What is Project Miyin? When will China realize interstellar travel?

Human civilization has experienced rapid development of high technology and has now begun to gradually enter the primary stage of deep space development. Interstellar travel will be realized in the near future. By then, everyone can easily travel between planets in the solar system. Tourism, China has recently launched the mysterious Miyin Project, so what is the content of this plan? What is the Miyin Project?

Miyin refers to the space exploration plan for habitable planets near the solar system. How to implement

The Miyin Project will take the lead in discovering and certifying habitable planets outside the solar system and characterizing their habitability by launching spacecraft and using direct imaging methods. It will also conduct spectral surveys of solar system objects to reveal the distribution of water. , opening a new era of astronomical observations in the mid- and outer-infrared bands with a spatial resolution of 0.01 arcseconds. The latest news on the Sound Project

Is there a planet suitable for human habitation outside the solar system? Where is it? How will it be found? On December 12, 2019, during a lecture for students at Beihang University In an open class for state-owned enterprises, Yuan Jie, general manager of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, described to the 500 students present the major engineering projects that China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation will carry out in 2030 and 2045, including the space exploration of habitable planets near the solar system. Exploration plan - "Looking for Sound Project".

“The implementation of this project will enable our country to achieve new breakthroughs in the field of basic research.” Yuan Jie said that the key technologies of the “Looking for Sound Project” include space distributed synthetic aperture array telescope technology, low-noise neutral Infrared detector technology, highly sensitive and stable deep and low temperature space detection technology, space-based imaging platform multi-level system high-precision and high-stable configuration control technology, space-based observation system structure optimization and numerical simulation technology, etc.

The starry sky is vast and there is no end to exploration. Yuan Jie said that looking forward to 2020, the number of space launches of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation will once again set a new record, and the construction of a long-term manned near-Earth manned space station will be launched; the Chang'e-5 mission of the third phase of the lunar exploration project will be implemented to achieve an unmanned lunar surface. Sample return; the Beidou Navigation Satellite Global System will also build a hybrid constellation composed of 30 satellites, with service scope extending to the world; the launch and on-orbit application of high-resolution Earth observation system satellites are about to be completed, and the low-orbit mobile Internet constellation "Hongyan" Constellation" continues to accelerate its construction.

"In addition, we will also implement the much-anticipated first Mars landing detection mission. We plan to launch a Mars probe in 2020, achieve a soft landing on Mars in 2021, and carry out Mars orbit detection and patrol detection, so that our country The deep space exploration capability and level have entered the first echelon of the world's aerospace industry, achieving a leap forward in the field of deep space exploration," Yuan Jie said.

The core of the Miyin Project is a set of telescopes composed of a "space distributed synthetic aperture array". If you think this is confusing, you can simply think of it as a "tortoise version of the James Webb Space Telescope" with SAR function "Compared with the American one, both telescopes will be placed at the same location in space. The difference is that they observe infrared light of different wavelengths, so the purpose of the observation is also different. Our Miyin telescope array carries a low-noise mid-infrared band detector, which is sent by a high-thrust rocket to the translation point between the sun and the earth (i.e., the Sun-Earth Lagrange L2, which is several million kilometers away from the earth). point), the Miyin telescope will then operate in a halo orbit (HALO) formation at the Sun-Earth L2 point (forming a large array similar to the "synthetic aperture radar" used on satellites), and will conduct long-term surveys of the solar system with almost no fuel consumption. Observe nearby celestial bodies.

The Earth-like planet searcher canceled by NASA

Using the synthetic aperture array, the Miyin telescope can directly observe and image the planets around the solar system, pioneering detection through the mid-infrared band The instrument can effectively characterize the composition and mineral content of the planet's surface, find potential water sources, and determine the habitability of the planet. This is how Miyin went to find the second Earth.

At the same time, this will also be a new breakthrough in the field of basic astronomy research in our country! The reason for observing mid-infrared rays is because scientists have discovered that the infrared spectrum in this band can effectively analyze the mineral composition of the planet’s surface.< /p>

Mineral particle size distribution, separation of non-photosynthetic vegetation and soil, etc. are simply tailor-made for the search for "Second Earth".

Although the sound-finding project will not be launched until 10 years from now, early pre-research work has already begun. For example, formation flight and observation technology millions of kilometers away from the earth, ultra-low temperature maintenance technology (to avoid its own infrared interference), and how to combine a resolution telescope with an equivalent diameter of 300 meters for specific targets all need to be studied and solved. Therefore, The sound-finding project is divided into three stages. The first is key technology research and basic theoretical research, followed by on-orbit verification and early exploration, and finally the third stage is mission implementation and on-orbit work. In the next 10 to 20 years, this will be the event that attracts the most attention from astronomy and space enthusiasts besides Mars exploration.

Finally, I have to talk about the difference between the Miyin Telescope and the old American James Webb Telescope. Since both of them operate in the L2 orbit of the sun and the earth, and both observe infrared rays, many people misunderstand it. I think they both do the same thing. The same thing is that both are huge telescopes and both can observe the mid-infrared spectrum.

But the core of the James Webb Telescope observation is the near-infrared spectrum, and ours is the mid-infrared spectrum, so the purposes of the two observations are also different. The United States is to observe the red shift of celestial bodies to study the origin of the universe, and we are to measure the spectrum to study the habitability of Earth-like planets. . At the same time, the two methods of constructing the "cannon barrel" are also different. The Americans use 18 folded lenses to unfold and combine, while we use multiple small detectors flying in formation to form a large array. When will China achieve interstellar travel

It is predicted that limited interstellar travel will be achieved around 2080, and it will be between various planets in the solar system.

This issue is very science fiction, but many friends are very concerned about it, because human technological civilization has not yet made qualitative breakthroughs and progress in physics, biology and strong sustainable energy, and can only use chemical raw materials. The working medium spacecraft conducts outer space exploration, so if you want to achieve interstellar travel, you must break through the ecosystem, energy system and speed of human life and the spacecraft. At least we need to solve the application of controllable nuclear fusion, life hibernation technology, etc.