At 15:37 yesterday, the Long March 5 B Yao-4 carrier rocket equipped with the space station Mengtian experimental cabin was ignited and launched on time at the Wenchang Space Launch Station in my country. About 8 minutes later, the Mengtian Experimental Cabin was successfully sep

At 15:37 yesterday, the Long March 5 B Yao-4 launch vehicle , equipped with the space station Mengtian experimental cabin, was ignited and launched on time at the Wenchang Space Launch Station in my country. About 8 minutes later, Mengtian Experimental Cabin successfully separated from the rocket and entered the predetermined orbit accurately, and the launch mission was a complete success. After about 13 hours, the Mengtian Experimental Cabin was successfully connected to the forward port of the Tianhe Core Cabin at 4:27 today. The transfer will be carried out as planned. The Mengtian Experimental Cabin will form a basic configuration combination of the space station "T" character with the Tianhe Core Cabin and the Wentian Experimental Cabin.

At 4:27 on November 1, the space station Mengtian Experimental Cabin was successfully connected to the forward port of Tianhe Core Cabin. The entire rendezvous and docking process took about 13 hours. Our reporter Wang Haixin took photos of the space station Dream Experimental Cabinet and the space station combination in orbit photographed by the flight control center

on November 1 at Beijing Space Flight Control Center . This is the situation in the Tianhe core compartment after the Mengtian Experimental Cabin was successfully connected to the forward port of Tianhe core compartment. Xinhua News Agency issued

new technology 1

configured 8 scientific experiment cabinets

Mengtian experiment cabin is the third section of China Space Station , and it is also the second scientific experiment cabin, consisting of a work cabin, a load cabin, a cargo airlock cabin and a resource cabin. The cabin is 17.88 meters long, has a diameter of 4.2 meters, and has a launch weight of about 23 tons. It can provide astronauts with more than 32 cubic meters of working and activity space. It is mainly used to carry out space science and application experiments, participate in the combined management of space stations, and the cargo airlock compartment can support the automatic entry and exit of cargo, providing support for scientific experiments inside and outside the compartment. There are 13 load cabinets in the

cabin, of which 8 are scientific experimental cabinets, mainly for the experimental fields of microgravity fluid and combustion, materials science, basic physics, etc. There are 37 load installation stations outside the cabin, which can provide mechanical, electrical and information capabilities for various scientific experimental loads.

high-precision time-frequency experimental cabinet is the most complex experimental cabinet in the space station. It consists of two internal scientific experimental cabinets and four external equipment to form a complete experimental system. "The high-precision time-frequency experimental system will build the world's most accurate space time-frequency system with the highest accuracy in orbit through the combination of different characteristics of the atomic clock in the cabin." The director of the National Timer Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the command of the scientific experimental system of the high-precision time-frequency experimental cabinet, introduced that the ultra-high-precision time-frequency experimental signal provided by the space station will be used for related basic physics research experiments, such as the measurement of gravitational redshift, the detection of changes in the fine structure constant , etc., to support the high-precision inspection of relativity and related theories. It can also provide high-precision time synchronization signals for some major technological infrastructure on the ground.

In the Mengtian Experimental Cabinet, the scientific experiment cabinet can create experimental conditions in space that are as low as near absolute zero and as high as 1600 degrees Celsius.

"The ultra-cold atomic physics experiment cabinet can lead us to the strange world of quantum mechanics in an impossible way on the ground." Wang Bin, deputy chief designer of the ultra-cold atomic physics experiment cabinet, said that the cabinet is my country's first ultra-cold atomic physics experiment platform operating under microgravity conditions. Using the space station's superior microgravity conditions and a series of new methods and technologies, it is expected to prepare ultra-low temperature quantum gas within the range of only one hundred billionth of a degree Celsius above "absolute zero" and macroscopic quantum phenomena visible to the naked eye will be observed. Under microgravity conditions, major physical problems research based on the ultra-cold atom physical experimental system is expected to exceed the limitations of the ground to obtain major basic scientific breakthroughs, providing higher precision tests for basic physical laws.

New technology2

can release small satellite in orbit

"Tiangong Space Station will be the largest comprehensive space research experimental platform in my country in the next 10 years. We will build it into a national space laboratory with advanced level." Liu Guoning, deputy chief of space application system of the Space Application Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced that the Tiangong Space Station can efficiently carry out systematic space science and application research and new technology experiments, continuously produce major scientific and technological achievements, and continuously obtain comprehensive application benefits.

Mengtian Experimental Cabin can also "play slingshot" on track.Meng Yao, the overall deputy chief designer of Mengtian Experimental Cabin at the Space Station of the Eighth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group, introduced that Mengtian Experimental Cabin has the ability to release micro-aircraft and can meet the release needs of 100 kilogram aircraft or multiple specifications of cubic star . micro satellite is installed in the release mechanism and can reach the outside of the chamber through the load transfer mechanism like cargo is out of the chamber. After confirming the launch direction, the release mechanism ejects the tiny satellite like a slingshot.

New technology3

" large truck " parked into the "small parking space"

Mengtian experimental cabin is similar to the Wentian experimental cabin launched several months ago, its rendezvous and docking process is even more difficult. "The difficulty of this rendezvous and docking is like parking the largest truck into the smallest parking space." said Song Xiaoguang, deputy chief designer of the space station guidance navigation and control subsystem of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group.

Since the Mengtian Experimental Cabin has entered orbit, the sun and the orbit have a large angle, and the solar windsurfing capacity is weak. If the rendezvous and docking cannot be completed within the specified time, the independent rendezvous and docking process needs to be interrupted, and the attitude of the Mengtian Experimental Cabin is urgently adjusted to ensure the supply of energy in a continuous direction to Japan. This is the first "difficulty" of the docking task of this rendezvous and convergence task and the biggest danger point.

The second "difficulty" is that when Mengtian Experimental Cabin is renowned, docking, the space station assembly is an asymmetric configuration of "L" shape. Compared with the rendezvous and docking modules when Wentian Experimental Cabin, the combination body has only a symmetrical configuration of Tianhe core cabin. The combined center of mass of the "L" configuration undergoes a large lateral deviation, which significantly increases the difficulty of controlling the space station's orbit attitude. In addition, when the Mengtian Experimental Cabin approaches the combination, it is necessary to turn on the reverse push engine to slow down. The engine's plume will interfere with the posture of the combination.

In order to accurately welcome the arrival of Mengtian Experimental Cabin, the Beijing Flight Control Center has implemented multiple phase adjustment controls on the space station assembly in the past month, and has carried out a lot of deduction and drills to ensure that the assembly arrives at the pre-determined position on time.

In space, the scene of "threading a needle from thousands of miles" is staged again. The space station guidance navigation and control system work stably, accurately identifying the relative distance and relative posture of the Mengtian experimental cabin and the assembly, and successfully completing high-precision rendezvous and docking.

New technology 4

airlock cabin is equipped with " electric door "

In the airlock cabin of Mengtian Experimental Cabin, there is a sealed hatch door that uses electric drive automatic switch in the space station for the first time in the history of world aerospace. It adopts a brand new structure and mechanism design, and is the most difficult and longest-cycle hatch among the space station hatch doors.

electric outer cabin door is controlled by the controller. When the cargo enters the airlock compartment and completes the exit preparation, the electric outer cabin door rotates about 90 degrees along the axis of the door to open to ensure that the cargo passage is fully opened and the cargo is automatically discharged; after completing the cargo exit task, the electric outer cabin door will automatically close. With spacious passages and load transfer mechanisms, the cargo transport capacity of Mengtian Experimental Cabin can reach 400 kg.

The accuracy requirements for large-size curved surface sealing structures are higher, and the wall thickness and size differences in the various parts of the door body are greater. Factory 529 of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation has adopted a new process solution for the metal body of the hatch door to achieve high-precision contour processing of large-size curved surface sealing structures. Non-metal rope with extremely high strength has become an important part of the implementation of hatch door switch-the rope-tether traction mechanism. Under the same weight, the tensile strength of this rope is 6 times that of ordinary steel wire. Opening the door with a rope is really special.

new technology 5

"Space Power Station" will be upgraded

Dream Sky Experimental Cabin After the "Space Power Station" will also be upgraded.

Like the Wentian Experimental Cabin, the Mengtian Experimental Cabin is equipped with two sets of large flexible sun wings, the single wing wingspan is 27 meters long, the spread area of ​​a single set of sun wings reaches 138 square meters, and the single power is as high as 18 kilowatts.

Meng Yao introduced that the Mengtian Experimental Cabin and the Wentian Experimental Cabin are equipped with a dual-degree of freedom sun-oriented system in the resource cabin. According to the in-orbit motion posture of the space station and the angle of the sun, solar wing can rotate around the experimental cabin axis and the solar wing axis to ensure that the sunlight can be illuminated vertically on the battery cell and achieve the highest power generation efficiency.

After the basic configuration of China's space station is assembled, the four sets of flexible solar wings configured in the two experimental cabins will create the strongest energy source for China's space station, providing 80% of the energy for the three-cabin assembly after the space station is completed.

(Original title: Mengtian Experimental Cabin and the Space Station complete the rendezvous and docking)

Source: Beijing Evening News Reporter Liu Suya

Process Editor: U022