New generation manned spaceship

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Deep space version of the spaceship

Manned spaceship of the new generation ( Chinese  新一代 載人 飛船  /  新一代 载人 飞船 , Pinyin Xīn Yī Dài Zàirén Fēichuán ) is the working title for the successor model of the Chinese Shenzhou spaceship. There is a partially reusable multipurpose spacecraft in different configurations for the transport of astronauts in a ground is provided, or lunar orbit and for their return to Earth. In the long term, it could also be used for missions to the surface of the moon or to Marsbe used, whereby the space travelers in the moon or earth orbit would change to another spacecraft or an additional module with its own drive for further transport. The “manned spaceship of the new generation” can also be used as an unmanned cargo spaceship or for the simultaneous transport of people and cargo.

development

Around 2010, those responsible for the Manned Space Program of the People's Republic of China first proposed in internal discussions that a versatile spaceship should be developed, a basic version of which could be used to fly a wide variety of missions. On March 31, 2015, Zhang Bainan , chief engineer of the main manned space flight department of the Chinese Academy of Space Technology , together with some colleagues in the Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica presented the concept of a new generation of manned multi-purpose spacecraft to the professional world. At that time, two types were assumed: a spaceship with a take-off weight of 14 tons for operations in low-earth orbits and - with dropping additional drives - missions to asteroids and to Mars, and a spaceship with a take-off weight of 20 tons for use in manned moon landings (for this purpose additionally a lunar module required). For the crew change in the planned modular space station , the spaceship should be able to carry up to 6 people. In order to enable all planned missions, the minimum requirement was that the life support systems of the spaceship would work independently for 21 days and the ship, docked to a space station or - in the case of a Mars mission - the living module of a composite large-capacity ship , would remain in space for up to two years can.

In 2017, the development of a prototype began, which was publicly announced by Zhang Bainan in March 2018. In interviews, the engineer revealed that it would be a reusable model. It is equally suitable for flights to the moon and Mars. At the same time he pointed out that the Shenzhou spaceships were now being mass-produced and would remain in use for a long time in connection with the space station to be built. At the 5th conference on manned space flight in Xi'an on 23./24. October 2018 - organized by the Polytechnic University of Northwest China and the Office for Manned Spaceflight of the Department of Weapons Development of the Central Military Commission (CMSA) - the manned spacecraft of the new generation was finally presented to the public for the first time in detail. After a test flight with a scaled-down model of the spaceship in 2016 (see below), a real prototype was completed in December 2019.

Interplanetary missions

For flights to Mars, Zhang Bainan and colleagues designed a concept for a modular spaceship. First, four large propulsion units, a Mars lander and a living module would be individually transported into orbit with heavy-duty rockets and assembled there to form a spacecraft. Then the team would start with the reusable multi-purpose spaceship (at that time in the 14-ton version, since October 2018 in the large version) and connect it to the modular large-scale spaceship. The crew then changes to the residential module for the onward journey, which is roughly the size of the Tiangong 2 space station . The acceleration for the transition into the transfer orbit to Mars, the orbit maneuvers for the pivoting into the Mars orbit etc. would initially be taken over by the drive units, which are thrown off one after the other like a multi-stage rocket . At the end of the return flight, after reaching a near-earth orbit, the space travelers would transfer back to the multipurpose spaceship and land on earth with it.

To return from the moon or Mars, the space capsule had to cope with reentry at a speed of 11.2 km / s. When the first plans for the new multipurpose spaceship arose, China did not yet have suitable lightweight materials for an ablative heat shield . The heat shields developed in the 1960s made of carbon fiber fabrics soaked with phenolic resin can withstand very high temperatures, but have a mass density of around 1.5 g / cm³, which would have meant that the heat protection for a re-entry capsule of the planned size (about that Double the return capsule of the Shenzhou spaceship) would have made up a considerable proportion of the total weight. For this reason, the engineers working with Zhang Bainan suggested developing a so-called "phenol-impregnated carbon fiber ablator" (PICA) made of short -cut fibers , which has a mass density of only 0.27 g / cm³ and, for example - in tile form - also in 2011 at the capsule of the Mars Science Laboratory of NASA was used. With the same heat protection effect, this material weighs 30% less.

Structure and functionality

The new generation spaceship has a diameter of 4.5 m. In the variant for the near-earth area it is 7.23 m long and has a maximum take-off weight of 14 tons. In the deep space version, the length is around 9 m and the maximum weight 23 tons. Both variants use the same conical return capsule, similar in shape to the American Dragon spaceship , but different service modules . An orbital module like the one in the Shenzhou spaceships, which after the main mission could remain in orbit as an experimental platform for a longer period, has been dispensed with for reasons of cost.

The four main engines of the service module work with the monergolic fuel hydroxylamine and nitric acid as oxidizer (HAN) produced by Institute 101 of the Academy for Liquid Rocket Engine Technology . This has the advantage over the usual fuels that it is not toxic. It has a low freezing point, a high density, and gives the engines a high specific impulse . The fuel tank consists of two layers, with an inner lining made of an aluminum alloy and an outer wall made of a composite material fabric. In this way, a relatively large surface tension tank could be realized - the deep-space version the largest of all Chinese spacecraft. For attitude control during flight, the spaceship has an automatic control system that uses attitude control thrusters to keep its position stable in relation to the earth on all three axes and enables high-precision orbit change and braking maneuvers.

The solar modules for the power supply of the spaceship in orbit are also located on the service module, which is disconnected before re-entry into the earth's atmosphere and burns up there. Expensive electronic systems, on the other hand, are housed in the return capsule whenever possible, the core of which can be reused after landing in Inner Mongolia . For this purpose, the removable outer shell, which serves as heat protection when re-entering the atmosphere, is removed and the inner metal structure is provided with a fresh outer skin. The return capsule is built so that it can land on the surface of the water. The long-term plan is to designate a sea area in the South China Sea as a landing site and to develop the Wenchang Cosmodrome on Hainan into China's new space center.

In its configuration as a people carrier, the spaceship can bring up to seven space travelers into earth orbit or to the moon; if only three space travelers are on board, an additional 500 kg of cargo can be taken. Without the cargo shelves, which are attached to the right of the access hatch in the combined configuration, the pressurized cabin of the spaceship offers an interior space of 13 m³, which is a little more than the Shenzhou spaceship; there is a fold-out dining table and a separate toilet. In the configuration as a pure supply spaceship, a Changzheng 5 or Changzheng 7 launcher can carry a payload of 4 tons into orbit. That is less than the Tianzhou supply spaceship, which is already in service, with its launch capacity of 6.5 tons, but unlike Tianzhou, the new generation spaceship is reusable and can, for example, contain microorganisms from experiments carried out on the space station or materials produced there take back with a total weight of up to 2.5 tons for closer examination to earth. In order to enable up to ten uses - according to calculations the economic optimum - the capsule was equipped with airbags as a landing aid, among other things . These reduce the impact force to a fraction and thus protect the spaceship.

The radio system has also been improved compared to the current Shenzhou spaceship. At Shenzhou, radio contact with the mission control center is lost for a certain time during the re-entry into the earth's atmosphere. The cause is the highly heated and thus ionized air around the return capsule, which shields the radio signals. The improved communication systems of the new generation spaceship, well protected by radio-permeable heat protection windows, can penetrate the isolating plasma and maintain contact with the ground stations during the entire descent.

While the Shenzhou spacecraft, a launch escape system possess that brings the ship in dangerous situations before or during launch in security and enables a parachute landing, this is in launchers type Changzheng 5 not and its variants are possible, as this is a fairing in the form of a from- Own Kármán-Ogive . Instead, the new-generation spaceship uses the service module's engines in an emergency, which are triggered after the payload fairing has been opened and the spaceship has been blown off by the launcher. By doing without a rescue rocket, the overall weight of the spaceship is reduced or its loading capacity increases.

Testing

Test flight from 2016

On June 25, 2016, on the first flight of the Changzheng 7 launcher from the Wenchang Cosmodrome in Hainan, a model of the new return capsule, reduced in size to 0.63 times, was launched into orbit. The model had a conical shape with a diameter of 2.6 m at the wide end, a height of 2.3 m and a weight of 2.6 tons. The capsule consisted of three components:

  • A hemispherical tip with a parachute chamber, parachute ejectors , navigation satellite antenna and antenna for communication through the isolating plasma on reentry.
  • An outer wall with the ablative heat shield, divided into four panels , which was glued to molded panels with a honeycomb structure and screwed to the reinforcement struts of the actual cabin wall . Outside on the wall were small engines for attitude control and sensors for the air flow.
  • A metal base plate, underneath a lattice girder system and underneath the heat shield. Data processing equipment, the power supply and measuring devices for the air flow were mounted on the floor plate, inside the cabin. There were pneumatic sensors at the bottom of the heat shield.

The aim of the test was, on the one hand, to test the flight behavior of the conical return capsule when it re-entered the atmosphere (the Shenzhou spaceships use a bell-shaped return capsule). In the event that the capsule was tip-first into the atmosphere, there was a supersonic stabilization parachute that would erect the capsule so that it could brake with the large end provided for this purpose. They also wanted to test the materials used in the construction of the new spaceship, not just the phenol-impregnated carbon fiber ablator for the heat shield, but also the new alloy from which the cabin itself was made. This material was both stronger and lighter than the aluminum-magnesium alloy previously used in spacecraft . There were no life support systems inside the capsule, and numerous electronic components for deploying the parachutes, etc., had been removed from returned Shenzhou spaceships and reused after inspection.

Only the return capsule was tested in this experiment. The role of the service module was taken over by the additional upper stage of the Changzheng 7 launcher, known as " Yuanzheng 1A ". This stage, powered by a hypergolic propellant mixture, can, unlike the regular rocket stages, be fired multiple times and is normally used to raise satellites to higher orbits. Ten minutes after take-off at 8 p.m. local time, the Yuanzheng-1A with the test capsule mounted on it separated from the launcher and went into a near-earth orbit of 200 × 394 kilometers, similar to the one used in manned flights. After the 13th orbit, on June 26, 2016 at 3:04 p.m. Beijing time , the Yuanzheng-1A initiated the return to earth with a renewed ignition.

The rocket stage then changed its position so that the bottom of the return capsule was inclined by 50 ° to the horizontal. At 3:17 p.m., the return capsule separated at an altitude of 170 km from the Yuanzheng-1A, which was then placed in a safe orbit. The network of ground stations controlled in this case from the Jiuquan Cosmodrome took over control of the capsule. At an altitude of 20 km, the stabilization parachute triggered, which brought the capsule into a correct position. This was then thrown off, the braking parachute triggered, which in turn pulled the main parachute out of its chamber at the top of the capsule. At 3:41 p.m., the return capsule landed - initially undamaged - on the Ostwind landing site in the Badain-Jaran desert not far from the cosmodrome. At 11 p.m. the recovered capsule arrived at the Jiuquan Cosmodrome by truck.

Test flight 2020

A first, unmanned test flight of the real spacecraft took place in May 2020. For this, a 8.8 m long and 21.6-tonne prototype of deep space version was used that on May 5, 2020 by 18:00 local time (10:00 UTC ) with the first copy of the missile variant Changzheng 5B from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center launched has been. 488 seconds, about 8 minutes after take-off, the spacecraft entered orbit as planned. In order to obtain the largest possible launch mass for testing the launcher, the service module of the spaceship was fully refueled. The technicians at the Beijing Space Control Center then used this fuel to gradually increase the orbit of the spacecraft, a little more with each orbit, until a highly elliptical orbit of 300 × 8000 km was finally reached. Space science experiments were carried out there, some of which were related to the planned space station. In a lubricant experiment, for example, the migration behavior of abrasion particles in weightlessness was researched, an Ethernet according to the TTE standard with a transmission rate of 1000 megabit / s was tested, a 3D printer for long-fiber composite material was tested, with which the space travelers themselves should be able to print their own spare parts, as well as an acoustic tracking device that ignores background noises and can localize the noises - simulated in the capsule at various points - of an impact and the air escaping through a possible leak. On May 8, 2020 around noon local time, the Beijing Space Control Center gave the control commands to swivel into the return orbit. At 12:21 pm the spaceship had completed the braking maneuvers and reached the return orbit. A good hour later, at 1:33 p.m., the return capsule separated from the service module.

Two-part descent with atmospheric braking

The Chinese space station , which the new spaceship is initially intended to supply, will only orbit the earth at an altitude of 340–450 km. With a long-term planned return from the moon, however, the spaceship will fall unchecked from Lagrange point L 1 , i.e. from an altitude of 326,000 km, and arrive there at a speed of 40,320 km / h. Such a mission profile was already tested in 2014 with the Chang'e 5-T1 probe , but it was much smaller and simpler than the return capsule of the new spacecraft. Now, under realistic conditions, an attempt should be made to re-enter the earth's atmosphere at high speed and at a steep approach angle - when separating from the service module, the capsule initially shot straight down. As in 2014, a two-part descent with atmospheric braking was carried out, in which the return capsule initially only briefly plunged into the high atmosphere , slowed down a little due to the flow resistance of the atmosphere and, after it had regained altitude, again, now at a slower speed, for the final re-entry into the atmosphere took off. Temperatures of up to 1000 ° C occurred on the outside of the heat shield. For comparison: when re-entering the earth's atmosphere after returning from the moon, the heat shield is exposed to temperatures of up to 3000 ° C.

The return capsule of the new generation spaceship is twice as heavy as the Shenzhou capsule, which uses only a braking parachute. The Shenzhou parachute is already one of the largest in the world, and it has not been possible to enlarge its surface any further. A solution was therefore chosen with two instead of one stabilization parachute, three instead of one main parachute, and instead of the braking rockets six airbags arranged around the outer edge of the capsule. The airbags inflated a certain distance above the ground, and at 1:49 p.m. local time, 16 minutes after the disconnection from the non-reusable service module, the return capsule touched down on the Ostwind landing site at the Jiuquan Cosmodrome. When the wind was relatively strong, it landed on the flat surface provided. After landing, the Chinese Academy of Space Technology described the spaceship in a press release as an "embryonic form", which would now be further developed into a true multi-purpose spaceship based on the data collected during the test flight. To put it into perspective: after the first test flight in 1999, three more unmanned flights took place on the Shenzhou spaceship, until the first Chinese took off into space in 2003, Shenzhou 5 .

The burned-out core stage of the launcher re-entered the atmosphere on May 11, 2020 at 3:33 p.m. UTC after 102 orbits over the African Atlantic coast without further intervention by the Beijing Space Control Center. With a length of 33 m and a diameter of 5 m, this was the largest spacecraft that entered the earth's atmosphere since the crash of the Soviet space station Salyut 7 on February 7, 1991. In view of the difficult to predict braking effect that the outer layers of the high atmosphere exerted on the rocket stage, the specific crash site was difficult to determine.

It is not possible to place the orbit in such a way that the overflight over densely populated areas is avoided - and so the rocket stage flew over New York City about 15 to 20 minutes before the crash . In the end, a metal part ten meters long fell from the sky in a village in Ivory Coast .

Four days later, on May 15, 2020, the return capsule arrived again at the Chinese Academy for Space Technology in Beijing, where the capsule was first examined for structural integrity. It was just as important to check the electronic systems, most of which are not located in the service module on this spaceship, but in the return capsule. The checks were intended to determine whether the capsule used in this test flight can be reused in the next test. On May 29, 2020, the 988 payloads that 54 research institutes and 21 private companies had sent by spaceship to the Van Allen Belt to expose them to more difficult conditions than were possible in the Tiangong space laboratories with their near-Earth orbits were unloaded, including numerous plant seeds and microorganisms used for oil production. Country flags that were flown along were handed over to the Pakistani ambassador, the 3D printer to the center for projects and technologies for the use of space .

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