China closer to space station dreams
Print Edition
CHINA’S new large carrier rocket Long March-5B made its maiden flight yesterday, a step closer to the construction of China’s space station.
The rocket sent the trial version of China’s new-generation manned spaceship and a cargo return capsule for test into space.
The successful flight inaugurated the “third step” of China’s manned space program, which is to construct a space station, according to the China Manned Space Agency.
The white large rocket blasted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center on the coast of southern China’s island province of Hainan at 6pm.
About 488 seconds later, the experimental manned spacecraft with no crew, together with the test version of the cargo return capsule, separated with the rocket and entered the planned orbit, CMSA said.
Specially developed for China’s manned space program, Long March-5B will be mainly used to launch the modules of the space station. It will help expand China’s aerospace activities, said Wang Xiaojun, head of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
Modified on the basis of China’s largest carrier rocket Long March-5, the new large rocket has a total length of about 53.7 meters, which is as tall as an 18-floor building, and has a 5-meter-diameter core stage and four 3.35-meter-diameter boosters.
Compared with the Long March-5, the new rocket has one less core stage but a larger fairing, which is 20.5 meters long and 5.2 meters in diameter, as tall as a six-floor building, and nearly eight meters longer than the fairing of Long March-5. It is the largest fairing of China’s carrier rockets, specially designed to carry the space station modules. A rotary separation scheme ensures the fairing can separate from the payloads safely in space.
The rocket uses environment-friendly propellants, including liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen and kerosene. It has a takeoff mass of about 849 tons and is able to send over 22 tons of payloads, equivalent to the weight of more than 10 cars, to low-Earth orbit, which is currently the largest low-Earth orbit carrying capacity among China’s rockets.
With the largest payload capacity of China’s current carrier rockets, the Long March-5B enables the launch of large spacecraft. For instance, each module of China’s space station will be over 20 tons, and can only be carried into space by the new rocket.
The research team spent almost 10 years developing the new rocket, making breakthroughs in a series of key technologies, said the rocket’s chief designer Li Dong.
To meet the requirements of rendezvous and docking of the modules, the Long March-5B rocket needs to be launched within a “zero window,” which means its launch time error should be less than a second, said Li.
With only one core stage and four boosters, the Long March-5B has a simpler structure and higher reliability than multi-stage rockets. However, it is required to send payloads directly into orbit, which is like a high-speed train suddenly braking and stopping stably at a designated position.
So the research team equipped the rocket with advanced guidance, navigation and control technologies to continuously adjust its trajectory, Li said.
The mission will test the key technologies of the new spaceship such as the control of its re-entry into the atmosphere, heat shielding and recovery technology, according to the China Academy of Space Technology under CASC.
Some space science experiments, including space 3D printing, will be conducted on the experimental spacecraft.
The test version of a cargo return capsule, which is flexible and inflatable and developed by the Second Academy of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, was also sent into space yesterday.
Before the launch, joint drills of the Long March-5B rocket and the prototype core capsule of the space station had been conducted at the Wenchang Space Launch Center.
All personnel participating in the mission had overcome tremendous difficulties caused by the novel coronavirus epidemic, and the challenges and pressure brought by the recent failures of the Long March-7A and Long March-3B rockets. The launch yesterday was the 331st mission of the Long March rocket series.
This year will see another two flights of China’s large carrier rocket. The Long March-5 is expected to launch China’s first Mars probe in July, and the Chang’e-5 lunar probe at the end of 2020 to collect moon samples.
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