Arrow points to manned lunar landing! Long March 10 is on schedule

The manned space station project has fully entered the application and development stage, and the Chinese space station has entered the normal operation mode. How will the Long March rocket protect the "space home"? What is the progress of the new generation of manned rockets and heavy rockets ? Recently, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation introduced the relevant plans and progress in an interview with the media.

Long March series launch vehicles will reach a new level of production capacity

In his 2023 New Year’s message, General Secretary Xi Jinping praised China’s new achievements in space - Shenzhou 13, 14, and 15 took off in succession, China’s space station was fully built, and our “space home” is traveling in the sky.

"Over the past 30 years, the road of innovation in launch vehicle technology has become wider and wider." Yi Rong, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chief designer of the Long March 2F launch vehicle of the First Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, said that over the past 30 years, manned space launch missions have been successful one after another. The Long March 2F, Long March 5B and Long March 7 rockets have successfully carried out 27 launch missions, with a record of 100% successful launches. This has strongly supported China's manned space program to achieve the transition from unmanned flight to manned flight, from one person per day to multiple people for multiple days, from cabin experiments to spacewalks, from single-ship flight to stable operation of complexes, enabling my country's space technology development to enter the ranks of international leaders.

The Long March 2F carrier rocket heads for the sky (Photo by Su Dong)

"In 2023, China's manned space station project will enter the application and development stage, and the space station will switch to normal operation mode." Wang Xiaojun, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director of the First Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, said that the Long March 2F rocket and the Long March 7 rocket will carry out launch missions for the space station's normal operation mode, and the two types of rockets will become the "exclusive trains" of the "Space Home."

The reporter learned that in the second half of 2023, the Long March 5B carrier rocket will complete the launch mission with the Long March 2 upper stage for the first time . At the same time, the development team will target the needs of major national scientific and technological projects and continue to carry out refined confirmation of the launch site test operation procedures and project optimization work.

It is easy to reveal that in the future, the Long March 5B carrier rocket will also carry out the launch mission of the sky survey telescope . The Long March 5 carrier rocket will also carry out the launch mission of the fourth phase of the lunar exploration project, and even the longer-term Mars sample return and planetary exploration missions.

Long March 5B carrier rocket takes off (Photo by Su Dong)

"This year, our country's Long March series of launch vehicles plan to arrange more than 60 launch missions, launching more than 200 spacecraft. The cumulative number of launches of the Long March series of launch vehicles will exceed 500 times ." Wang Xiaojun introduced that as the density of China's space launch missions has continued to increase in recent years, the time taken for the Long March series of launch vehicles to launch hundreds of times has gradually shortened. This not only shows that the high-density launch of Long March rockets has become normalized, but also reflects the rapid development of China's space industry and the rapid improvement of China's scientific and technological level and comprehensive national strength.

In recent years, the new generation of launch vehicles has fully entered the application launch stage, and the proportion has increased year by year. In the future, the First Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation will carry out special work around the research and development capabilities of the new generation of launch vehicles and the industrialization development capabilities, so that the production capacity of my country's Long March series of launch vehicles will reach a new level.

The new generation of manned launch vehicles is worth looking forward to

"China is developing a new generation of manned carrier rockets , which are expected to complete their first flight around 2027. " Yirong introduced that the new generation of manned carrier rocket "Long March 10" is a highly reliable and safe manned carrier rocket newly developed in accordance with China's manned space engineering development plan to launch China's new generation of manned spacecraft and lunar lander . At present, various rocket development work is being accelerated in an orderly manner.

A model of the Long March 10 carrier rocket was exhibited at the "Dreaming in the Universe - Thirty Years of Achievements in China's Manned Space Program" exhibition (Photo by Su Dong)

It is understood that the Long March 10 carrier rocket uses liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen and kerosene propellants, and can send a 27-ton payload directly into the lunar orbit . The non-boosted rocket derived from this type of rocket can carry out space station astronaut and cargo transportation tasks, with a reusable first stage and a low-Earth orbit carrying capacity of no less than 14 tons.

This type of rocket is an important strategic support for China's manned lunar landing and the construction of a space power around 2030. In the development of the new generation of manned carrier rockets, the research and development team of the First Academy will break through 13 major key technologies, including high-reliability health management, autonomous flight control reconstruction, high-performance hydrogen-oxygen engines, high-performance liquid oxygen-kerosene engines and other technologies. These technologies determine the performance indicators of the rocket and are the basic prerequisite for the completion of the manned lunar mission. In addition, it also includes technologies such as rapid test launch, new digitalization, and high-energy kerosene, which will affect the technical level of the rocket and are an important manifestation of the advancement of the rocket program. "Since 2020, reusable technology has become increasingly mature and has become an important feature of the next generation of carrier rockets. The application of new technologies such as intelligent flight has essentially improved the reliability of rocket flight." Yirong said.

The Long March 10 carrier rocket model was exhibited at the "Dreaming of the Universe - China's Manned Space Program Thirty Years Achievement Exhibition" (Photo by Su Dong) During the design process of the new generation of manned carrier rockets, the development team continued to work hard on the application of new technologies. In terms of smart rockets, actual engineering applications will be realized to further improve the mission success rate and ensure the safety of astronauts.

Further advance the research on heavy-lift launch vehicle technology

The 20th CPC National Congress proposed the goal of accelerating the construction of a space power. Heavy-lift launch vehicles represent the country's greatest ability to enter space and are an important symbol of a space power and a scientific and technological power. As the international development trend of launch vehicles continues to change, mission scenarios are gradually enriched, technological innovation is accelerated, and heavy-lift rocket solutions are continuously optimized, and the development direction is more focused. During the two sessions, the reporter learned that China is developing a heavy-lift launch vehicle, the Long March 9, which will have a low-orbit carrying capacity of 150 tons and is expected to complete its first flight around 2030 .

"my country began to demonstrate the heavy-lift launch vehicle in 2010, which lasted more than 10 years. It has gone through development stages such as preliminary research and in-depth demonstration of key technologies. It is currently in the demonstration stage before project initiation." Yirong revealed that the heavy-lift launch vehicle has now made breakthroughs in key technologies represented by overall design, high-thrust liquid oxygen-kerosene engines, high-thrust liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen engines, large-diameter rocket body structure design and manufacturing, and high-power servo mechanisms, laying a solid foundation for the development of the heavy-lift launch vehicle project.

In order to better support the construction of a space power, following the principles of advancement, reliability and economy, the research and development team of the First Academy optimized the configuration of the heavy-duty rocket, and formed a series of heavy-duty launch vehicle types and development routes based on reuse and tandem configuration. Yirong introduced that the basic model of the heavy-duty rocket is a three-stage tandem configuration with a carrying capacity of about 50 tons in the Earth-Moon transfer orbit , which is used to perform deep space exploration missions, and one stage is reusable . Based on the basic model, the heavy-duty launch vehicle cancels the three stages and forms a two-stage tandem configuration, with a low-orbit carrying capacity of about 150 tons, which is used to perform low-Earth orbit missions, and one stage is reusable. "With the development of reuse technology, in the future we will overcome the key technologies of the second-stage orbital re-entry reuse and develop a heavy-duty launch vehicle with full reusability." Yirong said.

The report of the 20th CPC National Congress emphasized "accelerating the construction of a space power". The word "accelerating" reflects the urgency and more prominent strategic significance of building a space power. "In the future, we will focus on cutting-edge technologies, common basic technologies and key bottleneck technologies, strengthen technical research in the fields of heavy-lift launch vehicles and reusable aircraft, and accelerate the realization of high-level self-reliance in aerospace science and technology." Wang Xiaojun said. (Reporter Deng Yunan)