Dreaming in space: young people holding up the "heavenly boat"
Tianzhou-1 data map (photo by Gao Jian, Institute 512, Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group)
Cctv news On April 20th, China’s first cargo ship Tianzhou-1 was successfully launched. On April 23rd, Tianzhou-1 successfully rendezvous and docked with Tiangong-2, the first real space laboratory in China. The smooth implementation of the space laboratory mission indicates that China is steadily marching towards the "space station era".
It is reported that Tianzhou-1 was developed by the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group (China Academy of Space Technology) and launched at Wenchang Satellite Launch Base in Hainan. After liftoff, it was monitored and controlled by Beijing Flight Control Center. Behind the success of the "Tianzhou-1" space mission is a group of China astronauts who have worked hard, step by step, and created numerous fruits through independent innovation and self-reliance.
There are such a group of young people in the overall development team of Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft in the Fifth Academy of Aerospace. Some of them have been attached to Tianzhou since they were in their twenties, and they grew up with Tianzhou from blueprint to first flight. After six years of hard work, they drew the Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft in the plan, built it in the factory building and erected it on the rocket. They used their most precious years and unrepentant youth to lift this boat of hope that carries the future of China’s manned spaceflight project.
"Closed door" for a month, manned space flight is seize the day.
Any complex space mission is inseparable from scientific and thorough top-level design, and the overall system team is responsible for the top-level design of the overall development of Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft.
After six years of cold and heat, the overall work of the system runs through the model. In the stage of project demonstration, the overall team of the system needs to come up with a high-level skyboat scheme on the basis of inheriting Shenzhou and Tiangong. In the initial sample stage, the team completed the detailed design scheme of fully sealed and semi-open cargo ships in parallel, which "finalized" the classification of future cargo spacecraft; After successfully completing the large-scale tests such as the mechanics, heat, electromagnetic compatibility and large-scale system connection of the cargo ship, the team began to engage in intense double-track operations. Some designers went to Wenchang base to carry out the joint training of fully sealed ships, while others stayed in Beijing to continue to carry out in-depth research and development of semi-sealed ships … …
This team is responsible for the system scheme, flight scheme, technical status, large-scale test, technical process, reliability and safety, cargo loading, etc. of Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft. It is no exaggeration to say that the overall team of the system has concentrated most of the creators of Tianzhou-1, and it is their wisdom that has enabled Tianzhou to move from scheme to production, from large-scale test to model first flight. The "God Boat" that makes up this team is a group of young party member, whose youngest is 32 years old and the oldest is 35 years old.
From the layman’s point of view, the successful launch of the Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft may be a feat of refueling in space, but for astronauts, the inherent improvement of the cargo ship makes them more proud. Zhang Jian, deputy director of the overall research office of manned spacecraft, said that the overall team of the system has designed a brand-new track for cargo ships, which is more fuel-saving and has stronger docking adaptability.
Before each spacecraft development turns to a new stage, the overall system team will have a "convergence", just like closed-door training. What impressed Zhang Jian the most was that before Tianzhou No.1 left the factory, nine colleagues "isolated themselves" in a conference room, working from eight o’clock in the morning until after midnight for more than a month. For more than a month, colleagues from my hometown simply lived near the unit to save time, and everyone ate some biscuits and bread when they were hungry in the middle of the night.
In the "closed door", the team systematically summarized and verified, checked the product status, and prepared for the mission, and checked the massive data of 148 system-level test projects bit by bit, and deduced 107 key events, more than 4,800 command-level actions and 328 flight control plans in the flight mission one by one … … Along the way, they didn’t have time to be quiet, but they were more like Dai Yue, accompanied by servants chasing time. They won confidence and the ability to design the future in the process of manned space flight.
Tianzhou-1 was successfully launched, and the staff at the electric survey site took a group photo to celebrate.
Localization of Core Components Interpreting Life with Strong and Weak Electricity
What is the overall team responsible for? It can be summed up in one sentence that they are in charge of all projects related to "electricity". Yu Lei, Li Guangri, Wang Jinghua, Wang Hongjia, and Sun Ben have their own ideas from energy system, information system, top-level software design to electromagnetic compatibility design. From the beginning of dealing with Tianzhou-1, they have paid hard work that ordinary people can’t imagine.
Whether it is the application of 100-volt high-voltage fully distributed distribution system and high-voltage lithium battery, or the "space-based" measurement and control system of cargo ships and the internal Ethernet high-speed information system, and then planning the power supply and information flow separately for the load, from strong electricity to weak electricity, what the overall team of electricity needs to establish is a set of brand-new electronic and information systems. "I can’t learn from it, starting from scratch." Chief designer Yu Lei said. At the beginning of the development, qualified power supply modules and high-speed transmission wires that meet the requirements could not be found. They ran all over the manufacturers and did all kinds of tests just to pave the way for the future.
There is no domestic power supply that meets the requirements, and the team will jointly develop it with the manufacturers on the basis of a lot of research. In the end, Tianzhou-1 adopted the domestic 100V thick film power module for the first time on the domestic spacecraft. This power module broke through the foreign blockade restrictions and was applied to all the key electronic stand-alone machines of the whole ship, laying the foundation for 100V high-voltage transmission, optimizing the power distribution equipment and cable weight of the whole ship for dozens of kilograms, and promoting the localization process of spacecraft core component design.
Tianzhou-1 electric survey site
Entering the normal sample stage, the work goal has become to improve robustness and reliability. In order to reassure myself completely, with the help of the designers of the overall circuit subsystem, Wang Lintao and Li Huijun, the team began to measure the resistance of tens of thousands of nodes in the whole ship after the night work, which lasted for several days. This kind of test, they did it again before power-on, and they did it again for the third time after the ship’s equipment software was upgraded. Yu Lei proudly introduced: "From the beginning, it was very reassuring to power up the whole ship!"
From the beginning of November 2016 to April 2017, the whole ship has been electrified for more than 1,900 hours in more than five months. Behind the converted average of more than 10 hours a day, there is a long-term continuous work with a total length of more than 12 hours a day. These are only part of the overall work of electricity. Yu Lei said that as long as the cargo ship is connected with a little electricity, his team must be there.
Six years of grinding a sword "digital boat" into reality
The machinery is generally responsible for the work, some of which go straight to the top, and some of which are detailed to the parts, and the core members of this team are only three young people — — Jia Dongyong, Guo Junhui and Han Bin.
Hundreds of designers, on a unified digital platform, design their own parts according to common rules and their respective authorities, without paper drawings and documents and manual approval. Through the digital process, the data of "Digital Skyboat" is transmitted to the manufacturing equipment, and various real structures, components and pipelines … … This used to be a slightly hopeful future, and the only way to the future was opened by the overall mechanical team.
In the past six years, under the guidance of old experts, the overall mechanical team has created many "revolutionary" precedents, one of which is the first to promote three-dimensional digital development. Jia Dongyong proudly said: "We are coordinating our work now, without paper documents, and directly open the computer to discuss the model."
What makes the machinery equally proud is their freight guarantee design. The cargo ship is a brand-new model, ranging from loading scheme, layout balance, small arrival package design to fine interface design, all from scratch. Nowadays, the cargo ship with a full load of 13.5 tons has an excellent cargo ratio of 0.48 and the hanging eccentricity level is kept at 3 mm. Behind these impressive data, it is the crystallization of the overall wisdom of machinery.
Group photo of the word "Tianzhou" in Tianzhou No.1 team group.
Regard Tianzhou No.1 as their own children, devote their efforts to grow up with them, but when it comes to family, these "desperate Saburo" are silent again. Some of them think of their parents who are seriously ill in their hometown, some are ashamed of their children who have been sent back to their hometown, and some are full of apologies for silently bearing too many wives … … This is a group of glorious and great astronauts, but also a group of ordinary astronauts. On the road of manned engineering and the journey of becoming a space power, they are working hard without regret. They lifted Tianzhou-1, which traveled in space, and also wrote Chinese’s own pride.