Beijing time today at 15:37:23 , The Long March 5B Yao-4 carrier rocket ignited and took off at the No. 1 launch station of the Wenchang Space Launch Site.
The moment when the Long March 5B Yao-4 carrier rocket ignited and took off | CCTV News
flying about After 493 seconds, the capsule and the arrow separated, and the rocket accurately sent the Mengtian experimental module of the Chinese space station into the initial orbit entrance of the scheduled docking, and the launch mission was a complete success .
This is the final battle in the construction phase of the Chinese space station.
Mengtian experimental cabin flight mission identification | CMS
Like the Wentian experimental module launched before, after the separation of the capsule and the arrow, the relay antenna, external lighting and other mechanisms were unlocked and deployed one after another.
In the next 13 hours, the dream capsule will undergo several orbit changes, which are expected to be at 4:30 a.m. tomorrow. Connect to the forward docking port of the Tianhe core cabin node cabin .
The relative position of the Chinese space station and the launch site when the rocket takes off |
Previously, the space station combination consisting of Tianhe core module, Wentian experimental module, Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft and Shenzhou-14 manned spacecraft had yawed 180° and established an inverted flight attitude to wait for the Mengtian experimental module and its crew. Rendezvous and docking.
Schematic diagram of the docking between the Mengtian capsule (left) and the space station assembly | CMS
After the docking is completed, the Mengtian experimental module will also carry out a series of actions such as secondary deployment of the solar wing, separation-transposition-re-docking, and deployment of the exposed experimental platform, forming the basic configuration of the “T” shape of the three cabins of the Chinese space station.
The official introduction video of Mengtian experimental cabin | CMS
Long March 5B Yao-4 carrier rocket
The Long March 5B Yao-4 rocket that launched the Mengtian experimental module this time is basically the same as the Yao-3 rocket that launched the Wentian experimental module before. The rocket height is about 54 meters, the diameter of the fairing is 5.2 meters, and the take-off mass is about 850 meters. Ton.
The Long March 5B Yao-4 carrier rocket transferred to the launch area | Xinhua News Agency
The Mengtian capsule, like the Wentian capsule, needs to rendezvous with the space station, and the launch vehicle needs to take off at a specific time, so this is the second “zero window” launch of the Long March 5B launch vehicle.
Experimental Cabin II – Mengtian
The Mengtian experimental cabin has a length of 17.9 meters, a maximum diameter of 4.2 meters, and a wingspan of 55.66 meters when the solar wings are fully deployed.
The Mengtian Experiment Module supports the astronauts to stay in orbit, and conducts experiments in the sealed capsule and external exposure platform experiments. At the same time, the Mengtian capsule can also provide astronauts with emergency shelters.
Schematic diagram of Mengtian experimental cabin | Shanghai Institute of Aerospace Technology
The Mengtian experimental cabin consists of three main parts: working cabin, cargo airlock cabin + load cabin, and resource cabin.
Schematic diagram of the structure of the Mengtian experimental cabin | Shanghai Institute of Aerospace Technology
load compartment
The biggest difference between the Mengtian cabin and the Wentian cabin in appearance is the cargo airlock and load compartment in the middle section.
In order to maximize the support scale of the exposure experiment outside the cabin, the dream cabin is equipped with an additional layer of non-pressurized structure outside the cargo airlock, which is the load cabin.
The load compartment is equipped with two expandable exposure test platforms in the direction of the ground and the zenith. The expandable exposure test platform has a larger area and can carry more scientific experiment loads.
Like the Wentian experimental module, a number of adapters for standard extra-vehicle exposed payloads are installed on the platform.
Mengtian Extravehicular Load Adapter Layout | Space Application Engineering and Technology Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences
cargo airlock
The airlock cabin configured in the dream cabin is used to support the entry and exit of scientific experimental loads and cargo .
Inside (top) and outside (bottom) perspectives of the cargo airlock in the Dreamliner | CMS
Compared with Wentian’s crew airlock, Mengtian’s cargo airlock has no extra-vehicle spacesuit support facilities , and an automatic transfer mechanism and automatic hatch are added. With the assistance of the robotic arm, the airlock compartment and the internal automatic transfer mechanism can realize the automatic entry and exit of the payload (cargo).
working cabin
Different from the Wentian experimental cabin, the Mengtian cabin mainly provides a platform for scientific experimental facilities, and the cabin is not equipped with crew sleeping areas and sanitary areas .
The environmental control and life protection system of the Mengtian experimental cabin is simpler than the configuration of the core cabin and the interrogation cabin. It is only equipped with atmospheric pressure control, temperature and humidity control, smoke detection and fire extinguishing facilities.
Under normal circumstances, the environmental control and life protection functions of the Mengtian cabin will be mainly supported by the core cabin and the interrogation cabin.
Ground test of all scientific experimental cabinets in Mengtian cabin | Space Application Engineering and Technology Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences
From the perspective of disciplines, the Mengtian experimental cabin mainly supports experiments in the fields of fluid combustion , space materials , and basic physics . It includes fluid physics experiment cabinet, two-phase system experiment cabinet, combustion science experiment cabinet, high temperature material science experiment cabinet, ultra-cold atomic physics experiment cabinet and high-precision time-frequency experiment cabinet (high-precision time-frequency experiment cabinet occupies 2 cabinets) ).
High-precision time-frequency experiment cabinet I and cabinet II | Space Application Engineering and Technology Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences
In addition, the dream cabin is also equipped with an online maintenance and adjustment operation cabinet and several general scientific experiment cabinets that can provide shared support for multiple disciplines and systems.
Online Maintenance and Adjustment Operation Cabinet | Space Application Engineering and Technology Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences
resource compartment
The functions and technical status of Mengtian resource cabin and Wentian resource cabin are almost identical. The solar wings of the end trusses provide sufficient energy for the operation of the space station.
It is worth mentioning that due to the shielding of the solar wing of the core module in the space station assembly configuration, the power generation power has dropped seriously. In the future, the astronauts will go out of the capsule many times to complete the expansion of the energy system.
The configuration of the space station after the transfer of the solar wing of the core module | Shanghai 811 Space Power Research Institute
The solar wings on both sides of the core module will be folded and disassembled and installed on the tail trusses of the two experimental modules respectively, and unfolded along the axial direction of the experimental modules to provide power output for the space station load.
Tiangong Space Station
The addition of the Mengtian experimental module marks the end of the construction phase of the Tiangong space station and the beginning of the operation phase.
my country’s space station plans to operate in orbit for more than 10 years. During this period, the Shenzhou spacecraft will carry out the round-trip transportation of astronauts, and the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft will transport materials and experimental (test) equipment.
As a national space laboratory, Tiangong Space Station will use 25 experimental cabinets in the cabin and 67 exposed load support facilities outside the cabin to continuously carry out various scientific and technical experiments.
After the Mengtian capsule is docked and repositioned, the T-shaped combination of the Chinese space station. Note that this scene will take place during the shift of the Shenzhou 14 crew and the Shenzhou 15 crew, so two Shenzhou manned spacecraft are docked on the space station | CMS
In the near future, we will also have the Space Survey Space Telescope (CSST). The Sky Survey Space Telescope is the first large-diameter and large-field space astronomical telescope in China, which is used for sky survey scientific research. It will fly in co-orbit with the space station, and will make 4 short-term stops with the space station, add propellant, and the astronauts will be out of the cabin to complete maintenance and other operations as appropriate.
Tiangong Space Station will gradually play an important role as a space home port .
Schematic diagram of the Sky Survey Space Telescope | Zhan Hu
In addition to the Sky Survey Space Telescope, more spacecraft may co-orbit with the Tiangong Space Station to receive on-orbit services in the future, and the current “T” configuration combination also has on-orbit expansion capabilities supported by cabin segments and applications .
The completed Chinese space station is even more worth looking forward to!
Witness Mengtian’s expedition and pay tribute to China Aerospace! Click the video to see the high-energy moment of China’s manned spaceflight!
Author: Bai Ge Zheng Liu
Edit: Steed
Source of cover image: more_space
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