Author |Aspen.
Editor丨Luo Yifan.
Figure source丨Figure worm.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the success of China's first manned space mission. On October 15, 2003, astronaut Yang Liwei successfully entered space on the Shenzhou V manned spacecraft, which not only fulfilled the Chinese's dream of flying, but also officially opened the curtain of China's manned spaceflight.
China's manned space program began in 1992 and took 11 years to prepare for the first manned flight. Today, going into space has become a "common thing" in China's aerospace industry.
In the past two decades, China's manned space program has been speeding up, completing a total of 12 manned missions, and in the past three years, from Shenzhou 12 to Shenzhou 17, China has carried out two manned missions a year. Not only that, but Chinese astronauts also have their own homes in space. From the "one room" of Shenzhou 5 to the "three rooms and two living rooms" of the current "Tiangong" space station, the space for astronauts has changed from a few cubic meters to more than 100 cubic meters, and they are living more and more comfortably and for longer and longer in space.
Regarding the performance of China's aerospace this year, Pang Zhihao, the chief science communication expert of the national space exploration technology, said in an interview with the reporter of the 21st Century Business HeraldThis year, China's aerospace industry has developed steadily and made continuous innovations, and has made remarkable achievements in the fields of carrier rockets, artificial satellites, manned spaceflight, and space exploration.
For example, in the field of launch vehicles, the Long March series of launch vehicles achieved the 500th launch, with a success rate of 100%;In the field of manned spaceflight, China's space station has entered the stage of application and development, the first aerospace flight engineer and the first payload expert have entered the space station to work, and important progress has been made in the fields of space life science and human body research, microgravity physics and new space technologyIn terms of space exploration, China released China's first global image map of Mars exploration, and the Chang'e-5 team won the "Laureus Team Award" issued by the International Academy of Astronautics.
Also in the field of artificial satellites, some of the new satellites launched this year are also exciting. Pang Zhihao said, for example, the world's first high-orbit synthetic aperture radar satellite, China's first 100Gbps high-throughput communication satellite Zhongxing 26, and a new generation of marine water color observation satellite Ocean No. 3 01 that has reached the international advanced level.
Manned space flight on the go
Thirty years ago, China's manned space program formulated a "three-step" development strategy: the first step was to send Chinese astronauts into space, the second step was to get out of space and launch a space laboratory, and the third step was to fully launch the space station project.
In 2022, with the full completion of China's space station, the "three-step" development strategy of the manned space project will also be fully realized. At the same time, the manned space project has also been transferred to the space station application and development stage.
On May 30 this year, the Shenzhou-16 manned spacecraft was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, which is also the first manned mission of China's manned space program to enter the space station application and development stage. The three astronauts on the mission spent 154 days in orbit before returning to Earth on October 31 this year. During this period, they carried out an out-of-cabin activity and carried out a number of space science experiments (experiments), including human factors engineering, aerospace medicine, and life ecology.
Four days before the Shenzhou-16 manned spacecraft returned to Earth (October 26), the Shenzhou-17 manned spacecraft was also launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Subsequently, the three astronauts of Shenzhou-17 and the Shenzhou-16 astronaut crew "rendezvous" at the Chinese space station, and the six astronauts lived together on the space station for about four days and rotated in orbit.
As of now, the three astronauts of Shenzhou-17 are still stationed in the Chinese space station, 400 kilometers away from Earth. They will also carry out a number of out-of-cabin activities, carry out a large number of research involving the basic physics of microgravity, space materials science and other fields, and complete various tasks such as installation, commissioning, maintenance and repair of equipment inside and outside the cabin.
Now, the strategic concept of 30 years ago has been fully realized, and China's manned space program will also embark on a new journey. In August this year, according to the China Manned Space Engineering Office, the lunar landing phase of China's manned lunar exploration project has been fully launched.
According to the plan, China will achieve the first landing of Chinese on the moon by 2030. The goal of this mission is to carry out scientific expeditions to the moon and related technical experiments, make breakthroughs in mastering key technologies such as manned round-trip to the Earth-Moon, short-term stay on the lunar surface, and man-machine joint exploration, and complete multiple tasks such as "landing, patrolling, mining, research, and return".
From lunar exploration to solar exploration
In addition to manned spaceflight, in the field of deep space exploration, China's aerospace is also moving forward. Three years ago, with the successful return of Chang'e-5 to Earth with lunar samples, China's lunar exploration program successfully completed the three-stage goal of "orbiting, landing, and returning". At the beginning of this year, Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar exploration program, revealed that in 2023, China will comprehensively promote the fourth phase of the lunar exploration project, including the Chang'e-6, Chang'e-7 and Chang'e-8 missions.
In September, the China National Space Administration announced that at present, the development of the Chang'e-6 mission of the lunar exploration project is being carried out as planned, and the launch is planned to be carried out around 2024. Wu Weiren previously said that Chang'e-6 will collect more samples from the far side of the moon and strive to achieve the goal of 2,000 grams. So far, the lunar sample returns have all been made on the front side of the moon, so the successful completion of the Chang'e-6 mission will create a new history for mankind.
However, before the official launch of Chang'e-6, the lunar exploration project will first launch the Queqiao-2 relay satellite. In May 2018, in order to undertake the relay communication between Chang'e-4 and the earth, China issued the "Queqiao" relay satellite.
However, because the design life of Queqiao is about to expire, Chang'e-6 needs a new relay satellite. After the Shenzhou 6 mission, Queqiao-2 will also serve as a public relay satellite platform for the fourth phase of lunar exploration, continuing to provide services for Chang'e-7 and Chang'e-8.
In addition to lunar exploration, China's aerospace fire exploration and solar exploration programs are also progressing in an orderly manner. On July 23, 2020, Tianwen-1 was successfully launched, and then the "Zhurong" Mars rover carried by it also successfully landed on Mars and successfully completed the scheduled exploration mission. This means that China's first Mars exploration mission has successfully completed the Mars orbiting, landing and roving exploration goals in one step. The next step for China's aerospace industry is to complete the Mars sample return mission, which is expected to be implemented around 2030, according to the China National Space Administration.
In terms of the solar exploration plan, in September this year, relevant experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences said that on the basis of the successful launch of the "Xihe" satellite, China will focus on promoting the implementation of the Sun-Earth L5 solar exploration project, and the initial plan is to launch the "Xihe-2" satellite in 2026.
On October 14, 2021, China successfully launched the first solar exploration science and technology test satellite "Xihe", and has achieved the first batch of exploration results. The destination of "Xihe-2" this time - the Sun-Earth L5 point, that is, the fifth Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth, is about 1 point from the earth500 million kilometers, which is still a gap in international exploration.
Some aerospace experts said that the exploration in this area is of great scientific significance, the engineering feasibility is good, and the input-output ratio is high. "Combined with near-earth observation, the three-dimensional reconstruction of solar activity phenomena can be realized, providing key information for revealing the physical mechanism of solar eruptions. In addition, the probe can also observe the upcoming solar activity facing the Earth 4-5 days in advance, and track the solar eruption facing the Earth in real time, bringing a revolutionary breakthrough to space weather forecasting.
The future of commercial aerospace is promising
Looking back on the progress of China's aerospace industry this year, Pang Zhihao told reporters that what impressed him the most was the remarkable achievements made by China's private aerospace industry. It mentions two examples, one is that on July 12, 2023, the Suzaku 2 Yao-2 rocket of China's private aerospace company Blue Arrow Aerospace was successfully launched, becoming the world's first liquid oxygen methane rocket to successfully put a payload into a predetermined orbit.
The other is that on December 10, 2023, the second flight test mission of the hyperbola-2 reusable liquid oxygen methane verification rocket independently developed by China's private aerospace enterprise Interstellar Glory was successful. "These achievements show that China's private aerospace industry has begun to develop rapidly, its innovation ability is relatively strong, and the future prospects are broad. Pang Zhihao said.
In the past few years, China's commercial aerospace industry has entered a period of rapid development, and by the end of 2022, the number of registered and effectively operating commercial aerospace enterprises in China reached 433. In the first half of 2023, all 25 of China's space launches were successful, including six launches by private space companies.
Cheng Wei, the founder of the Rocket School, told reportersIn recent years, with the continuous introduction of relevant policies conducive to the development of commercial aerospace, the development environment of China's commercial aerospace has become better and better. "For example, the construction of the Hainan commercial space launch site will further promote the development of commercial space. ”
According to the news in early December, as China's first and only commercial space launch site, the Hainan commercial space launch site has entered the critical stage of forming launch capabilities, and it is expected that the hardware construction will be completed by the end of this year and the normalized launch will be achieved in 2024.
CITIC** pointed out in a research reportAt present, China's commercial aerospace industry is dominated by the "national team" and private enterprises have entered one after another。Among them, the "national team" has obvious advantages in solid fuel, launch sites, customer resources, etc., while private companies continue to make progress by virtue of their own flexible advantages.
Talking about the development of China's commercial aerospace, a commercial aerospace person who did not want to be named told reporters that he has high expectations for the "national team" in the field of commercial aerospace, including the formation of the next satellite network and the launch of the Chang-8 rocket, but for private commercial aerospace, he feels that the market still needs to be viewed rationally, because in terms of capabilities in all aspects, there is still a big gap between private commercial aerospace and the "national team" and overseas companies. "Therefore, the future development of China's commercial aerospace still needs to be proofed by the national team, and then private enterprises will follow up. The person said.
However, some breakthroughs in private aerospace at this stage are still worth looking forward to. Pang Zhihao said that in addition to the Long March 10 new-generation manned launch vehicle used to launch the manned lunar landing spacecraft, Pang Zhihao said that in addition to the Suzaku 3 reusable liquid oxygen methane launch vehicle of the commercial space company, the Tianlong 3, the largest civilian and commercial liquid oxygen kerosene rocket in China, and the reusable liquid oxygen kerosene rocket Zhishenxing-1.
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Editor: Li Yutong, intern: Xiao Nan.
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