What's different? The "Five Days, Three Arrows, and Nine Stars" carrier rocket | Launch | Nine Stars

"Five days, three arrows, and nine stars", what does the recent successful launch of China's aerospace industry mean?

On the early morning of August 13th, China successfully launched the Land Exploration 4-01 satellite into orbit using the Long March 3B carrier rocket at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, and the launch mission was a complete success. This mission is another victory for the Long March series of carrier rockets, following the successful launch of the Long March 2C carrier rocket on August 9th. On August 10th, the Ceres 1 carrier rocket successfully launched seven satellites, including the Xiguang-1 01 satellite. What does "five days, three arrows, and nine stars" mean?

The picture shows the launch site of Land Exploration 4 01 satellite on August 13th.

Each satellite has its unique features

Looking back at the past three launches, China Aerospace successfully launched nine satellites into space through three rockets. Among them, two satellites were remote sensing satellites in the National Medium - and Long Term Development Plan for Civil Space Infrastructure, both of which were jointly developed by the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Group. Each satellite has powerful functions and extraordinary significance.

Taking the latest launch of the Land Exploration 4 01 satellite as an example, it uses an L-band synthetic aperture radar payload and can provide multiple observation modes, making it an important component of China's space-based disaster observation system. After the satellite is put into use, it will leverage its fast maneuverability and high-precision microwave imaging to assist in disaster prevention and reduction work, and will be jointly applied with other remote sensing satellites to further improve China's space-based disaster monitoring system.

For example, the Earth Satellite Intelligence Emergency 1 satellite, launched by the Ceres 1 carrier rocket, is based on artificial intelligence and has an intelligent operating system. It is equipped with high-resolution area array cameras, near-infrared cameras, and other payloads, and utilizes onboard intelligent processing technology to provide remote sensing observation services for ground hot spot areas. In addition, this satellite is also the first case in China to apply the underlying operating system of automobiles to commercial aerospace.

Private aerospace forces continue to develop and grow

It is worth noting that one of the "three consecutive victories" recently achieved was the launch vehicle developed by a private rocket company in China. This means that in addition to the traditional aerospace "national team", "civilian forces" as an important component of China's aerospace are also constantly developing and growing.

On the noon of August 10th, the Gu Shen Xing 1 carrier rocket developed by Xinghe Power was successfully launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. This mission is the second launch of the Gu Shen Xing 1 series commercial carrier rocket in a month, the third consecutive successful launch this year, and the seventh consecutive successful launch of this type of rocket.

At present, the Ceres 1 carrier rocket has served a total of 15 commercial satellite clients and completed the launch of 28 commercial satellites with different functions into orbit. Provided development assistance for multiple application fields such as earth observation, meteorological monitoring, satellite Internet of Things, and science popularization education.

In addition, China's emerging commercial space company Dongfang Space's "Gravitation-1" medium-sized carrier rocket is expected to carry out its first flight mission at Shandong Dongfang Space Port in the second half of this year, with a planned launch from sea. The head of the rocket development team introduced that Gravitation-1 is positioned to meet the large-scale networking needs of small and medium-sized satellites in low orbit. The rocket is 31.4 meters high, with a fairing diameter of 4.2 meters, a takeoff weight of 400 tons, a takeoff thrust of 600 tons, a low Earth orbit carrying capacity of 6.5 tons, and a sun synchronous orbit carrying capacity of 4.2 tons. Once the rocket successfully makes its maiden flight, it will become the world's largest solid launch vehicle.

The pursuit of success is endless

Throughout the world's aerospace development trend, aerospace is still a high-tech, high-risk, and high investment enterprise that requires long-term efforts, continuous breakthroughs, and surpassing oneself.

Taking the development process of the Land Exploration 4-01 satellite as an example, the members of the development team of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group have finally achieved a breakthrough in the world's high orbit synthetic aperture radar satellite from "zero" to "one" after fifteen years of sharpening their swords.

Faced with the challenge of whether synthetic aperture radar can image on high orbits, the development team delved into the imaging mechanism, sorted out the key factors that affect imaging, and analyzed them one by one.

"Think about how the older generation of astronauts came about. Without mature experience, we started with the most primitive principles, gradually tried, and explored the path step by step." Recalling the argumentation scene at that time, Zhang Qingjun, the commander and chief designer of the Land Exploration 4 01 satellite, admitted that although we were confused about "a blank sheet of paper," there was always a spiritual force supporting everyone to move forward.

As the most frequently launched rocket in China, the Long March 3A series carrier rocket has undergone a large number of launch mission tests, and its technological maturity and reliability are evident. The development team has not stopped optimizing and improving the land exploration 4-01 satellite launch mission.

"In recent years, the Long March 3A series carrier rocket has adopted multiple technological improvements and reliability growth measures, which have also been applied to this launch mission to provide users with high-quality launch services." Zhang Yunlong, the overall designer of the Long March 3A series carrier rocket model, introduced that the rocket development team has carried out more than 10 optimization improvements on the rocket and ground equipment, involving conventional engines, low-temperature engines, software, and other aspects, further enhancing the reliability of the rocket.

It is reported that in addition to completing daily launch tasks, the development team of the Long March 3A series carrier rocket also coordinates existing manpower and material resources to continuously promote the "dual improvement" project of carrying capacity and reliability, laying the foundation for subsequent high-density launches. At present, most of the work on the "dual improvement" project of carrying capacity and reliability has been completed, and it is expected to be applied in flight in the second half of this year.