fills the gap in China's liquid rocket spectrum.
It is worth mentioning that in December 2022, Suzaku 2 was supposed to make its first test flight, but due to the failure of the second stage of the game, the test launch failed.
Blue Arrow Aerospace, the rocket's research and development agency, identified the fault and took improvement measures, and by March this year, all the failures of the rocket were zero. It took them only 3 months to zero the failure, and soon a second rocket was produced.
Suzaku 2 can be launched continuously, and its rocket stage can be reused many times. In the opinion of the deputy chief engineer of Suzaku II,In the future aerospace field, the trend of commercialization will become more and more obvious, and the launch vehicle itself will not only have a large capacity, but also a low cost.
It is also at this point that liquid-fueled rockets have some of their advantages over other types.
The Suzaku 2 rocket launched this time is also the world's first rocket fueled by liquid oxygen methane. Methane itself is the main component in natural gas, and some gas fields are of good quality and do not require special treatment, just liquefy it to be used as rocket fuel.
However, in the last century, due to technological limitations, countries have not been able to make better use of natural gas. In the 70s, the world's natural gas** and utilization was only 3 billion cubic meters. Today, the scale of natural gas utilization has exceeded 1 trillion.
Not only has it been widely used, but the use scenarios have become more and more diversified, and now it can fly with satellites。From the perspective of R&D, mankind wants to use methane as fuel, and began to explore it more than 80 years ago.
In the 30s of the last century, the Germans were the first to develop rockets. At that time, Hannes Winkler, as a pioneer in the field of rocketry, developed and successfully tested a liquid oxygen methane rocket in 1931.
The fuel is located in the middle area of the rocket, and its overall shape is very different from the current rocket. At that time, human understanding of rockets was in its infancy, and Winkoler's development only flew about 60 meters high before falling, so the relevant research and development did not advance after that.
It has been silent for nearly 30 yearsBy the 60s, in the field of rocket fuel research, the Americans were the first to want to use methane as booster fuel. Since then, the United States has accumulated a lot of experience in how to prepare and apply. However, although there have been explorations, they have not been able to develop in the direction of practicality.
It's hereIn the 80s, domestic research on rocket fuel,It has also expanded into the field of liquids. A series of experiments on liquid fuels, from methane to propane, all achieved certain results, which laid the foundation for the eventual introduction of liquid oxygen methane rockets.
Not only us, but also Russia and the European Space Agency have also carried out research on liquid oxygen methane fuels during this period. But it's basically an initial exploration stage, and there is no real practical application.
One of the key reasons why it was not used was that most of the previous rockets were disposable and were no longer used.
The biggest advantage of liquid oxygen methane fuel is precisely in this aspect.
Previously, there was liquid oxygen kerosene in rocket fuel, which is not much different from methane, and even when the design parameters are the same, the energy density of liquid oxygen kerosene is higher than that of methane. In terms of specific impulse, the specific impulse of methane is theoretically 3% higher than that of liquid oxygen kerosene.
Liquid oxygen methane has a high low temperature advantage, the cooling effect is three times that of kerosene, and it is less prone to carbon accumulation than kerosene when burning. However, since most of the previous models of rockets were single-use, it didn't matter if the engine was "disgraced" after kerosene burned.
So on the whole,Compared with liquid oxygen kerosene, liquid oxygen methane has the same performance. What really makes liquid oxygen methane stand out is the reuse of rockets.
Nowadays, in order to reduce costs as much as possible, especially the launch of commercial rockets is increasing, so reusable rockets have become the mainstream.
Kerosene, on the other hand, has to be thoroughly cleaned and maintained before the next launch if the rocket engine is to be reused due to carbon accumulation after combustion. As a result, the cost and workload of operation and maintenance in the later stage will be greatly increased.
In contrast,Liquid oxygen methane is more volatile and basically does not deposit carbon, which makes it relatively easy to clean and maintain the engine.
In addition, compared to other fuels, due to the close boiling point of liquid oxygen and methane, they can use a common bottom storage tank, which reduces the weight and volume, which is conducive to reducing the burden on the rocket and freeing up more space to increase the carrying capacity.
Based on the above points, liquid oxygen methane has become the preferred fuel in today's increasingly obvious trend of rocket commercialization.
Blue Arrow Aerospace, the developer of Suzaku II, was established in 2015, and two years later, the development of Suzaku 2 was elevated. After 5 years of research and development, everything was ready for the rocket.
In the overall research and development process in the past few years, Blue Arrow Aerospace has established its own engine test base, rocket manufacturing base and launch site, etc., have also been built.
Compared to state-led launches,Commercial rocket launch should achieve the integrity of the entire industrial chain, and at the same time, the cost of rocket manufacturing and launch should be reduced as much as possible.
Because the goal of the business is to industrialize the operation, only by reducing the cost can the enterprise continue to promote the launch.
In addition, the customers faced by commercial launch are multifaceted, both domestic and will gradually expand to foreign customers in the future.
Take satellites operating in the sky as an example, they all have a service life, and they will be replaced one by one in the future. Therefore, the commercial launch has a guarantee of sustainable operation. And in order to gain reputation, the rocket must have a continuous and stable launch capability.
It is under the premise of this series that the construction of a commercial rocket like Suzaku 2, low cost is the absolute basis. The deputy chief engineer of the rocket also said that the next step will be to improve the overall capacity of the rocket and further build reliability, which will be a necessary and key goal.
In addition,Since it is a commercial operation, there will inevitably be competition. Blue Arrow Aerospace has been launching the liquid oxygen methane rocket since its launchElon Musk's SpaceX, as well as another relativistic space company, are also desperately working on this type of rocket.
After all, the advantages of liquid oxygen rockets are obvious, and once the cost of the overall utilization of the rocket is reduced, the cost of commercial launch can also be reduced. In this way, the customer will definitely choose the lowest launch.
But Musk's Starship, as well as another company's Terran One, did not go well in its research in the field of liquid oxygen methane. This year, their respective products have also been test-flown and have failed without exception.
Therefore, in terms of the overall competition trend, in the field of liquid oxygen methane fuel, the Suzaku 2 of the domestic Blue Arrow Aerospace is better than Starship and Terran 1.
But it is clear that the competition in this field will be more fierce in the future. In this regard, Blue Arrow Aerospace, which has taken the lead, is also prepared.
Just the day after the launch of the Suzaku 2 launch vehicle,Blue Arrow Aerospace announced the next generation of rocket products, Suzaku III, on the 10th.
The new model of the rocket still uses liquid oxygen methane as fuel, which can be used for the most advanced purposesThe substage of the rocket can be reused at least 20 times.
Compared with Suzaku II, No. 3 has been comprehensively improved in terms of size and carrying capacity. The length of the rocket reached 766 meters, the diameter also reached 45 meters, of which the diameter of the fairing is set to reach an astonishing 52 meters.
In thrust,The take-off weight of the rocket exceeded 660 tons, and the thrust reached about 900 tons. The engine used, on the basis of the Suzaku II, has been further strengthened.
Because of the use of the rocket, the overall structure of the rocket and the materials used have been adjusted accordingly. By design, the material of the fuel storage tank is made of high-strength stainless steel.
Stainless steel materials can reduce the manufacturing cost of rockets, and the manufacturing cycle can also be greatly shortened. Especially for many trips to and from the ground in space, its high temperature resistance is even more obvious.
Due to the use of liquid oxygen methane fuel,After the first stage engine of the rocket is **, it can be refueled and continue the second flight without any inspection.
So in the future, rockets will also be like airplane flights, and they will achieve normal operation. In terms of launch costs, compared to disposable rockets,But the cost of the rocket can be reduced by about ninety.
According to Blue Arrow Aerospace's plan, if nothing else, Suzaku III will make its first flight in 2025.
Musk's liquid oxygen methane rocket has not yet been launched, and a clear timetable has been proposed for the manufacture of the next generation of rocket models in China. From the perspective of cost alone, Musk will definitely increase his catch-up efforts next.
If the space and space exploration of the last century were completely promoted and led by the state, since the beginning of the 21st century, with the maturity and sinking of various technologies, private institutions have also joined the field of space and space exploration.
Musk is relatively more well-known because of his global high profile. In terms of the time of establishment, SpaceX was founded in 2002, and another company, Blue Origin, was founded in 2000.
In addition, there is the private Virgin Galactic company in the United Kingdom, the private Interstellar Technology Company in Japan, and the PLD Space Company in the European Union.
In addition to Blue Arrow Aerospace, there are two private enterprises in China: Interstellar Glory and Galaxy Aerospace. Obviously, the future of aerospace is not only dominated by the national level, but also by the participation of private enterprises, which will continue to sink the technology in the aerospace field.