Chinese Stars | Meet Manned Lunar Landing! The new generation of manned launch vehicles has added multiple new technologies
CCTV News: According to China's manned space engineering development plan, the development of the new generation of manned launch vehicles in China is progressing in an orderly manner. The newly developed manned rocket for launching China's new generation of manned spacecraft and lunar landers is expected to make its first flight in 2027.
To meet the demand for manned lunar landing, the carrying capacity is 27 tons
The chief designer of the Long March 2F carrier rocket at the First Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group is easy to understand: currently, various research and development work is being carried out in an orderly and rapid manner. The core stage has a diameter of 5 meters and is bundled with a 5-meter diameter booster. In order to meet the demand for manned landing on the moon, the future lunar orbit has a carrying capacity of 27 tons, and the near Earth orbit has a carrying capacity of approximately 70 tons.
Adding multiple new technologies such as intelligent flight to enhance reliability
According to the chief designer of the Long March 2F manned launch vehicle at the First Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group, the new generation of manned launch vehicles will learn from and absorb the successful experience of the Long March 2F manned launch vehicle, and incorporate multiple new technologies such as intelligent flight to further enhance the reliability of the rocket.
Rocket stage 1 is designed for reuse
The chief designer of the Long March 2F carrier rocket at the First Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group is easy to say that in terms of intelligent flight, there will also be some practical engineering applications on this type of rocket to further improve the probability of mission success and ensure the safety of astronauts. Another prominent feature is that it needs to further optimize operating costs during the space station operation phase. So the first stage of this type of rocket is currently designed for reuse, and there is a relatively innovative reuse plan.
The new generation of manned spacecraft has completed an altitude return of 8000 kilometers
On June 4th, Shenzhou-15 returned from a low Earth orbit about 400 kilometers away from Earth, while the moon was about 380000 kilometers away from Earth, making manned lunar landing difficult. Previously, China had successfully launched a new configuration of a multi-purpose spacecraft scaled down return module, with a 55% improvement in return performance compared to the Shenzhou spacecraft.
In addition, a full-scale, over 20 ton new generation manned spacecraft test vessel was also developed. In early May 2020, a high-speed re-entry flight test was successfully carried out, and it returned to Earth from an altitude of 8000 kilometers, laying the foundation for China's new generation of manned spacecraft.
At present, the lunar landing team is still continuously tackling challenges and has organized and completed dozens of key technological breakthroughs, including manned lunar landers landing at designated locations and survival in extreme lunar environments.
Completed hundreds of iterations and experiments
Huang Zhen, Deputy Chief Designer of the Manned Field at the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group: After completing hundreds of iterations and related experiments, the thickness of our entire cabin wall has now reached about one millimeter. We also need to ensure the safety of astronauts working on the moon and set up the cabin environment inside, so the difficulty is very high. In the future, I particularly hope to establish a free round-trip route for humans between the Earth and the Moon, which means we can travel on business to the Moon just like we usually do by plane. In the distant future, one can leave the Earth Moon system, walk to Mars, and go beyond the solar system.
