In 2023, China's space program will accomplish these major tasks

In 2022, China's space industry experienced an extraordinary year. In terms of lunar exploration and deep space exploration, Chinese scientists discovered a new lunar mineral in the lunar soil retrieved by Chang'e 5, and named it "Chang'e Stone"; the Tianwen-1 mission team, my country's first Mars exploration, won the International Astronautical Federation's 2022 "World Space Award"; in terms of manned space flight, Shenzhou 10, 14, and 15 took off in succession, and the Chinese space station was fully built.

This year, China's space program will continue its "super mode" and continue to explore the stars and the sea. According to the "Blue Book of China's Space Science and Technology Activities (2022)" released by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation on January 18, China plans to carry out nearly 70 space launches in 2023, launch more than 200 spacecraft, and carry out a series of major missions.

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Six astronauts will go into space again

With the full completion of China's space station, our "space home" will continue to travel the sky, the manned space station project will enter the application and development stage, and the space station will enter a normalized operation mode.

According to the first batch of flight mission schedules after the Chinese space station is fully built and enters a new stage of application and development announced by the China Manned Space Engineering Office, the Tianzhou-VI cargo spacecraft will be launched in May this year and docked at the rear port of the core module to form a three-cabin and two-ship combination; the Shenzhou-16 manned spacecraft will be launched in May and docked at the radial port of the core module to form a three-cabin and three-ship combination; and the Shenzhou-17 manned spacecraft will be launched in October and docked at the forward port of the core module to form a three-cabin and three-ship combination.

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There will be three astronauts per mission for each of the two manned flight missions. During the missions, astronaut extravehicular activities and cargo airlock extravehicular activities will be carried out, space science experiments and technical tests will be conducted, routine platform management work, astronaut support-related work, and science popularization education will be carried out.

It can be seen from the launch mission arrangement that unlike the "1:1" arrangement of cargo spacecraft and manned spacecraft in previous space station missions, this time the Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft will provide supplies for the subsequent two crew members. On the one hand, because this time the Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft is an improved spacecraft, the volume of the sealed cabin has been expanded and the cargo transportation capacity has been increased. On the other hand, the efficiency of recycling in the space station is also improving. The recycling rate of water can reach more than 90%, and the oxygen production has basically achieved self-sufficiency.

There is another aspect of manned space flight this year that is particularly worthy of attention. That is, the third batch of Chinese astronauts will board the space station this year. For the first time, the astronauts of the Shenzhou 16 and 17 crews will include flight engineers and payload specialists. Let us continue to look forward to the fresh faces in the Chinese astronaut team.

Heavy rocket project application

The Long March 9 heavy-lift carrier rocket, whose concept model was displayed at the 2022 Zhuhai Air Show, has also been the focus of everyone's attention. According to the latest news, the overall plan for the heavy-lift rocket serialization configuration has been clarified, and the demonstration of the launch site measurement and control system has also been carried out simultaneously. The conditions for project approval have been met. The project approval application work will be carried out later.

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Heavy-duty rocket missions have a wide coverage and rich application scenarios. They are the basic guarantee for the implementation of large-scale deep space exploration activities such as the construction of lunar scientific research stations, the development and utilization of lunar resources, the construction of Mars scientific research stations, and manned Mars exploration.

After the "Long March 9" model was unveiled at the Zhuhai Air Show, what attracted everyone's attention was that the rocket configuration had changed from the original bundled type similar to the Long March 5 to a tandem type. The change in configuration was also confirmed again. The basic type of my country's heavy-duty rocket is a three-stage tandem configuration. The Earth-Moon transfer orbit carrying capacity is about 50 tons, which is used to perform deep space exploration missions. The take-off weight is about 4,000 tons, the take-off thrust is about 6,000 tons, the full rocket height is about 110 meters, and the rocket body structure diameter reaches 10 meters. Its low-orbit carrying capacity is about 150 tons, and the first stage is capable of repeated use.

The key technology research and program deepening demonstration phase of the heavy-lift launch vehicle was officially approved in June 2016. At present, all 12 first-level projects have been completed, a number of key technologies have achieved breakthroughs, and the final acceptance is planned to be completed this year. With the latest achievements, if the guarantee conditions are in place in a timely manner, my country's heavy-lift rocket can complete the engineering development in about 10 years after the project is approved.

The fourth phase of the lunar exploration project is being fully promoted

In the field of lunar exploration, my country will comprehensively promote the fourth phase of lunar exploration this year. The fourth phase of lunar exploration includes a total of 4 missions. Chang'e 4 has been completed. On the eve of the Spring Festival, the Yutu-2 lunar rover woke up autonomously and ushered in the 51st lunar day working period. In addition, there are Chang'e 6, Chang'e 7 and Chang'e 8 missions. Among them, Chang'e 6 will collect more samples from the back of the moon and strive to achieve the goal of 2,000 grams; Chang'e 7 is preparing to land at the South Pole of the Moon, and its main task is to carry out flyby exploration and strive to find water; Chang'e 8 is preparing to be launched around 2028. Chang'e 7 and Chang'e 8 will form the basic model of the lunar South Pole scientific research station, with a lunar orbiter, lander, lunar rover, flyover and several scientific detection instruments.

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In addition, as the design life of the Queqiao relay satellite is about to expire, my country plans to launch the Queqiao-2 relay satellite in 2024 as a public relay satellite platform for the fourth phase of the lunar exploration mission to provide services for Chang'e 6, 7 and 8.

my country's first large-scale space telescope for sky surveys

Hope to "fly"

At the end of this year, the most noteworthy thing in China's aerospace field is the China Space Survey Telescope (CSST). Earlier news indicated that the CSST is scheduled to be launched in 2023 to conduct wide-area surveys and conduct cutting-edge scientific research in the formation and evolution of cosmic structures, dark matter and dark energy, exoplanets and solar system bodies. Many international mainstream media have listed the China Space Survey Telescope as a possible world science and technology hotspot in 2023, believing that its launch will become a new annual milestone for human exploration or use of space, along with the United States launching a new rocket and launching an asteroid mining mission.

In 2023, let us look forward to China's space industry bringing us new surprises and pride.

Author: Wang Junyi, member of the Space Culture Communication Youth Working Committee of the China Society of Science and Technology Journalism

Review｜He Chen, Engineer of Beijing Mechanical and Electrical Engineering General Design Department

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