Long March 5B Long March 1 mission
The remaining 11 missions focus on the verification of key technologies in orbit and construction of the space station. As of the Tianzhou 5 mission, 10 launch missions have been completed.
In fact, we completed the construction task of the three-cabin T-shaped configuration of the Tiangong Space Station in just 9 launches, which took only one and a half years. In contrast, International Space Station was used to complete the deployment task of Hope Experimental Cabin and its exposure experimental platform, with a time span of up to eleven years.
Tianzhou 5's Tiangong Space Station
Although the international space station is large in scale, what it can do Tiangong can still do:
Truss Sun Wing ? We have the experimental cabin counter-layout to implement it;
airlock cabin? We have achieved that all cabins have airlock compartments (two personnel airlock compartments, one of the world's largest cargo airlock compartments);
exposure experimental platform? Mengtian Experimental Cabin was soon inverted, and the exposure experiment platform was expanded;
Mengtian Experimental Cabin Experimental Cabin Platform was expanded to the position
robotic arm? Tianhe robotic arm and Wentian robotic arm have long been dancing with both arms;
Look at the right side of the screen, Tianhe robotic arm and Wentian robotic arm are cascaded together.
sleeping area? The six permanent sleeping areas fully demonstrate the people-oriented design concept. Even during orbit rotation, our astronauts do not need to lay the ground like the International Space Station...
Qiantian Experimental Cabin Sleeping Area (Part 1) and Tianhe Core Cabin Sleeping Area (Part 2)
This is the "system victory" way of Tiangong Space Station. The Tianzhou cargo spacecraft with strong transportation capacity plays a key role in this system. The space station combination orbit adjustment, fuel replenishment, freight support, new technology verification and other tasks are undertaken by Tianzhou. The spacecraft has made great contributions to the rapid construction and commissioning of Tiangong.
As of now, four Tianzhou cargo spacecraft have been launched in the space station mission, namely Tianzhou 2 , Tianzhou 3 , Tianzhou 4 and Tianzhou 5. The first cargo ship of the space station was improved on the basis of the original Tianzhou 1, and the last three ships are in the same batch. They have changed the configuration plan of the rendezvous and docking sensor based on Tianzhou 2.
Tianzhou 4
Tianzhou cargo spacecraft is capable?
Take Tianzhou V as an example. The spacecraft is loaded with 239 pieces (sets) of cargo, weighing about 5.3 tons, carrying 2.5 tons of propellant (1.4 tons of supplementary propellant), and the total weight of upstream materials is about 6.7 tons. Not only is the first of all types of cargo spacecraft in service in the world, but the cargo ratio reaches 0.51, which is also at the world's leading level. The cargo ratio is the ratio of the spacecraft's designed launch weight to the cargo weight. The larger the ratio indicates the higher the transportation efficiency of the spacecraft.
Tianzhou 5 cargo compartment
Not only that, Tianzhou 5 also practiced 2-hour rapid rendezvous and docking, further consolidating my country's leading position in the field of space rendezvous and docking technology.
Tianzhou 5 docking space station took a picture
Even if Tianzhou is already so advanced, we will not stop moving forward. As early as 5 months ago, the chief engineer of the cargo ship system disclosed on CCTV that the new batch of cargo ships include Tianzhou 6, Tianzhou 7, Tianzhou 8, Tianzhou 9, Tianzhou 10, and Tianzhou 11, which will have new improvements and greatly improve transportation capacity.
Recently, according to CCTV reports, the cargo compartment of the improved Tianzhou spacecraft can increase the capacity by 500 kilograms.
Tianzhou cargo spacecraft consists of a propulsion compartment and a cargo compartment. The improvement measures for the new batch of Tianzhou are to expand the capacity of the cargo compartment. As an example, Tianzhou 5 carries 8 propellant storage tanks, and the rest of the spacecraft have 4 storage tanks.
cargo compartment
propulsion compartment
Flexible adjustment of the number of storage tanks based on tasks was originally the functional advantage of Tianzhou cargo ship , and the task frequency of carrying 8 storage tanks is relatively low, so the cargo compartment volume can be expanded based on the propulsion compartment of 4 storage tanks.
The above improvement measures are just my speculation, and the specific improvements need to be announced later. Another possible improvement is to streamline the spacecraft platform equipment.
So, will the reduction in the number of propellant storage tanks affect the operation of the space station assembly? No, after entering the stable on-orbit operation stage, the propellant consumption of the space station assembly will be more controllable. At the same time, the Hall electric thrust engine configured in Tianhe core compartment will also play a role. The original intention of this type of power configuration is to reduce dependence on conventional propellants. In addition, if there is a large amount of fuel replenishment demand in the future, the original 8 tank sky boat can continue to play a role.
Tiangong Space Station Electric Propelled On-orbit Test
Currently, the Tianzhou 5, which is docked at the backward port of Tianhe core compartment, has another significant difference compared with the previous cargo ships, that is, the time for docking the space station will last for a year . In contrast, Tianzhou 2 and Tianzhou 3 have been nearly 10 months, and Tianzhou 4 has been 6 months.
cargo spacecraft extends the residence time, which means extending the operation time of the on-orbit support assembly. The original plan to launch two Shenzhou spacecraft every year and three Tianzhou cargo spacecraft in two years, that is, launching one Tianzhou every eight months. Reducing the number of cargo spacecraft launches can save hundreds of millions of funds every year, and increasing the sealed cabin cargo capacity will better serve this goal.
originally planned to launch three Tianzhou every two years
0 After expanding the cargo capacity of sealed cabin , Tianzhou will have new changes in the next tide. As early as the beginning of the design of this type of spacecraft, three variants were selected, namely full sealed, semi-open, and fully open. The latter two models can transport non-pressurized cargo. For example, the Tiangong Space Station will also deploy a large-scale extended exposure experimental platform in the future. These platform components can be carried by Tianzhou spacecraft with open cargo compartments. After docking at the space station, they can be grasped and installed by robotic arms to the outside cabin interface.
From left to right: fully sealed, semi-sealed, fully open
In addition, Tianzhou can also completely remove the cargo compartment, and the small cabin section of the space station is deployed separately from the propulsion compartment. Although
-day boat cargo ship is very strong, it also has the problem of insufficient capacity allocation. For this reason, we are developing small cargo spacecraft with small capacity and downward capacity to meet the diversified cargo needs of space stations. In the future, we will also promote the development of cargo models of the new generation of manned spacecraft, thereby building a more complete round-trip cargo system for the world.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-