Compared with the space station once launched by the United States and the Soviet Union, the China Tiangong-1 target aircraft, which will be used as a small space laboratory, is a "villain". Tiangong-1 weighs 8.5 tons, while the Sky Laboratory launched by the United States 1973 weighs 80 tons, and the core module of the space station "Peace" launched by the Soviet Union 1986 also has 20 tons, not to mention the current international space station of more than 450 tons. However, this "little head" is rich in meaning and far-reaching. No wonder it has attracted global attention and heated discussion.
Tiangong-1, which is ready to go, shoulders the heavy responsibility of laying a technical foundation for China to build a space station around 2020. George, a famous American space policy expert? John, a professor at Washington University? Logsdon said: "This is the first step for China to build a larger space station in 10 years."
For China people, "Tiangong No.1" is of even greater significance, which makes China people's dream of flying to the sky continuously extend and expand. The British Daily Telegraph article points out that it represents China's increasingly grand national ambition and scientific and technological ideal.
"Tiangong No.1" will undoubtedly create many firsts in China, with far-reaching significance. It is not difficult to understand people's expectations for the launch of Tiangong-1.
The common sense of space powers is that the space station is the only way for manned space development. Manned space flight and space station construction are very different from unmanned space flight. In order to ensure personal safety, all factors should be considered comprehensively, and the technical requirements are higher. In manned spaceflight project, the construction of space station is a higher-level and higher-level technical embodiment.
What needs to be clearly understood is that compared with countries such as the United States and Russia, China's space station technology is still in its infancy. The launch of Tiangong-1 is only the beginning of China's efforts to narrow the gap. Reuters reported that from a technical point of view, even if Tiangong-1 was successful as a technical test platform, its rendezvous and docking with Shenzhou-8 only imitated the practices of the United States and the Soviet Union 40 years ago.
"Tiangong-1" has become another symbol, indicating that China can concentrate on the development of space industry through the accumulation of wealth of decades of economic prosperity, and begin to narrow the gap in technical fields once mastered by only a few countries. George? Logsdon, a professor at Washington University, believes that the launch of Tiangong-1 is the result of the steady progress of China's manned space program; According to the Japanese Sankei Shimbun, China hopes to master the rendezvous and docking technology of spacecraft. If it succeeds, China's space industry will take a new step.
"Where are we from and where are we going?" The construction of the space station is not only the embodiment of national pride, but also the mission of all mankind to explore unknown space. Many things that can't be done on earth need to be done on the space station. Tiangong-1 will not only be used as a target aircraft for space docking training, but also be used as a space laboratory for scientific research activities. "Tiangong-1" and its follow-up projects also need to find good scientific projects and make contributions to human understanding of the world.
Infinite space is the common wealth of mankind, and exploring space is the common pursuit of mankind. China should make its own contribution to human exploration of space. The further development of China's space technology has benefited the whole world.
"Tiangong-1" has become another symbol, indicating that China can concentrate on the development of space industry through the accumulation of wealth of decades of economic prosperity, and begin to narrow the gap in technical fields once mastered by only a few countries. George? Logsdon, a professor at Washington University, believes that the launch of Tiangong-1 is the result of the steady progress of China's manned space program. According to the Japanese Sankei Shimbun, China hopes to master the rendezvous and docking technology of spacecraft. If it succeeds, China's space industry will take a new step.
"Where are we from and where are we going?" The construction of the space station is not only the embodiment of national pride, but also the mission of all mankind to explore unknown space. Many things that can't be done on earth need to be done on the space station. Tiangong-1 will not only be used as a target aircraft for space docking training, but also be used as a space laboratory for scientific research activities. "Tiangong-1" and its follow-up projects also need to find good scientific projects and make contributions to human understanding of the world.
Infinite space is the common wealth of mankind, and exploring space is the common pursuit of mankind. China should make its own contribution to human exploration of space. The further development of China's space technology has benefited the whole world. (Xinhuanet Yang Jun)
Space experts explain "Tiangong-1" in detail
"Tiangong No.1" renderings.
Readers have many questions about the upcoming launch of Tiangong-1. In this regard, many experts have interpreted it.
How fast and far can it fly?
-the speed of sound is more than 20 times.
Xu Ming, a doctor of Beihang University and a senior engineer in space mission and control, explained that the speed of the spacecraft is about 7,000 meters per second, while the speed of sound is 340 meters per second. In other words, as a spacecraft, the speed of Tiangong-1 is roughly more than 20 times the speed of sound. But it can't fly too far. Judging from the current fuel, we can only stay near the earth.
How different is it from the space station?
-mainly different scales.
Pang Zhihao, deputy editor-in-chief of International Space magazine, said that strictly speaking, Tiangong-1 is just a simple space laboratory. The difference between it and the space station is not only the scale, but also the life span. Its life span is only two years, and astronauts can only be stationed for a short time. The service life of other space stations can reach 5 to 10 years, or even longer, and astronauts spend more than 100 days in orbit at a time. Second, the space laboratory has small space, few interfaces and no expansion ability. Moreover, the fuel and supplies needed should be concentrated at one time, and other space stations can be replenished regularly by cargo ships. The main purpose of "Tiangong-1" is to break through the rendezvous and docking technology and conduct technical experiments for the construction of the future space station.
Why is its life span only two years?
-There is no need to increase the cost.
Pang Zhihao said that there are many factors that determine the life of the space station, mainly capital and material technology. Secondly, under the harsh environmental conditions such as high radiation and high temperature difference in outer space, the life of the components that make up the space station is limited. The life of Tiangong-1 is designed according to the experimental task. China can complete unmanned and manned rendezvous and docking experiments within two years, so there is no need to launch an experimental aircraft with a longer life to avoid increasing costs. Two years later, it may fall into the sea under the control of instructions.
How difficult is the rendezvous and docking?
-equivalent to accurate "kissing" in the rush of 7.8 kilometers per second.
Jiao Weixin, a professor at Peking University Earth and Space College, said that rendezvous and docking should break through three major difficulties: first, position control, second, speed control and third, attitude control. However, these two spacecraft are more than 300 kilometers from the ground, and their running speed is very high, which is basically the first cosmic speed (7.8 km/s). It is difficult to achieve accurate control with minimum error.
Will it be affected by space junk?
You can only avoid it in time by forecasting.
Jiao Weixin said that there are a lot of space debris, which is a great threat to spacecraft, but there is no effective control method at present. "Tiangong-1" has no special anti-collision measures, so it needs to monitor the distribution of large debris and predict the motion state of large debris in order to avoid it in time. Comprehensive Yangcheng Evening News, Beijing Morning Post, etc.
Tiangong-1 has a design life of two years and has to complete four major tasks.
"Tiangong-1" and "Shenzhou-8" will be launched one after another in the near future to implement the first space rendezvous and docking. Bai, deputy chief designer of the space experiment system, introduced the situation and main tasks of Tiangong-1 in an interview with People's Daily. He pointed out that Tiangong-1 is a brand-new manned space system, which has been in orbit for a long time.
Bai said that Tiangong-1 is a brand-new manned space system in China. It turns out that the spacecraft is a short-term flight and will return to Earth in a few days. Tiangong-1 is a long-term in-orbit flight, which needs to complete multiple rendezvous and docking missions, rendezvous and dock with multiple spacecraft, and then complete related experimental tasks. Now it is planned to fly Tiangong-1 for two years, and rendezvous and dock with Shenzhou-8, Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 respectively to complete the whole rendezvous and docking mission.
There are four main tasks of Tiangong-1: First, to cooperate with the spacecraft to complete rendezvous and docking, which is the main task of Tiangong-1. Second, Tiangong-1 will complete the control and management of the combination of spacecraft and Tiangong-1. After docking, Tiangong-1 will completely control the assembly, including attitude and orbit control, and unified control of the atmospheric environment in the cabin, including temperature, humidity, cabin pressure and oxygen, that is, the manned environment will be controlled by Tiangong-1. The third is to carry out related experiments, mainly including several categories: the first category is space science experiments, including space material exploration and earth observation experiments; The second category is space medical experiment, which is to build a space station in the future, if astronauts stay for a long time; The third is the regenerative life support experiment, which is to carry out experiments for the future space station, such as the reuse of waste, and also to lay the foundation for the space station; The fourth category is the technical verification of the space station. Now that the space station has been established, space laboratories and space stations will be established later. Tiangong-1 shoulders the mission of laying the foundation for future space laboratories and space stations and carrying out technical verification. (white) according to
What kind of home did Tiangong-1 build for astronauts?
With the Tiangong-1 target aircraft flying into the vast space, astronauts will have a new home in space. Tiangong-1 has been in space for two years and is ready to welcome astronauts to stay in the spacecraft. Astronauts have to work, live and conduct scientific experiments in it, so this home has a lot of "furniture" and rich functions.
Space training equipment
In the future, astronauts will stay in Tiangong-1 for a long time. Flying in a weightless environment for a long time will cause symptoms such as muscle atrophy and bone loss, which requires astronauts to keep healthy through space exercise. Therefore, Tiangong-1 brought space exercise equipment for the first time, such as a special bicycle for exercising lower limb muscles and a stretcher for exercising shoulder and back muscles. The lower body negative pressure cylinder is responsible for applying negative pressure to the astronaut's lower body, prompting his blood to flow to the lower body, and changing the situation of blood transfer to the head in weightless environment. These are all weightless protective exercise equipment commonly used in the International Space Station at present.
Aerospace medical experimental equipment
In order to explore the medical changes and protective measures of astronauts' long-term stay in space, Tiangong-1 has loaded many space medical experimental equipment. For example, the mass measuring instrument can weigh the human body mass in weightlessness, reflecting the weight change of astronauts during flight; The countermeasure instrument of bone loss studies how to resist the bone loss caused by space flight by exerting external force on astronauts. At the same time, there are also some devices used to study the law of cell change under weightlessness, the law of human psychological change, and the sampling and analysis of cabin gas. These research equipments are specially developed for special space environment, involving aerospace medicine, biology, physics, electronic technology, engineering and many other disciplines. Compared with the Shenzhou series of missions, the experimental equipment and projects of Tiangong-1 have greatly increased, and the workload of astronauts has also increased accordingly.
Artificial "earth" environment
If human beings want to stay in space for a long time, they must strive to create a small environment suitable for human survival. In addition to maintaining proper temperature, humidity, pressure, oxygen and other conventional environments, "Tiangong" is also equipped with special "weapons" to control microorganisms and trace harmful gases. The human body is the source of microorganisms, and the metabolic dander exists in the air in the form of floating dust, and the microbial control device can efficiently filter and purify it in a short time. In addition, cabin equipment and non-metallic materials will release a small amount of harmful gases, which is not good for astronauts' health. The harmful gas purification device can effectively remove dozens of harmful gases before astronauts enter Tiangong-1 and start operation ahead of schedule. In addition, the water vapor generated by astronauts' breathing and sweating is also automatically collected by the condensate collection device at regular intervals.
Recycling equipment for recycling waste.
Shenzhou spaceship used to carry consumable resources, and all the materials needed by astronauts for food, clothing, housing and transportation were carried from the ground, but Tiangong-1 brought waste recycling equipment for the first time, ready to verify the recycling technology. The electrolytic oxygen generator can turn pure water into oxygen, and the power water-gas separator can separate the urine of astronauts. Technologies such as changing urine into water and oxygen regeneration on the future space station are closely related to this. When these technologies are mature, it will greatly reduce ground replenishment and realize the recycling of urine, body fluids and harmful gases.
Clothing of male and female astronauts
This time, the astronaut's blue sleeping bag was embroidered with auspicious clouds. Compared with the "Shenzhou 7" sleeping bag, the weight is obviously reduced, and the material has the characteristics of flame retardant, antistatic, light weight and adjustable elasticity. Tiangong-1 also prepared thermal underwear, warm pants, sports socks, sportswear and shorts for astronauts. The design of these clothes is special, mainly considering the special needs of space work experiments, for example, some clothes have cable ports, and some pockets are used to put radiation meters. Because Tiangong-1 has been running at low pressure for a long time, which will accelerate the aging of clothing materials, researchers have done a lot of low-pressure storage tests on the ground and pulled clothes with professional equipment to ensure its tensile strength and tear strength are qualified.
space food
Now, some space foods have entered space with Tiangong-1, including vegetables, meat, fruits and rehydration soup, but these are inedible and just experiments. The truly edible space food has to wait for the astronauts to take it to the sky by spaceship. The space food used in the experiment will return to the ground with the docked manned spacecraft in the future, and researchers should observe what will happen after they stay in the sky for a long time. These food packages contain not only finished dishes, but also precipitated protein, fat, starch and other ingredients.
According to Chen Bin, a space food expert, space radiation, cabin temperature changes and other factors may affect food. They put the same batch of space food on the ground for comparative study. In the future, the types of space food accompanying astronauts to Tiangong-1 will be very rich and more in line with astronauts' tastes.
Medical and health supervision equipment
Astronauts' breathing in the sky, heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature all affect the nerves of ground flight controllers. Tiangong-1 carries more novel and rich medical monitoring equipment, which is used to collect physiological data of astronauts and provide technical support for medical health maintenance of astronauts. For example, the ECG equipment carried by astronauts can record ECG data continuously for 24 hours, and it is not limited by the measurement and control arc. Astronauts will wear special masks when pedaling exercise, collect and record the exhaled and inhaled gas flow and oxygen concentration, and then transmit them to the ground for analysis. The equipment for measuring blood pressure is different from the ground cuff. The ECG electrode is connected to the chest, and the blood oxygen and pulse wave sensors are worn on the fingers. The ECG signal and pulse wave signal are analyzed and processed, and the physiological parameters such as heart rate, blood pressure and blood oxygen saturation are calculated.
Fire brigade
Tiangong-1 is equipped with a fire extinguishing device. If the fire is small, use fire wipes, gloves-shaped, to catch the flames everywhere. It is not only resistant to high temperature, but also has good insulation performance, because most space fires are caused by cables.
Fire extinguishers are only used when the fire is serious. When in use, the astronauts put on the gas mask and press the button on the fire extinguisher, and the sprayed extinguishing agent will isolate the ignition point from the surrounding oxygen. (Sun Hairong)
Female astronauts are expected to go into space on Shenzhou-10 and stay in Tiangong-1.
Female pilots dream of a round blue sky.
China female astronauts are expected to take the Shenzhou-10 spacecraft into space, participate in the space rendezvous and docking mission, and stay in Tiangong-1. This means that in the next two years, China female astronauts will go into space.
It is reported that it belongs to Yantai, Shandong.
Among the second batch of astronauts in China confirmed last year, there are "two golden flowers" which have attracted much attention, but they have not appeared yet. It is understood that the two selected female astronauts are all from the air force transport aviation unit, with an average flight time of thousands of hours.
It is reported that a female astronaut who will fly with the "God Ten" is from Yantai, Shandong. According to media reports, this person named Wang Yaping, a female pilot born in 1980s, participated in Wenchuan earthquake relief, Beijing Olympic Games and many combat readiness exercises.
Zhang Jianqi, former deputy commander-in-chief of China's manned spaceflight project, said in an interview with the media that in terms of training standards, male and female astronauts are treated equally and will not lower their standards just because they are women. He said: "If there is a rendezvous and docking mission in China's space laboratory, there will probably be female astronauts. By then, we will realize the real "the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon" dream. "
"Tiangong" will welcome three spacecraft, rendezvous and docking, and welcome 2-3 astronauts during its two-year service period.
Presumably, "top one at most"
It is reported that "Shenzhou 10" will take two female astronauts to the sky. However, Pang Zhihao, the executive editor of International Space magazine and an aerospace expert, said in an interview with this reporter yesterday, "Under normal circumstances, a female astronaut flies for the first time, at most one. Because the task is still in the process of exploration, all activities should focus on safety. "
Pang Zhihao believes that training female astronauts is conducive to the future development of manned space flight in China and the development of space medical research. Female astronauts have their own advantages, more patience, meticulous work, and better adaptability to the microgravity environment in space. And they will feel lonely and lonely when flying in space. Female astronauts can play a role in regulating the atmosphere. "Men and women are not tired of work."
He introduced that female astronauts are suitable for doing some detailed scientific experiments, such as observing plant growth. In addition, they are smart enough to manipulate the space manipulator well and contribute to the rendezvous and docking mission.
Female astronauts are "perfect" without any flaws.
Astronauts are generally divided into pilots, mission experts and load experts. Pang Zhihao pointed out that in addition to flight experts, there will be mission experts in the future. With the development of China's spacecraft, after accumulating some experience in manned space flight, the requirements for astronauts will become wider and wider. It is possible that female scientists can also go up in the future. Now, our astronauts are not only "walking around" in space, but also have many tasks to complete. In the future, after China has established its own space station, there will be a lot of scientific tasks, and there will be many kinds of tasks. For example, assembly tasks, including spacewalking and the maintenance of some spacecraft. In addition, there will be scientific research tasks, and the implementation of scientific research tasks can allow non-professional astronauts to go up. This is the case in the United States at present. Professional astronauts belong to NASA. They are not professional astronauts, but belong to various scientific research institutions and universities, including many female scientists.
Manned space flight requires very high physical qualities of astronauts, such as chronic pharyngitis, rhinitis, drug allergy, lipoma, dental caries and onychomycosis. Most people will have these small "flaws", but they are not good for selecting astronauts, even scars on the skin, bad breath in the mouth and rotten feet. Because the body smells, it will affect colleagues in a narrow spaceship space; If the skin is scarred, the scarred area may bleed at an accelerated rate. A seemingly small "flaw" on the ground may cause great disaster after going into space.
This time, it is obvious that the two female astronauts who were selected have undergone a rigorous comprehensive physical and psychological examination, which can be said to be "perfect" without any flaws. A staff member of Nanjing Air Force 454 Hospital told Beijing Science and Technology News that at present, the selection of astronauts in China is from the best pilots of the Air Force. Not only should the physical quality be excellent, but also there should be no medical history or minor illness. The last three generations in the family should not have a serious medical history. In addition to excluding all kinds of diseases and abnormalities that affect the function, we should also have good ability to adapt to the special space environment and psychological quality.
"The female astronauts selected this time obviously have to go through all the above levels. In addition, they also need to do gynecological examinations. " The staff said.
Both female astronauts have become mothers.
It had been speculated that the first female astronaut in China would come from the first female fighter pilots of the Air Force who participated in the National Day military parade, but in fact, the first female fighter pilots of the Air Force were not shortlisted at all. At present, the two female astronauts selected are all from air force transport pilots. They are all married and have had children.
Why is marriage a condition in the selection? Pang Zhihao believes that when selecting astronauts, the aircraft is required to fly 1000 hours or more, at least 800 hours or more. To complete this flight time, the pilot himself should not be too young. Taking married childbearing as a selection condition is obviously to avoid the impact of space flight on the fertility of female astronauts.
Svetlana Savicka, the first Soviet female astronaut who walked in space at the age of 36, gave birth at the age of 38. But for the sake of safety and insurance, all our female astronauts are required to be married and have given birth.
"Under the condition of weightlessness in space, the genes of plant seeds have changed. In the case of weightlessness, whether the gene has mutated has not been found. But it doesn't matter if you can't prove it. " Pang Zhihao said. Because the reproductive cycle of plant gene mutation is very short, it may be found within a few generations. However, if human genes mutate in weightlessness, it can only be discovered after several generations, which requires a long time of observation. Source Huasheng Online)