There are still these meanings behind it!, Chinese Lunar Landing on Schedule for the First Time Flight | Engineering | Lunar Landing

According to the news hyperlink of China Central Television's Voice of China, Lin Xiqiang, Deputy Director of China's Manned Space Engineering Office, recently stated that the lunar landing phase of China's manned lunar exploration project has been launched and implemented, with plans to achieve China's first lunar landing before 2030.

At present, the China Manned Space Engineering Office has fully deployed various research and construction work, including the development of new generation manned launch vehicles, new generation manned spacecraft, lunar landers, lunar landing suits and other flight products, as well as the construction of new launch site related testing and launch facilities and equipment. What does it mean to further clarify the task timeline? Why does the new generation of manned launch vehicles need to be launched in Hainan?

01

The task is heavy and the future is promising

This news clearly sets China's lunar landing time from around 2030 to before 2030. Yang Yuguang, Vice Chairman of the Space Transport Committee of the International Astronautical Federation, said that this can be understood as China's technological progress being better than expected.

In history, starting from the launch of the Soviet Union's first artificial satellite Sputnik-1, it officially entered the period of the US Soviet space race. Both sides attempted to take the lead in sending the first person to the moon. Therefore, the Soviet Union launched the "Dongfang" and "Ascending" programs, while the United States launched the "Mercury" and "Gemini" programs, with the core goal of mastering the three basic technologies of manned lunar spaceflight, rendezvous and docking, and extravehicular activities.

Looking back at China's manned space program, the space station has been completed, which means that China not only has a deep grasp of these technologies, but also has been able to keep up with the advanced level of foreign countries in many other aspects. On this basis, the development of manned lunar landing has a high starting point for related key technologies.

However, Yang Yuguang stated that there is still a lot of preparation work to be done before the official flight mission:

The three major components of the Long March 10 carrier rocket, the new generation manned spacecraft, and the lunar lander used for manned lunar landing must be ready for flight verification, and related research and development work still needs to be closely carried out.

The existing launch stations cannot meet the requirements of the new generation of manned launch vehicles, and the construction of supporting infrastructure also needs to be prepared in place.

Before the official manned flight, it is necessary to carry out multiple consecutive unmanned launch missions to verify the reliability of manned capabilities.

02

Dream of manned moon landing, taking off from Hainan

Yang Yuguang introduced that although China is already a major aerospace country, as a developing country, more emphasis is placed on input-output ratio. At present, the development of a new generation of manned launch vehicles is not only for lunar landing, but also to derive another two-stage rocket without a booster and with a core diameter of 5 meters. At that time, China will have two types of carrier rockets with manned capabilities and two types of spacecraft capable of traveling back and forth to space stations.

The three major launch sites in inland China have a maximum rocket diameter of 3.35 meters. Due to the size limitation of railway tunnels, rockets with a 5-meter diameter module can only be launched in Wenchang, Hainan. Therefore, they need to be transported by sea from the final assembly plant in Tianjin. In order to complete the manned moon landing mission, it is also necessary to build new rocket launch stations, which means that the scale of the Wenchang launch site in Hainan will become larger and busier in the future.

The commercial space launch site in Hainan is currently under construction. Yang Yuguang said, "In the future, whether in national missions or commercial aerospace, Hainan's launch site will play a more important role."

03

Manned moon landing is not just a "face engineering" project

In history, Apollo's moon landing was completed through a single launch from Saturn 5, whereas China's manned moon landing will be completed through two launches.

Yang Yuguang introduced that first, the lunar lander was launched into the Earth Moon transfer orbit using the Long March 10 carrier rocket. The lunar lander itself completed the near moon braking and entered the circumlunar orbit; Secondly, a new generation of manned spacecraft will be launched in the same way to enter lunar orbit and rendezvous and dock with the lunar lander; Finally, astronauts enter the lunar module from the cockpit of the new generation of manned spacecraft through docking channels, and after separation, proceed to carry out lunar missions.

Manned moon landing is not just a simple symbolic significance. Yang Yuguang stated that for any space exploration mission, there are both engineering and scientific objectives. In terms of engineering objectives, key technologies throughout the entire flight process can be verified to demonstrate the reliability of the aircraft; In terms of scientific objectives, such as the lunar soil collected during the Apollo moon landing, as well as the installed lunar seismometers and laser launchers, they all have important scientific value.

Yang Yuguang stated that China's first manned lunar landing will mainly focus on engineering goals, and achieving a transportation system between the Earth and the moon is the most core goal. However, there will still be numerous scientific outputs. "Even for the first lunar landing, our astronauts' stroll on the moon is not only symbolic, but will definitely yield rich and important scientific achievements. We also look forward to this day."