Compared with the Chang'er f yao-13 rocket, which had been on duty for three months, the "on duty" time of Chang'er f yao-14 rocket doubled and set a new record. At 10:44 on June 5, the long march 2F yao-14 rocket, which was developed by the China Academy of launch vehicle technology affiliated to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, ignited from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and lifted the Shenzhou 14 manned spacecraft carrying three astronauts to the space station.
Subsequently, the spacecraft and the rocket were successfully separated and accurately entered the predetermined orbit. The first manned launch mission of the space station in the orbital construction phase was a complete success.
The chang-2f yao-14 rocket used to launch the shenzhou-14 manned spacecraft.
The reliability evaluation value reaches 0.9894
The construction of the Chinese space station is divided into two stages: key technology verification and in orbit construction. After the successful Shenzhou 13 manned mission, the Chinese space station officially entered the in orbit construction stage. According to the mission arrangement, six missions are planned to be carried out this year to complete the on orbit construction of China's space station. Among them, the long march 2F carrier rocket (hereinafter referred to as "Chang 2F") will carry out two manned missions. Therefore, 2022 is the decisive year for the construction of the space station.
Manned spaceflight is vital to human life. As the only manned launch vehicle in China at present, high reliability, high safety and high adaptability are the primary goals of Chang 2F rocket, and they are also the constant goals. In order to further improve the reliability and safety, the development team insisted on excellence and continued to make a number of technical improvements, so that the reliability and safety of the rocket reached a new level. Chang Wuquan, chief designer of Chang 2F rocket of China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (hereinafter referred to as "the rocket Institute"), introduced that at present, the reliability evaluation value of Chang 2F rocket has reached 0.9894 and the safety evaluation value has reached the international advanced level of 0.99996.
Chang Wuquan explained that a simple understanding based on the number of 100 launches is: "only after 100 rocket launches can there be one flight failure; if there is a flight failure, and only after 100 escapes by the escape system can there be less than one flight failure."
It is reported that the development team of the Chang 2F insisted on working more carefully and stricter standards. The special study issued the quality work requirements of the Chang 2F rocket, put forward the quality work principles and specific measures of "five in place and five under control", strictly controlled the "quality", and tightened the product design, material control, production process, product acceptance and management measures to ensure the product quality of the astronaut's "special vehicle".
The successful launch of the Shenzhou 14 manned spacecraft once again added a full mark record to the "remarkable achievements" of the Chang 2F rocket. Over the past 30 years, the Chang 2F rocket has participated in every step of the "three-step" strategy of China's manned space program. Since its first flight in 1999, 14 Shenzhou spacecraft and 2 space laboratories have been successfully launched, including 9 manned launch missions, with a success rate of 100%.
Double the duration of "standing guard" to set a new record
During the mission of the space station, the astronauts spent a long time in orbit. In order to deal with possible emergencies and add a layer of insurance to the astronauts' life safety, the new launch mode of "one launch, one backup" and "rolling backup" was adopted from the Long March II f Yao 12 carrier rocket (hereinafter referred to as "Long March II f Yao 12") and Long March II f Yao 13 rocket. The chang-2f yao-14 rocket is the second rocket to perform the task of "standing guard" for emergency duty.
Integrating emergency rescue and launch tasks, the Long March II f Yao 14 rocket has longer endurance and stricter testing. It has broken the record of Long March II f Yao 13 rocket (hereinafter referred to as "Long March II f Yao 13 rocket") for astronauts and has become the longest standing rocket in the history of China's long march series rockets. Songjing, the chief designer of the 2F rocket ground system, the president of the rocket, said, "on October 16, 2021, after the launch of the Chang'er f Yao 13 rocket, the Chang'er f Yao 14 rocket immediately entered the emergency standby state. On April 16 this year, the Shenzhou 13 astronauts returned to earth safely. The Chang'er f Yao 14 rocket, which had been on guard for six months, was released from the emergency standby state, switched to the storage state, and was ready to perform the official launch mission."
Compared with the chang'er-f-yao-13 rocket, which has been on duty for three months, the "on duty" time of chang'er-f-yao-14 rocket has doubled. If calculated from the "hoisting and erection" on August 17, 2021, plus the launch preparation time, its erection time is nearly 10 months, which is the longest erection time of the long march series carrier rocket so far.
After "standing" for such a long time, how can we ensure that the rocket can be launched with high reliability when it receives an emergency rescue mission or launch mission? The launch team ensured the correctness and reliability of the work of the launch site to the greatest extent through strict testing and phased confirmation on the rocket quality management.
Songjing introduced that in the past, the quality work of the rocket was confirmed intensively before the transition of the rocket (ship rocket combination). The workload was large, and the problem was not easy to trace to the source. In this mission, four mandatory inspection and confirmation points were set for the Chang'er f Yao 14 rocket to carry out phased quality confirmation, namely, after the condition inspection of Chang'er f Yao 14 rocket, after the electrical system test, before the transfer and before the launch. This method of "one stage of work, one stage of confirmation" makes the rocket quality confirmation work more efficient.
In addition to setting up a compulsory inspection and confirmation point, the "guard" environment of Chang'er f yao-14 rocket has also been further guaranteed during emergency standby and storage. "In order to make the rocket more comfortable when 'standing guard', we have strictly controlled the temperature and humidity of the plant where the rocket is located, neither high nor low." Songjing said.
In addition, the first thing the launch team should do after entering the launch site is to check the status of the rocket, whether it is receiving an emergency rescue order or the rocket is in storage for normal launch. Strict screening should be carried out to ensure the reliability of the adhesive position, the stability of the oil and air pressure of the servo mechanism, and the air tightness of the storage tank, so as to ensure that the functions of each system of the rocket are normal and the parameters are qualified.
In terms of emergency rescue, the Chang'er f yao-14 rocket still has the ability to launch rapidly within 8.6 days, but the researchers have never stopped pursuing work efficiency and reliability. The launch team optimizes the emergency rescue process to make more efficient use of personnel.
Songjing introduced that after receiving the emergency rescue order, the launch team will carry out the work of the rocket foundation stage line, fairing line and escape tower line in parallel according to the 24-hour working system. However, there are three shifts within 24 hours, and there are many personnel changes. After further analysis of the emergency rescue process, it is found that except that the fairing line needs to work according to the 24-hour working system, there is a large margin in the working time of the rocket foundation stage line and the escape tower line.
By optimizing the design of the emergency rescue process, the basic stage line and escape tower line of the rocket can work according to the 8-hour system every day on the premise that the 8.6-day emergency rescue process time remains unchanged, which ensures the efficient use of human resources and the reliability of the rocket work during the emergency rescue to the greatest extent.
At the same time, with the accumulated experience of the successful launching of the chang'er-f yao-12 and yao-13 rockets, the operation proficiency of the team members was further improved and the rocket test process was smoother.
During the preparation for the launch of the remote 14 mission, the model team also needs to synchronously carry out the assembly and testing of the remote 15 rocket and complete the setting of the emergency rescue status. "Through the parallel and optimization of the implementation process of the two missions last year, the preparation time for the launch this year is expected to be further shortened." Chang Wuquan said.
Now, with the successful launch of the Chang'er fyao 14 rocket, the long march-2 fyao 15 rocket "took over" as an emergency rescue duty rocket and began its mission.