How to realize space classroom? Post-90s astronauts build a "highway" for communication between the earth and the sky

First published: January 12, Xinhua Daily Telegraph

Author: Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporters Zhang Jiansong and Ding Ting

In a spacious and bright laboratory, putting on headphones and working while listening to favorite music is the favorite life state of Lu Bin, a post-90s aerospace worker.

Because "listening" to music is part of his job.

In the vast space 400 kilometers away from the earth, the astronauts who are "on a business trip" at the Chinese space station not only frequently connect with the earth via video, but also recently gave a unique space class to the world. The three astronauts introduced and demonstrated the working and living scenes of the Chinese space station, demonstrated cytological experiments, object movement, liquid surface tension and other phenomena in a microgravity environment, and communicated with the ground classroom in real time, as if they were right at hand.

On January 11, 2022, Lu Bin and his team members took a group photo at the Shanghai Aerospace Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center. All photos were taken by Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter Zhang Jiansong

The smooth communication between the earth and the sky is inseparable from a communication "highway" built by the Electronics Institute of the Eighth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation where Lu Bin works. This "highway" is composed of equipment for voice processing, image capture, data integration, high-speed communication and transmission in space developed by the Electronics Institute of the Eighth Academy. The handsome and capable Lu Bin is the chief designer of voice equipment for manned space engineering at the Electronics Institute, and is mainly responsible for voice processing on the "highway".

"Simply put, our job is to encode the astronauts' voices, transmit them back to Earth through the high-speed link between the ground and the earth, and then restore the astronauts' voices truthfully through the decoders on the ground." In the laboratory of the Institute of Electronics, Lu Bin explained while fiddling with the complex equipment that was as dense as a spider web.

Lu Bin, chief designer of voice equipment for manned spaceflight projects at the Institute of Electronics of the Eighth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

In the process of debugging the voice equipment, Lu Bin replaced the astronauts' voices with his favorite music. He often played his favorite song "Ordinary Road" by Pu Shu over and over again. "That song tells the story of an ordinary person's mental journey of continuous struggle, which is very similar to mine. If I adjust the code, the voice will be connected, and the familiar song can be played. At that moment, I feel extremely happy. The joy of this work fascinates me and guides me to overcome technical barriers one after another." Lu Bin said.

On January 11, 2022, Lu Bin was lost in thought while watching the introduction of the lunar exploration project at the Shanghai Aerospace Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center.

Born in Daishan County, Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province in 1991, Lu Bin has been a "top student" since childhood. He said: "My personality is that I want to do my best in everything I do, and I want to constantly enrich myself. I don't want to burden my parents too much, and I hope to repay them through my own efforts."

On January 11, 2022, Lu Bin walked and looked at the rocket display model at the Shanghai Aerospace Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center.

In 2010, Lu Bin was admitted to Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Following his father's advice, he chose the major of electronic science and technology. In 2012, he became a glorious member of the Communist Party of China. After graduating from undergraduate studies, he was recommended to study for a master's degree. After graduating in 2017, among many offers, Lu Bin finally chose to work at the Electronics Institute of the Eighth Academy of Shanghai Aerospace.

"In 2003, when my country's first astronaut Yang Liwei successfully traveled into space, I was a fifth-grade student and thought Yang Liwei was amazing. In 2012, when the Shenzhou 9 carrying three astronauts successfully docked with the Tiangong 1, I was a sophomore in college. When I saw this exciting news, I began to think, what can I do for the country's space industry? When I graduate, I will have the opportunity to contribute to the country's space industry," said Lu Bin.

On January 2, 2022, Lu Bin was tidying up his room at home.

Just a few days after arriving at the Institute of Electronics, Lu Bin received a task to develop a voice product. This was his first time to come into contact with a high-end aerospace product, and he was completely confused. Fortunately, the institute assigned an experienced master to a new aerospace person like him. Lu Bin's master is Huang Jianqing, the head of the voice team of the Institute of Electronics. Master Huang guided Lu Bin step by step, from leading him into the aerospace industry to giving him opportunities to grow and exercise, and guided him step by step to make continuous progress.

On December 31, 2021, Lu Bin went to the Aerospace Equipment Engineering Department of the Institute of Electronics.

Once, the inexperienced Lu Bin was careless and made a mistake in drawing a schematic diagram. Master Huang discovered the mistake in time through patient inspection, avoiding further losses. Lu Bin blamed himself for his carelessness, but Master Huang did not blame him, but comforted and encouraged him. The master's tolerance and expectations made the competitive Lu Bin constantly motivate himself in his heart: I must do my best!

On December 31, 2021, Lu Bin conducted a thermal vacuum experiment in the laboratory.

In the complex and harsh space, the high reliability of aerospace products must be guaranteed in various environments. During a product vibration test, the voice was suddenly interrupted, and Lu Bin's heart seemed to sink to the bottom of the sea. He was very anxious, and he simulated the fault phenomenon day and night in the test center to investigate the cause of the fault, and finally successfully located it. Another time, due to the replacement of the chip of the product, the single machine started abnormally at high temperature. In order to solve the problem, he repeatedly conducted high and low temperature tests under various working conditions and finally found the cause of the fault.

"Returning to zero is a common and painful experience for us in the aerospace industry. After a problem occurs, we need to conduct experiments and analysis and research continuously to completely find out the cause of the failure. We also need to learn from it so that such problems will not occur again next time," said Lu Bin.

On December 31, 2021, Lu Bin went to the conference room for a meeting.

In order to test aerospace products, Lu Bin often needs to go to Beijing and Tianjin to participate in joint tests of products, and to the measurement and control stations across the country to participate in the connection between the sky and the earth. At the westernmost measurement and control station in my country, Kashgar, Xinjiang, due to the time difference, at 7 o'clock in the morning, before the sun rose in Kashgar, he was ready to go to the measurement and control station to work, where he assisted the overall unit in simulating calls between the sky and the earth with the Beijing Center. The measurement and control station is surrounded by a desert. Every evening, the howling wind will blow up a lot of sand, and the sky will be turbid. He still needs to stick to the joint test post until 9 o'clock in the evening.

On January 11, 2022, Lu Bin and his team members walked in front of the Shenzhou spacecraft display model at the Shanghai Aerospace Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center.

On April 29, 2021, the Tianhe core module of the Chinese space station was successfully launched. Soon after, Tianzhou-2, Shenzhou-12, Tianzhou-3, and Shenzhou-13 were launched one after another. At this time, Lu Bin has been an aerospace worker for 4 years. Under the guidance of his master and the training of the Electronics Institute of the Eighth Academy of Aerospace, he has gone from a new aerospace worker to the chief designer of manned models, in charge of the voice processors of the space station and manned spacecraft.

The space station voice processor he is responsible for realizes audio calls inside the space station, between cabins, between the ground and the sky, outside the cabin, and with the Shenzhou spacecraft. The delay of real-time calls between the ground and the sky is less than 1 second.

On December 31, 2021, Lu Bin discussed device welding issues with assembly workers at the Institute of Electronics.

The equipment integrates low-bit-rate high-quality voice compression codec and two-way high-fidelity music encoding technology. While ensuring that the voice is not distorted, the audio compression code rate has been increased by 4 times compared to Tiangong-1, and the compression method has been expanded from 1 type in Shenzhou 11 to 5 types now; in terms of capacity, it has achieved real-time processing of 30 channels of voice data, which is twice that of Shenzhou 11.

The space station voice processor also achieved three firsts: the first time that digital mixing was used to enable communication between various communication terminals; the first time that real-time maintenance and management of various communication terminals inside the spacecraft was achieved; and the first time that various audio parameters were dynamically adjusted through parameter annotation and other methods.

On December 31, 2021, Lu Bin discussed the design plan with his master Huang Jianqing (right).

In terms of user experience, the space station voice processor not only allows astronauts to make calls in and outside the space station as if they were at home, but also allows them to "telephone" with the Shenzhou spacecraft on the way, and even to establish a "group chat". During a group chat, the volume can be adjusted separately for each end of the group, making it more accurate and practical to use. Astronauts can chat in any corner of the space station, accurately set single or multiple call partners, and chat while listening to music.

On January 11, 2022, Lu Bin watched the display model of the Yutu-2 lunar rover at the Shanghai Aerospace Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center.

"The voice processor we designed can really achieve the same effect inside the cabin, outside the cabin, and on the ground. You can chat with whomever you want, in a group chat, private chat, or any other chat!" Lu Bin said confidently.

In 2021, the young Lu Bin also took on an apprentice. Together with his teammates, he helped each other and overcame difficulties. On the test equipment of the voice processor, he realized the automation of multiple test items, which greatly saved the test time. The next goal is to realize the intelligent voice equipment of the space station.

On January 2, 2022, Lu Bin and his mother were taking a walk in the community.

"The road ahead is long and arduous, but I will keep exploring." This is Lu Bin's motto. This sunny and enterprising "post-90s" astronaut said: "In the new year, my biggest wish is to go to the launch site and see the launch of the subsequent modules of the Chinese space station with my own eyes. I wish everyone who cares about me and me happy and healthy every day; I wish the country's aerospace industry to reach a higher level and all launch missions to be successfully completed!" (This episode's host: Huang Zhen)

Producer: Lu Gang | Editor: Xue Yuan | Proofreader: Zhang Hui