Xinhua News Agency, Jiuquan, September 15th Title: "shouldering the mission of verifying the important technology of China’s space station construction"-Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China’s manned spaceflight project, "declassified" Tiangong-2.
Li Zhongshuang, Li Guoli, Chen Xi
At 22: 04 on September 15th, Tiangong-2 Space Laboratory was launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Zhou Jianping, the chief designer of China’s manned spaceflight project, declassified the Tiangong-2 space laboratory and the construction of China’s space station when interviewed by Xinhua News Agency.
Zhou Jianping said: "Tiangong-2 is a space laboratory in the true sense, shouldering the mission of verifying the important technology of China’s space station construction."
Tiangong-2 is a real space laboratory.
Realize the round-trip transportation between heaven and earth, break through the technology of astronauts’ extravehicular activities, and master the rendezvous and docking technology of spacecraft … Zhou Jianping’s achievements in manned space flight in China in the past ten years are numerous.
"With the mastery of key technologies in these manned spaceflight projects, the construction of China Space Station has also been put on the agenda." He said, "An important purpose of launching Tiangong-2 Space Laboratory is to verify the key technologies for the construction of China Space Station."
The launch of Tiangong-2 is the core task of the space laboratory phase of China’s manned spaceflight project. Zhou Jianping said that the tasks of the space laboratory mainly include: on June 25 this year, a new generation of launch vehicle Long March 7 made its first flight, and the purpose of this mission has been achieved; The rendezvous and docking of Tiangong-2 and Shenzhou-11 manned spacecraft will be carried out in October this year; The rendezvous and docking of Tiangong-2 and Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft is planned to be implemented in the first half of next year.
"The whole task is planned to be completed in the first half of next year." Zhou Jianping said.
The "predecessor" of Tiangong-2 is the backup product of Tiangong-1 target aircraft, and it also adopts the configuration of experimental cabin and resource cabin. In order to adapt to the new mission, researchers modified it. For example, in order to meet the needs of propellant replenishment verification test, the propulsion subsystem of Tiangong-2 was adapted; In order to meet the needs of medium-term stay, the manned livable environment has been greatly improved, and it has the ability to support two astronauts to work and live in orbit for 30 days.
"So, Tiangong-2 is a real space laboratory in China. Tiangong-2 is called the space laboratory, while Tiangong-1 is the target aircraft. " Zhou Jianping said.
Tiangong-2 has the basic technical capabilities of China Space Station.
According to the plan, China will build a space station around 2020, and its overall configuration is three modules-a core module and two experimental modules, each module is 20 tons, and the overall configuration is T-shaped.
Compared with the space station, Tiangong-2, which weighs 8 tons, is much smaller and lighter, and its mass is less than half that of a cabin of the space station.
"Sparrows are small and complete. As an on-orbit platform with long-term unmanned independent flight and short-term care, Tiangong-2 has the basic capabilities that the space station needs. " Zhou Jianping said.
When Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft visits Tiangong-2, it can add propellant to Tiangong-2 to make it work longer in orbit. "This is a very important technology for space station construction." Zhou Jianping explained that in the future, the space station will need to fly in orbit for more than ten years, and it is impossible to take all the fuel and consumables at once, so it needs to be replenished in orbit, "just like refueling in the air".
In a short period of time, two male astronauts will go into space on the Shenzhou XI manned spacecraft and work and live in Tiangong II for 30 days. "The realization of the 30-day stay will accumulate experience for China’s long-term flight of the space station in the future." Zhou Jianping said.
China will enter the stage of space station construction next year.
"After the completion of the space laboratory mission, China will enter the stage of space station construction, and we will build a Chinese space station with technological characteristics of the times and China characteristics." Zhou Jianping said, "Around 2018, China will launch the core cabin of the space station."
China will build a space station that is more economical and informative than the International Space Station. "Information technology, renewable environmental protection, new energy, automation and artificial intelligence technologies will be integrated on the China Space Station." Zhou Jianping said.
China Space Station is smaller than the International Space Station, with more than 60 tons of three-cabin assembly, which can dock at most two manned spacecraft and one cargo spacecraft. "Our space station is expandable and will further improve its capabilities on the basis of its current composition according to the needs of scientific research and international cooperation." Zhou Jianping said.
He revealed that after the completion of the space station, the rated design will accommodate three astronauts. Since the space station needs to be manned continuously, the group rotation system will be adopted afterwards, so the maximum number of astronauts in the space station can reach 6 during the rotation period.
China manned space flight will be normalized.
Since Yang Liwei’s first flight into space in 2003, 10 astronauts have entered space in China in 13 years.
"After the completion of the China Space Station, manned space flight will become the norm." Zhou Jianping said, "Generally speaking, at least two crew members and six astronauts need to enter the space station in a year, which means that astronauts’ missions will become more and more frequent."
"We will select and train more astronauts, and we need more astronauts to fly and enter the space station in the future." Zhou Jianping said.
The Shenzhou XI manned spacecraft, which will be launched in October, will take two male astronauts to rendezvous and dock with Tiangong-2, and there will be no female astronauts.
In this regard, Zhou Jianping explained that there are more than 10 astronauts in China at present, and every astronaut wants to have the opportunity to fly, but the space flight arrangement has a reasonable period. "If more astronauts can participate in the mission and accumulate flying experience, it will be of great benefit to improve the overall ability and quality of the astronaut team."
There are two female astronauts in China, Liu Yang and Wang Yaping. "Although they don’t carry out the mission this time, they are always training carefully." Zhou Jianping said, "In the near future, there will be female astronauts in space flight in China."
China has the basic ability to carry out manned landing on the moon.
Internationally, many scientists believe that Mars is an important goal that human beings should pursue and explore. China’s Mars probe has entered the development stage. In this regard, Zhou Jianping said frankly that Mars exploration is a very complicated project.
"At this stage, manned landing on the moon is the goal closer to mankind." Zhou Jianping believes that to carry out exploration on the moon, we should pay attention to the effectiveness and sustainability of exploration, and finally aim at the development and utilization of lunar resources. "This is the only way to go before landing on Mars".
"Technically, China Aerospace has the basic ability to carry out manned landing on the moon." Zhou Jianping said that manned landing on the moon is technically more complicated and larger than the manned flight at present. To achieve this goal, China still faces many technical challenges: rockets that need greater carrying capacity, aircraft that can land on the moon and return, and new spacecraft to and from the earth and the moon …
Hainan Wenchang may become China’s second manned space launch site.
According to the plan, China Space Station and cargo spacecraft will be launched at the newly-built Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan.
Will Hainan Wenchang become China’s second manned space launch site? Zhou Jianping said that if the manned moon landing project is implemented, the Hainan launch site is technically a better choice, "but now the manned space launch is still in Jiuquan".
Zhou Jianping said that the new generation rockets, such as Long March 7, have stronger carrying capacity and use non-toxic and pollution-free propellants, so when developing these rockets, the demand for launching manned spacecraft instead of conventional propellants in the future is also taken into account.
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