According to Guizhou Radio and Television Station's public channel headline "People's Attention", on June 30, some netizens discovered a mysterious aircraft flying in the sky in downtown Guiyang.

According to the Guizhou Radio and Television Station's public channel headline "People's Attention", on June 30, some netizens discovered a mysterious aircraft flying in the sky in downtown Guiyang. The title of the report is: "Unidentified object appears in the sky over Guiyang. Citizen: I want to know what it is?"If you are interested, you can learn about it yourself.

Judging from the tail flame of this mysterious aircraft, it seems to use the rocket engine . The flight altitude is higher than that of a passenger aircraft and the speed is faster. It is unlikely to be a civil aviation passenger aircraft. Judging from the size, this mysterious aircraft is also much larger than a drone, and it is obviously not a drone.

The picture

taken by Guiyang netizens is not a rocket, a civil aviation aircraft, or a drone. So what is this mysterious aircraft?

is most likely an aerospace plane!

It is understood that my country's Tengyun aerospace aircraft is a new concept engine that uses a combination of liquid rocket engine and ramjet engine . During the climb phase, it initially generates thrust in liquid rocket mode, and only starts the ramjet after reaching a certain height and speed. The engine continued to accelerate to above Mach 7. From this point of view, this aircraft is very likely to be the Tengyun aerospace aircraft being developed by my country's Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation.

The aerospace plane is between an airplane and a rocket. It is considered to be a new aerospace equipment that subverts the rocket and space shuttle . It usually consists of two stages, the first stage is the carrier and the second stage is the orbiter. When pre-cooled aerospace power technology matures in the future, it will be possible for aerospace aircraft to achieve single-stage entry into orbit.

On July 16 last year, domestic media publicly reported that our country had successfully tested a reusable spacecraft that took off vertically and landed horizontally, but no image data was given. At that time, the outside world generally believed that this aircraft was an aerospace plane. At that time, the "China Military Industry" Douyin account responded to netizens: "It is too advanced and is inconvenient to display."

On July 17, 2021, the "China Military Industry" Douyin account responded to the previous day's reusable spacecraft news

2021 In September, after US Air Force Secretary Kendall hinted that China was developing space weapons similar to the "Partial Orbital Bombing System (FOBS)", the British "Financial Times" immediately published an "exclusive report" claiming that China A rocket was launched on July 27, using the "partial orbital bombing system" for the first time to propel a "hypersonic glide vehicle" capable of carrying the nuclear warhead around the earth. The newspaper claimed that China conducted a second test on August 13. The

report quoted three people with "knowledge" of the first test as saying that the test shocked the Pentagon and intelligence agencies because China successfully demonstrated a new weapons capability. U.S. government scientists are working to understand the capability, which the U.S. does not yet possess, one person said, adding that China's achievement appeared to "defy the laws of physics."

In response to this matter, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian responded when accepting questions from foreign reporters on October 18, 2021: "This test is a routine spacecraft test used to verify the reusability technology of the spacecraft. The cost of use of the aircraft is of great significance, and it can provide a convenient and cheap way for humans to use space peacefully. "

Compared with space shuttles, what are the advantages of aerospace planes?

In the 1980s, the United States developed the space shuttle. The Americans claimed that it could be reused many times and that the cost of traveling to and from space was greatly reduced. At that time, it was the envy of all countries in the world.

However, as the number of launches increased, the Americans discovered that the space shuttle was too complex, resulting in poor reliability. The low-cost space shuttle advantage that was originally envied by various countries was dragged down by poor reliability, resulting in the advantage disappearing. Instead, Become an expensive and unreliable spacecraft.

Therefore, the Americans decided to develop a highly reliable reusable spacecraft based on the space shuttle, that is, an aerospace shuttle!

Space shuttle takeoff photos

Compared with the space shuttle, the difference between the aerospace shuttle and the space shuttle is that its entire body is recyclable. The space shuttle cannot do this. The booster, which accounts for about 95% of its weight, can only be used once. This also results in the cost of using a space shuttle being much higher than that of an aerospace shuttle!

If you want to build an aerospace plane, new concept engines are the key.

Whether it is a space shuttle or a reusable rocket, they all use rocket engines. The specific impulse is only between 200 and 470 seconds, and the combustion efficiency is really low.

The aerospace aircraft is not like this. According to the plan announced by our country, it is divided into three steps: In the first step, the carrier adopts a lifting body design and is equipped with rocket power and can be reused. The orbiter is also equipped with rocket power, but it can only One-time use; in the second step, the launch vehicle adopts a lifting body design and is equipped with rocket power and can be reused. The orbiter also adopts a lifting body design and is equipped with rocket power and can be reused; in the third step, it uses combined power and can be reused.

The three-step aerospace plane plan disclosed by the Aerospace Science and Technology Group

When it develops to the third step, it can be further divided into two stages:

The first stage: the carrier uses a combined cycle engine, and the carrier uses a rocket engine. A two-stage fully reusable aerospace aircraft was developed.

second stage: Based on the pre-cooled combined power system, a single-stage spacecraft into orbit is developed. The carrier and orbiter of this aerospace plane are directly integrated into a whole, making it simpler and more reliable.

Outsiders estimate that the reusable spacecraft that flew on July 16, 2021 was a relatively rudimentary spacecraft of the second step mentioned above. The purpose was to verify the feasibility and correctness of the lifting body design. . On July 27 and August 13, it was suspected that the aerospace aircraft of the third step and the first stage mentioned above was tested, using a two-stage combination.

htmlOfficial low-key promotional photos of the August 13th test

The biggest highlight of this two-stage combination aerospace aircraft is that it uses a combined cycle engine. This new concept engine of mainly consists of three types of engines: turbine/turbofan jet engine, rocket engine, sub-fuel/ scramjet engine and engine. Through clever design, they are combined into four new concept combined cycle engines.

Compared with ordinary engines, the average specific impulse of this type of combined cycle engine can reach more than 800 seconds, which is much higher than that of rocket engines, and the propulsion efficiency is also much higher.

After this, if precooled power can be developed, it can be developed into an aerospace aircraft that can enter orbit in a single stage in the third and second steps. This can greatly simplify the design of the aerospace aircraft and further reduce the cost The cost of traveling to and from space.

According to news reports, our country has built the most critical "precooler" in precooled aerospace power.

On April 19, 2021, Guangming.com published an article titled ""Yunlong" is coming! According to the report "Key Test of Combined Power Engine for Space-to-Space Shuttle Vehicles", revealed for the first time that my country's pre-cooled aerospace power has completed the trial production of the principle prototype in 2020 and passed the first stage of system-level ground testing. Experimental verification!

mentioned in the article: Since the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan", pre-cooling power technology has entered the field of vision of experts from 31 institutes.At that time, basic research on this type of technology had been carried out internationally for many years and certain breakthroughs had been achieved. After preliminary follow-up research, the team from 31 Institutes was shocked by the complexity of this technology: to achieve a cooling of 1000°C in 0.01 seconds, The operation in the environment of minus 150℃ requires no frost... extremely harsh!

On November 26, 2021, " China Aerospace News " published an article titled "The temperature dropped by nearly 1000°C in milliseconds, and there was a new breakthrough in the development of the "Yunlong" engine precooler", reporting on China Aerospace News The Precooling Power Technology Center of the 31st Institute of the Third Institute of Science and Technology Group Co., Ltd. completed the first thermal test of the "Yunlong" engine precooler Ma5 on a test bed in Yungang, Beijing, achieving a temperature drop of nearly 1,000°C in milliseconds. The test met expectations. Target.

"Yunlong" engine test photo

For comparison, on March 25, 2019, the Saber engine precooler jointly developed by the United Kingdom and the United States can reduce the Mach 5 high-speed airflow from 1000°C to -150°C in 0.05 seconds.

On April 7, 2019, the US Aviation Week and Space Technology website reported that on March 25, 2019, the British Reaction Engine Limited (REL) successfully completed the "Saber" at the TF2 test station of the Colorado Air and Space Port in the United States. High-temperature assessment test of the full-scale pre- cooler (HTX) prototype of the engine demonstrator under the condition of Mach number 3.3. The

test results show that the HTX prototype cooled the 426°C high-temperature airflow to about 100°C in 0.05 seconds, generating a heat exchange efficiency of about 1.5 MW, which further cooled the J79 turbojet engine at maximum afterburner thrust. The high-temperature airflow generated below lays the foundation.

On October 23, 2019, according to the ESA website, the British company React Engines tested SABER's precooler at an airflow temperature equal to Mach 5 (or five times the speed of sound). The test was successful. Test results show that the precooler can reduce hypersonic airflow from 1000°C to -150°C in 0.05 seconds.

Saber engine development process diagram

It is understood that the development of pre-cooled aerospace power in the UK began in the 1980s, and it has been nearly 40 years. Although my country’s precooled aerospace power research started nearly 30 years late, it is catching up very quickly. As of the end of last year, my country's precooled aerospace power development progress was only more than a year behind. In terms of the most critical cooling speed indicator, our country's "precooler" is even much higher than the full performance of the "Saber" engine demonstrator. Size Precooler (HTX)!

If we continue to develop at this rate, our country is likely to lead the United Kingdom and the United States, and be the first in the world to develop pre-cooled aerospace power, and thus be the first in the world to develop an aerospace aircraft that can enter orbit in a single stage!

Today, U.S. experiments in the hypersonic field often fail. On June 30, local time, the U.S. Pentagon stated that the latest test of the U.S. hypersonic weapon failed recently. An "abnormal situation" occurred in the first test of the entire system, but the official did not give any information about the "abnormality." status” details. In fact, only one of the five hypersonic weapons tests conducted by the United States since last year was successful. Outside analysts say that the U.S.’s hypersonic wind tunnel technology lags behind that of China and Russia, which may be the main reason for the frequent failures of U.S. hypersonic aircraft tests.

Schematic diagram of two-stage separation of Tengyun aerospace aircraft

At present, my country's aerospace aircraft has developed to at least the third step and the first stage, and has entered the third step and the second stage. The United States has only developed the orbiter X37b so far, and it is still There is no news that the launch vehicle has been developed, and the development progress of its combined cycle engine and aerospace aircraft has lagged far behind our country. If nothing else happens, our country is likely to be far ahead of the United States in the future and be the first to develop a single-stage aerospace aircraft into orbit!