Yuan Jiajun, president of China Academy of Space Technology and commander-in-chief of Shenzhou-2 and Shenzhou-5 spacecraft systems, revealed the latest progress of China's space program when he attended the fifth annual meeting of China Association for Science and Technology in Tongji University yesterday: Shenzhou-6 will be launched next autumn, Chang 'e-1 will fly around the moon in 2007, and China people are expected to realize "space tourism" within 20 years.
As the commander-in-chief of Shenzhou series spacecraft system, especially the successful launch of Shenzhou 5 manned spacecraft in June+10/October last year, Yuan Jiajun, the commander-in-chief of Shenzhou 5 spacecraft system, became the focus of attention. When he appeared in Tongji University yesterday, reporters and Chinese and foreign scientists immediately bombarded him about the space programs of Shenzhou VI and China.
"Shenzhou VI"-Launch next autumn
Yuan Jiajun revealed yesterday that "Shenzhou VI" will be launched next autumn and will carry two astronauts for five days. Technically speaking, the manned space flight itself, especially compared with Shenzhou 5, has not changed substantially. China shenzhou spaceship's design is based on the ability of three people for seven days. The number of astronauts is very important to the whole evaluation system of spacecraft. The astronaut's heat load, the amount of oxygen breathed and the amount of carbon dioxide discharged have great influence on the system. The biggest difference between solo flight and two-person three-person flight is that strict tests are needed in environmental control and life support systems, which is also the biggest technical difficulty that distinguishes Shenzhou VI from Shenzhou V, among which environmental control and life support systems are the most stringent and demanding.
Yuan Jiajun said that developing manned space flight is a high-risk task. Shenzhou VI spacecraft has more than 600 devices, more than 80,000 nodes, 65,438+200,000 computer chips, and more than 700,000 sets of software. Every link needs to be grasped without any accidents, especially to prevent all kinds of accidents.
Yuan Jiajun said that Shenzhou VI is progressing smoothly and will be launched as scheduled next autumn. "Chang 'e-1"-Following the success of manned flight around the moon in 2007, China's next space program is to explore the moon. According to the overall national development strategy, China's lunar exploration plan is divided into three stages. The first stage is to develop and launch Chang 'e-1, China's first lunar probe, to explore the moon globally, integrally and comprehensively.
Yuan Jiajun said yesterday that Chang 'e-1, China's first lunar exploration satellite made by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, is currently being developed as planned. Breakthrough progress has been made in key satellite technologies, and the development of the initial sample star is progressing smoothly. For Chang 'e-1, the first phase of the lunar exploration program, the goal of the first phase is to fly around the moon in 2007. Judging from the current situation, all the work is being carried out in an orderly manner under the guidance of relevant state departments, the scheme stage is drawing to a close, and some systems have entered the engineering stage.
"Space Tourism" —— China after 20 years
In June this year, American Bert Rutan's "Space One" successfully entered space. As the first private spaceship in the world, this action brought about 654.38+0 billion dollars to his company.
In view of the upsurge caused by "space tourism", Yuan Jiajun optimistically predicted that China people are expected to realize "space tourism" within 20 years.
Yuan Jiajun said that the commercialization of space technology is the development trend of space industry. Space 1, a private spacecraft developed by American private enterprises, successfully entered space, which is a useful exploration for the commercialization of space technology. This "space tourism" has achieved great success, but in fact, this "space tourism" is not a real orbital flight, but a suborbital flight. The so-called "suborbital" refers to a flight state in which a spacecraft leaves the atmosphere on the surface of the earth and begins to enter the edge of space after entering space. At a distance of about 100 km from the ground, it can't catch up with the real spacecraft and fly around the earth because of its speed and power. Sub-orbital flight is not the usual international orbit around the earth and space roaming, but a flight that has just left the atmosphere and entered the edge of space.
Compared with orbital flight, suborbital flight is technically simpler, but it is a precedent for manned space commercial operation and a very meaningful pioneering work.
Yuan Jiajun said that China's space technology commercialization has not yet formed a good mechanism. With the development of technology, the commercialization of space technology will greatly promote the development of manned space flight in China. With the accelerating pace of international commercial development of manned spaceflight, it is predicted that the development of space tourism will be faster and faster in the next 20 years, and China people are expected to realize "space tourism" within 20 years.
Yuan Jiajun pointed out that the prosperity of "space tourism" needs to solve two problems, one is to reduce costs, and the other is to ensure safety. At present, the R&D work of China's space scientists and technicians mainly focuses on serving the national economy and national defense. However, in the near future, space technology will certainly be widely used in civil use, so that more people can enjoy the convenience brought by advanced technology.