How is the development progress of lunar landing equipment?, China's initial plan for manned lunar landing announced | China | Equipment

Recently, the China Manned Space Engineering Office issued a notice on soliciting scientific payload plans for manned lunar exploration projects, stating that the lunar landing phase of China's manned lunar exploration project has been launched, with plans to conduct unmanned lunar flights in the early stages and achieve the first Chinese landing on the moon before 2030.

On July 20, 1969, after a long flight, humans landed on the moon for the first time. More than 50 years later, the initial plan for China's manned moon landing was announced. China's lunar exploration is more anticipated. How will the plan be implemented specifically? How is the development progress of equipment such as lunar rockets, next-generation manned spacecraft, and lunar landers?

Plan to achieve China's first lunar landing before 2030

The moon is an ideal base and outpost for human expansion and development of extraterrestrial space, and lunar exploration has always been a hot topic and focus of manned spaceflight development in the world today. China's manned space exploration will not only stay in low Earth orbit, but also has the conditions to carry out manned lunar exploration projects.

China plans to achieve manned landing on the moon for scientific exploration before 2030, and will then explore the construction of a lunar research and testing station to carry out systematic and continuous lunar exploration and related technology testing and verification. Recently, at the 9th China Commercial Aerospace Summit Forum held in Wuhan, Zhang Hailian, Deputy Chief Designer of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, introduced the preliminary plan for landing on the moon.

It is understood that the preliminary plan for China's manned lunar landing is to use two carrier rockets to respectively send the lunar lander and manned spacecraft to the Earth Moon transfer orbit. The spacecraft and lander will rendezvous and dock in the lunar orbit, and astronauts will enter the lunar lander from the spacecraft. Afterwards, the lunar lander will descend and land in the designated area on the lunar surface, and astronauts will land on the moon to conduct scientific investigations and sample collection. After completing the established mission, astronauts will ascend to the lunar orbit and rendezvous with the spacecraft on the lander, and return to Earth with samples on the spacecraft.

Throughout the history of human lunar exploration, significant features include high technological difficulty, high risks and challenges, and high investment costs, which test a country's scientific research strength and comprehensive national strength.

Ye Peijian, a technical consultant of the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Group and an academician of the CAS Member, said in an interview earlier that China needs to make breakthroughs in three main aspects to achieve manned lunar landing: first, develop a heavy carrier rocket that can send people and lunar landers to the moon ball; The second is to ensure the life security, safety, and working conditions of people traveling between the earth and the moon; The third is to carry out more ground conditions construction to ensure that all tests are fully validated.

It is reported that China has fully deployed various research and construction work, and researchers are developing equipment such as the Long March 10 carrier rocket, a new generation of manned spacecraft, lunar landers, lunar suits, and manned lunar rovers.

The lunar rocket is expected to have the conditions for its first flight in 2027

Carrier rockets are the "ladder" for humans to enter space and the first step towards the vast universe. The strength of a carrier rocket determines the size of the space stage. To achieve manned lunar landing, the development of launch vehicles is crucial.

The Long March 10 carrier rocket is a highly reliable and safe manned launch vehicle developed in accordance with China's manned space engineering development plan, aimed at launching the new generation of manned spacecraft/lunar landers. It is under the overall responsibility of the First Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Group. At present, the development of rockets is being accelerated in an orderly manner.

Rocket experts from the First Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group told reporters that the Long March 10 carrier rocket is mainly used to send lunar landers and landing spacecraft into the Earth Moon transfer orbit. The Long March 10 carrier rocket uses liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen, and kerosene propellants. The total length is about 92 meters, the takeoff weight is about 2187 tons, the takeoff thrust is about 2678 tons, and the carrying capacity of the Earth Moon transfer orbit is not less than 27 tons.

"The rocket derived from this type of rocket is capable of carrying out space station astronaut and cargo transportation missions. It is approximately 67 meters long, with a takeoff weight of about 740 tons, a takeoff thrust of about 892 tons, and a low Earth orbit carrying capacity of no less than 14 tons. It is an important strategic support for China to achieve manned landing on the moon and the construction of an aerospace power before 2030, and is expected to have the conditions for its first flight in 2027.".

During the design process, the development team will continue to focus on the application of new technologies. Easy to introduce, in the field of smart rockets, there will be practical engineering applications on this type of rocket, further improving the success rate of missions and ensuring the safety of astronauts. To optimize the operational costs of the space station during its operational phase, the first stage of the booster configuration rocket will be designed for reuse.

The new spacecraft is a "two bedroom" astronaut who will work on the lunar surface by taking a lunar rover

In addition to carrier rockets, the new generation of manned spacecraft is an important link to the moon, which will relay and escort astronauts to the moon after the rocket.

The new generation of manned spacecraft is a fully upgraded version of China's space shuttle transportation system. It can transport astronauts to and from the Chinese space station, which is nearly 400 kilometers away from Earth, and can complete manned moon landings and even exploration of distant planets from 380000 kilometers away. It can carry both humans and materials, and can also be reused to reduce costs, greatly improving China's manned space shuttle transportation capacity.

On May 5, 2020, the Long March 5B carrier rocket successfully made its maiden flight, sending a new generation of manned spacecraft test ships into space. The new generation manned spacecraft test vessel, developed by the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, has an orbital apogee altitude of over 8000 kilometers during its first flight mission, and will re-enter and return at a speed close to the second universe.

According to experts from the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group, the new generation of manned spacecraft adopts a modular design, consisting of an escape tower, a return module, and a service module, which is suitable for tasks such as near Earth and deep space. It is mainly used to send astronauts to lunar orbit and return to Earth. The spacecraft has an orbital mass of approximately 26 tons and can accommodate three astronauts.

Unlike the structure of the third module of the Shenzhou spacecraft, the new spacecraft has a "two bedroom" structure: one is the return module, which is the command center of the entire ship and also the place where astronauts live and reside; The other is the service cabin, which is the energy and power center of the entire ship. The two bedroom structure makes the spacecraft more flexible and the reusable parts are also higher.

It is reported that on the basis of the new generation of manned spacecraft, China is still coordinating the development of near Earth spacecraft. The crew of the near Earth spacecraft consists of 4 to 7 people, which reserves space for future space tourism.

In addition, the lunar lander weighs about 26 tons and consists of a lunar module and a propulsion module. It can deliver two astronauts to the lunar surface and is mainly responsible for descending the astronauts from the lunar orbit to land on the lunar surface and returning to the lunar orbit. At the same time, lunar landers also have the ability to autonomously control flight.

The lunar module is the cockpit of astronauts, with certain power redundancy functions to ensure their safety. The propulsion module is mainly responsible for completing the near lunar braking of the lander and the main deceleration of the lunar descent.

After the lunar lander reaches the lunar surface, astronauts will take a manned lunar rover to carry out work on the lunar surface. The manned lunar rover weighs about 200 kilograms and can carry two astronauts. Astronauts will take a lunar rover to conduct lunar sampling and corresponding lunar surface experiments within a range of 10 kilometers. In addition to manned lunar rovers, China also plans to launch a lunar mobile laboratory with large-scale mobility, which can achieve long-term unmanned and autonomous activities on the lunar surface, and support short-term stays of astronauts.