In 2022, the number of my country's aerospace orbital-stage launches hit a record high, reaching 64 times, ranking second in the world. Among them, 53 launches of the "Long March" series launch vehicle were successful. Commercial rockets and private aerospace companies have launched 11 times, and only Interstellar Glory's Hyperbola-1 Yao-4 and Blue Arrow Aerospace's Suzaku-2 Yao-1 rockets failed to launch. The United States also had two launch failures this year, and one was partially successful.
Global orbit-level space launch statistics in 2022
In 2022, my country's most important space activity is the on-orbit construction of the space station , which has been carried out throughout the year There were 6 launches, including the two experimental modules "Wentian" and "Mengtian", the two cargo spacecrafts "Tianzhou 4" and "Mengtian" 5, and the two manned spacecrafts "Shenzhou 14" and "Shenzhou 15". For the first time, six astronauts were in orbit at the same time. During the construction of the entire first phase of the space station project, a total of 11 launches were carried out from 2021 to 2022, all of which were successful.
The biggest achievement of my country’s aerospace industry this year is the construction of the first phase of the space station.
Now that the first phase of the construction of the space station has been completed, should my country’s aerospace industry take a break? What other big moves are worth looking forward to in 2023? Of course there is. The first is the launch of the "Sky Survey" optical module. It was originally planned to be launched in 2024, but has now been advanced to December 2023. It is the last module of the first phase of my country's space station project and was originally deployed in the "Mengtian" experimental module. However, considering the adverse impact of the operation of the space station on space observation, it was finally changed to co-orbital flight, flying with the space station. When necessary, it can dock with the space station to receive supplies and maintenance, and can also dock with manned and cargo spacecraft alone. It is worth mentioning that the "Sky Survey" optical module is not the only module that flies with my country's space station.
Sky survey is not my country’s only module that flies with the space station
The second is in June 2023. The Long March 5 Yao-6 rocket will have an unknown mission, and the current payload has not been disclosed. As for its payload, some people speculate that it is the launch of the Chinese version of "Starlink ", or the second unmanned test flight of a new generation of manned spacecraft. However, and Long March 5 are for medium and high orbits. The two low-orbit missions mentioned above are the work of Long March 5B.
Long March 5 and Long March 5B are different
However, there is also a possibility of using Long March 5 to launch a new generation of manned spacecraft, because our new generation of manned spacecraft is not only a low-Earth orbit spacecraft, but can also fly to the moon. and Mars took the first flight of the Long March 5B on May 5, 2020, and reached an orbit 8,000 kilometers above the earth. This time they may fly further to test the radiation protection ability after leaving the protection of the earth's magnetic field. If true, the possibility of launching with the Long March 5 is relatively high.
The first flight of the new generation manned spacecraft has flown to an orbit 8,000 kilometers from the earth
The new generation of manned rockets and the new generation of manned spacecraft
The third one is the launch of the domestic version of "Starlink" mentioned earlier, that is, the "StarNet". Previously, CCTV News reported in October 2022 that the Long March 5B will also be responsible for the launch of my country's multi-satellite network in the future. The outside world speculates that it is the "StarNet". According to the 25-ton low-Earth orbit carrying capacity of the Chang 5B launch vehicle, it can launch nearly a hundred "StarNet" satellites at a time, which is nearly double the forty or fifty "Starlink" satellites launched by SpaceX Company at a time. If launches really start in 2022, that would be great.
Star Network should start construction as soon as possible
Fourth, our country is vigorously developing reusable rockets, such as Long March 6X, Long March 8R, Long March 5G and Long March 9, all of which have recycling and reuse as standard, while private aerospace companies’ Star Glory 's Hyperbola 2, Galaxy Power 's Pallas 1, Deep Blue Aerospace's "Nebula" M1, and Lingke Aerospace's Shinkansen 1, etc. Although they are still far away from their dreams and the rocket recovery tests conducted are not perfect, they still hope to see a big breakthrough in 2023. If you persist in your dream, you will definitely succeed.
Long March 8R landing buffer legs
Hyperbolic 2 landing buffer legs
And in the next 2024, our country’s spaceflight stars and sea will The picture goes even further. The Chinese version of "Voyager 1", the nuclear-powered "Interstellar Express" IHP-1, will set off on the Long March 5 to conduct exploration of the edge of the solar system. There may be two similar detectors in the future, flying to deep space 100 astronomical units from the earth. In the future, we will have Chang'e 6, 7, and 8, and Tianwen 2 and 3 to detect and return samples of the moon, Mars, asteroids, comets, and Jupiter systems, and even conduct interception tests on asteroids. Our ultimate goal is to go to the moon and Mars to grow vegetables, build infrastructure, and plant red flags throughout the solar system.
The moon is just a small target
