Xinhua News Agency, Hainan Wenchang, February 27th: 22 stars with one arrow!Long March 8 opens a new mode of “carpooling” of shared rockets
Xinhua News Agency reporters Hu Zhe, Chen Kaizi, Zhou Siyu
On the 27th, the “shared rocket” with 22 satellites successfully “going to the sky” at the Wenchang Space Launch Site, the Long March 8 Yao-2 carrier rocket, set the highest record for my country’s one-rocket multi-satellite mission, thus opening a new sharing of my country’s Rocket “Carpool” mode.
At 11:06 on February 27, my country successfully launched 22 satellites into space using the Long March 8 carrier rocket at the Wenchang Space Launch Site, setting a new record for multiple satellites with one arrow.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Liyun
How did the Rockets “kill multiple birds with one stone”?
The Long March 8 carrier rocket, which successfully flew for the first time in December 2020, is a new generation of my country’s main medium-sized carrier rocket, which fills the capacity gap of my country’s sun-synchronous orbit carrying capacity of 3 tons to 4.5 tons, and can undertake more than 80% of medium and low orbit launch tasks. .
This time, the Long March-8 Yao-2 carrier rocket adopts a new configuration without booster on the basis of the Long March-8 Yao-1 carrier rocket.
Hu Huibiao, director of the Long March 8 launch vehicle project office of the Aerospace Science and Technology Group, introduced that from the appearance, the Long March 8 Yao 2 launch vehicle lacks two boosters, but the “bare rod” has a carrying capacity of 3 tons, while The total of 22 satellites is less than 2 tons, which fully meets the load requirements.
If you look closely, you will find that the Long March 8 Yao-2 launch vehicle has been replaced with a shorter fairing. Chen Xiaofei, the general deputy chief designer of the Long March 8 launch vehicle of the Aerospace Science and Technology Group, introduced that the short fairing design completely matches the characteristics of the satellite volume of this mission, and it can also relax the rocket launch and release conditions and improve the rocket launch probability.
As for why it can achieve 22 satellites with one arrow, Xiao Yun, chief commander of the Long March 8 carrier rocket of the Aerospace Science and Technology Group, said that at the beginning of the design, the development team of the Long March 8 Yao 2 carrier rocket shifted its attention to the small satellite and proposed that ” The new model of “shared launch” has finally identified 22 satellites for 7 units.
“Multiple small satellites ‘carpooling’ to complete the task can not only give full play to the rocket capability, but also effectively meet the market demand.” Xiao Yun said.
At 11:06 on February 27, my country successfully launched 22 satellites into space using the Long March 8 carrier rocket at the Wenchang Space Launch Site, setting a new record for multiple satellites with one arrow.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Liyun
How do satellites “carpool”?
22 satellites in one arrow, why can the “carpooling” satellites squeeze into the fairing? Chen Xiaofei introduced that in order to ensure the safety and accuracy of the multi-satellite launch, the design team developed a “three-layer multi-satellite distributor”, which adjusted the traditional “large single room” to “small three-bedroom”.
“Because of the different shapes of each satellite and the larger size of several satellites, we designed the ‘passengers’ with three tiers of ‘seats’, perfectly fitting 22 satellites into the fairing and arranged for a comfortable’ Seat’.” Chen Xiaofei said.
“Generally speaking, it takes at least one year for a new structure to go from drawing to production. Through the ‘modular’ design, we produced a multi-star distributor in less than half a year.” Aerospace Science and Technology Group One Yu Long, deputy chief designer of the Long March 8 launch vehicle, said.
The development team must not only allow the satellite to “get on” and install it into the fairing, but also ensure the safety of the satellite’s separation in different directions. Yu Long introduced that the satellite has to leave the rocket body after it reaches the sky. In this process, it is necessary to consider the movement deviation caused by the different unlocking methods of the satellite and the separation of energy. Sometimes these deviations reduce the distance between satellites, threatening the safety of the rocket body.
According to the satellite layout, the development team performed multiple rounds of simulation calculations for all rocket bodies and satellite deviations, and designed 12 separation actions to ensure that 22 satellites “get off” with peace of mind.
“When the stars and rockets were separated in this mission, the rocket danced like a ‘space ballet’, and the 22 satellites were released like ‘the goddess scattered flowers’.” said Duan Baocheng, deputy commander-in-chief of the Long March 8 carrier rocket of the First Aerospace Science and Technology Group.
At 11:06 on February 27, my country successfully launched 22 satellites into space using the Long March 8 carrier rocket at the Wenchang Space Launch Site, setting a new record for multiple satellites with one arrow.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Liyun
What is the future prospect of the “One Todo” rocket?
It can be foreseen that the demand for human beings to enter space and space infrastructure construction in the future will increase. Therefore, changing the launch site process and shortening the rocket development cycle and cost has become an urgent need for many aerospace powers.
Hu Huibiao said that the successful launch of the rocket not only tested the coordination and matching of the new configuration, but also reduced the development cost and cycle. Lay a good foundation on the battlefield and consolidate the initiative and dominance of the Long March 8 carrier rocket in the commercial aerospace field.
“As a ‘shared rocket’, the ‘carpool’ solution adopted by the Long March 8 Yao-2 carrier rocket provides users with affordable launch services, and the threshold is greatly lowered.” Xiao Yun said that with this successful exploration, the Long March The No. 8 launch vehicle is expected to achieve the normalization of shared launches in the future.
At 11:06 on February 27, my country successfully launched 22 satellites into space using the Long March 8 carrier rocket at the Wenchang Space Launch Site, setting a new record for multiple satellites with one arrow.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Liyun
The final assembly and test workshop is built near the launch site, and the launch site test and the factory test are combined into one, which can save a series of steps and greatly compress the cycle of the rocket at the launch site. Xiao Yun introduced that the construction of the final assembly test plant in Hainan has already started, and the launch station is also in the process of demonstration. At that time, it is expected to achieve the launch of the Long March 8 carrier rocket once every seven days, and 50 rounds can be launched a year.