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It seems simple, but this resource propulsion module is responsible for the Lunar Express Earth-Moon transfer spacecraft flying back and forth between the earth and the moon for a long time. Therefore, the performance requirements for the resource propulsion module are very demanding.

For example, all the thrusters at its tail, as well as the attitude engines on it, including the attitude engines and deceleration engines on the entire Moon Express Earth-lunar transfer spacecraft, all need to be able to withstand long-term operation and thousands of repeated ignitions. test.

The propulsion engine at its tail must withstand the test of thousands or even tens of thousands of hours of continuous operation.

To give an example, it takes about five days to go from the earth to the moon. Calculated as five days, five days is one hundred and twenty hours. It takes about three or four days to come back from the moon. Just follow this round trip. Calculate two hundred hours, not counting the time it takes to orbit the moon and the earth.

One flight is two hundred hours, so ten flights are two thousand hours. We must know that the traditional launch vehicle thruster only takes tens or hundreds of seconds to work, while the recyclable and reusable rocket thruster only takes thousands or tens of thousands of seconds. After this period, the rocket thruster basically It may be the end of his life.

Of course, the thrusters on deep space probes do not work continuously. They usually shut down after a few seconds after ignition, and then use the inertia generated by the thrust to glide.

But even so, as the Moon Express Earth-lunar transfer spacecraft's flight time increases, the various engines it is equipped with also need to be started and shut down frequently, which is a continuous work, which will affect the performance of those engines. There will be no very stringent requirements.

You know, in that kind of deep space navigation, each engine of the spacecraft needs to be controlled accurately enough to ensure that the spacecraft reaches its intended destination by mistake.

Take the Earth-moon transfer flight as an example. The straight-line distance from the earth to the moon is 840,000 kilometers. While the Lunar Local Earth-moon transfer spacecraft can travel in a straight line, it needs to follow an elliptical transfer orbit, so the distance will naturally increase slightly. .

During the entire transfer process, it is necessary to continuously control the engine under the Lunar Slow Earth-lunar transfer spacecraft and adjust its retreat attitude and direction to ensure that the entire Lunar Slow Earth-lunar transfer spacecraft can accurately retreat into the lunar orbit.

You have docked a new module behind the Lunar Locomotive Earth-Moon transfer spacecraft to the docking port that originally docked the lunar landing descender.

Yes, that can be regarded as making the best use of everything. After all, it has been sailing between the earth and the moon and has no ability to dock and dock with other spacecraft, so essentially it can be regarded as a space station.

At the same time, the two docking ports on the right and left are also used to dock new cabin sections or spacecraft, thereby increasing the overall number of spacecraft that can be docked.

If its rear thrust engine fails, or if its deceleration engine suddenly starts, it will enter orbit too fast, unable to retreat into the lunar orbit, and may even float in space and become a supercar orbiting the earth. Low orbit satellite.

In addition, you have reserved expansion space to increase the structure of the Lunar Locomotive Earth-lunar transfer spacecraft through the docking interface, and expand the internal space and functional modules, so that it can undertake fewer tasks. "

It is only a lunar-orbiting space station, it is also an Earth-orbiting space station. Has your space station project been cancelled, so you are also thinking about how to make up for that regret.

Before the change, the Lunar Slow Earth-Moon transfer spacecraft will no longer be just a transfer spacecraft, but will become a space station flying between the earth and the moon. As a result, its application fields will be wider. "

So that’s it, tell me, why is the Lunar Locomotive Earth-Moon transfer spacecraft designed so much like the core module of a space station? It turns out that it is to prepare for long-term development in the future. Zhang Jun sighed.

Why does the spacecraft outside the screen look so similar to the Lunar Locomotive Earth-lunar transfer spacecraft? Zhang Jun is the bad Qidao.

The new module only expands the internal space of the entire Lunar Locomotive Earth-Moon transfer spacecraft. At the same time, a small docking device is added to the rear end of the new module. It has seven docking ports and cannot be used. Docking the lunar landing descender and cargo manned spacecraft.

Having said that, Yu Chengwu took his transparent foldable tablet from his assistant, unfolded it, then swiped it down and said, "Please look at the small screen."

Such a space station is much weaker than the Lunar Gateway Orbital Space Station built by Lao Mi.

A push-back resource warehouse like that also has no service life, so when it reaches its service life, or there is a problem with the entire push-back resource warehouse. In this way, you can't separate and throw it away, and then launch a new retraction resource capsule from the earth to retract and dock with it, replacing the work of the original resource retraction capsule. "Yu Chengwu continued to preach to the seven people.

“In addition, the entire Lunar Slow Earth-Moon transfer spacecraft, including the facilities and equipment inside, cannot be retrofitted and replaced as a whole, nor can they be retrofitted, added or deleted as needed in the future.

Immediately, a bird's-eye view of the spacecraft model was displayed under a small screen hanging next to it that originally displayed data.

Are all countries now planning to develop their own lunar orbiting space stations? You haven't thought about that issue. Instead of trying to build a new lunar orbiting space station in a time-consuming and labor-intensive manner, how about using the existing resources to turn the Lunar Local lunar transfer spacecraft into a lunar orbiting space station.

In addition, if the thruster malfunctions and the engine suddenly ignites, the deceleration engine fails and cannot be started. This may cause the entire Lunar Locomotive Earth-lunar transfer spacecraft to be too slow and resemble a meteorite. It hits the moon's surface directly.

After listening to Yu Chengwu's introduction, Wu Hao also gained a deeper understanding of the push-back resource warehouse and how easy it was to develop the entire Lunar Slow Earth-lunar transfer spacecraft.

"In order to ensure that the entire Lunar Slow Earth-Moon transfer spacecraft can operate in orbit for a longer period of time, the entire Lunar Slow Earth-Moon transfer spacecraft adopts a segmented modular structure, which also means that its overall structure Unable to detach and re-docking.

If conditions permit in the future, you cannot make complete arrangements. In this case, you will have a cislunar orbiting super space station that combines an earth-orbiting space station and a lunar-orbiting space station.

If there is a problem in the attitude adjustment, the Lunar Slow Earth-moon transfer spacecraft may enter the orbit and miss the moon.

Yu Chengwu smiled and nodded: "You are right, the spacecraft on the screen is not a modified model of the Lunar Slow Earth-moon transfer spacecraft.

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