China Star ｜ Tianzhou ＂Family＂ Delivers ＂High Light Moment＂ of ＂Space Express＂

　　CCTV News:Sailing in Tianhe, building a dream palace. In the past six years, the Tianzhou "family" has successfully launched six cargo spacecraft. While successfully completing the task of delivering express delivery to space, we continue to meet the faster and higher delivery requirements of China Space Station through technological breakthroughs. Let’s review the "highlight moments" when Tianzhou "family" successfully delivered "space express" in recent years.

　　Tianzhou-1: China Aerospace’s first cargo spacecraft.

　　On April 20, 2017, China’s first cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1 was successfully launched at the Wenchang launch site in Hainan. During this space express delivery trip, Tianzhou-1 carried out propellant replenishment between aircrafts for the first time in orbit, Tiangong-2 successfully carried out the first propellant replenishment in orbit in China, and carried out several propellant replenishment tests. For the assembly, construction and long-term operation of China Space Station, clear the last obstacle on energy supply.

　　Tianzhou-2: Realizing all-weather autonomous rendezvous and docking

　　On May 29th, 2021, Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft was successfully launched. After technical upgrading, Tianzhou-2 has the capability of all-weather and autonomous rendezvous and docking for air and space emergency rapid response. Tianzhou-2 is the first spacecraft in the construction stage of the space station project, with an upward capacity of 6.9 tons of materials, carrying enough daily necessities for three astronauts to stay in the space station for three months, materials for conducting space science experiments, and propellant for replenishing the space station and core cabin.

　　Tianzhou No.3: Double the daily necessities, and the delivery time is shorter.

　　On September 20, 2021, with the successful launch of Tianzhou III, the Tianzhou family added a new "space courier brother". Compared with Tianzhou-2, the daily necessities carried by Tianzhou-3 spacecraft have doubled, which can meet the needs of three astronauts staying in the space station for six months. With the support of the high-tech means of "Beidou+Lidar+visual navigation sensor", Tianzhou-3 further shortened the rendezvous and docking time of cargo spacecraft and Tianhe core cabin from 8 hours to 6.5 hours, and further improved the delivery speed.

　　Tianzhou-4: the first cargo spacecraft in the construction stage of the space station

　　In the early morning of May 10, 2022, the Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft was launched, and the first launch mission of China’s space station was a complete success. Tianzhou-4 was loaded with consumables, practical (test) devices and other materials that three astronauts of Shenzhou-14 stayed in orbit for six months. Among them, there were 32 kinds of vegetables and foods. In addition, new types such as holiday food, reward food and blind box food have been added. Opening the blind box may mean a surprise, which is also a way to adjust the psychological state for astronauts who have been in orbit for a long time.

　　Tianzhou No.5: "Space Express" will arrive in two hours!

　　On November 12, 2022, the successful launch of Tianzhou-5 set a world record. The two-hour autonomous rapid rendezvous and docking of the cargo spacecraft and the space station assembly can greatly improve China’s space emergency rescue capability, greatly shorten the transportation time, and make it possible to transport special fresh experiments. If this technology is applied to the Shenzhou manned spacecraft, it will greatly reduce the flight time of astronauts to the space station. It is of great practical significance for the long-term on-orbit operation of China’s space station.

　　Tianzhou-6: At present, the spacecraft with the strongest cargo capacity in the world.

　　On May 10th, Tianzhou-6 was launched. Tianzhou-6 is a new batch of cargo spacecraft, and the developers have improved its internal structure, which makes the cargo capacity of Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft increase from 6.9 tons in the past to 7.4 tons. After the propulsion module was changed from the original 8-tank configuration to the 4-tank configuration, the volume of the cargo module was further expanded, and the effective loading volume of the cargo module of Tianzhou-6 was increased from 18.1 cubic meters to 22.5 cubic meters.

　　The launch mission of Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft was a complete success.

　　At 21: 22 on May 10th, Beijing time, the Long March 7 Tele-7 carrier rocket carrying the Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft was successfully ignited and launched at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China. This mission is the first time that China’s manned spaceflight project has entered the application and development stage of the space station.

　　About 10 minutes later, the Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft was successfully separated from the rocket and entered the scheduled orbit. After that, the solar panels of the spacecraft started working smoothly and the launch was a complete success.

　　Tian Yurong, Deputy Commander of the Long March 7 Launch Vehicle of the First Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group:In the preparation process before launching, all the actions are done in one go, and the final flight result is also very satisfactory. The accuracy of orbit entry is very high, that is, it is higher every time, creating new heights and accuracy. In this rocket, we have further improved the reliability of the rocket through the optimization of single machine and system products, from 0.985 to 0.987.

　　The Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft was loaded with consumables, propellants, applied experiments and test devices, etc., which were stored in orbit by six astronauts of Shenzhou 16 and Shenzhou 17. In order to improve the cargo transportation capacity, the Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft was optimized and improved in this mission, and the launch demand of the cargo spacecraft was optimized from twice a year to three times every two years, effectively reducing the transportation cost. In addition, the spacecraft is also equipped with Dalian University of Technology experimental satellites and other projects.

　　Wang Zengli, Chief Responsibility Officer of xichang satellite launch center Technology Department:This mission is the first mission in the application and development stage of the space station, and it is also the first mission of this new cargo ship, because there are still some changes between this cargo ship and the previous construction stage. In the follow-up mission, the cargo ship of this mission is basically the basic type. In the past 30 years, our country’s capabilities have been continuously improved, whether from space launch or space measurement and control, from near-earth to deep space.

　　Chen Jie, Director of Comprehensive Planning Bureau of China Manned Space Engineering Office:In the future, we will further reduce costs and enhance our capabilities. To this end, we will develop a new generation of reusable manned space transportation system. According to the new mission plan, the space station will operate for more than 10 years, with one or two cargo replenishment missions, two manned missions and the on-orbit rotation of astronauts every year. At the same time, we will also train international astronauts to participate in our joint flight.