The recovery mission of the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft

The spokesperson of China Manned Space Engineering announced on November 16, 2011 that the return capsule of the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft will return to the ground at around 19:00 on the 17th.

At 18:30 on November 16, 2011, the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft and the Tiangong-1 target aircraft were successfully separated. After completing the pre-return status inspection test and a series of preparations, the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center will implement return control of the spacecraft on the 17th.

The current main landing area is ready, and the weather conditions are suitable for the spacecraft to return. The "window" on the day of the spacecraft recovery on the 17th was free of light snow, thunderstorms, sandstorms and other severe weather, and the ground wind was 4-6 meters/second, which met the meteorological conditions for the spacecraft to land.

The Shenzhou 8 spacecraft landed smoothly at 19:32:30 and successfully returned to the embrace of the motherland. Compared with Shenzhou VI and Shenzhou VII, although the Shenzhou VIII mission does not carry humans, the mission workload has increased and the work standards have been improved. This is mainly reflected in the following aspects:

First, the emergency standby time is increased. The emergency standby time depends on the time the spacecraft is in orbit. Shenzhou VI has been in orbit for 5 days, Shenzhou 7 has been in orbit for 3 days, and Shenzhou 8 has been in orbit for 17 days. According to the mission requirements, the landing site must be on standby for recovery every day during the operation of the spacecraft.

The second is to expand the search and recovery area. According to the overall plan requirements, the spacecraft has the possibility of recovery every day. Since the recovered landing sites are different, the search area becomes larger.

Third, the search recovery time is required to be shortened. The search time required for Shenzhou VII recycling under normal circumstances is 6 hours, but now it has been increased to 2.5 hours.

Fourthly, it is more difficult to search and recover at night. Searching at night is completely different from searching during the day. Through the drill, it was found that it was pitch dark at night and it was difficult to see the five fingers of the hand. It was difficult for the helicopter to take off, land, and find the return capsule.

Fifth, the payload recovery and transfer requirements for the spacecraft are strict. The payload of the return capsule is a universal biological culture device jointly developed by China and Germany. It contains many microorganisms and has environmental and temperature requirements. It must be sent to Beijing for processing as soon as possible after return. The return capsule recovery process mainly includes four stages.

(1) Tracking and measurement phase

According to the spacecraft’s flight procedure, when the spacecraft’s brake engine is ignited 26 minutes later, the return capsule will fly over the landing site, Baiyun Obo area The radar first captures the target, measures its trajectory, and guides subsequent measurement and control equipment to track it. The USB device located in the Damiaochang area then tracked, simultaneously received the spacecraft telemetry data and issued remote control commands to the spacecraft. After the main parachute is opened, optical equipment is used to film the entire landing process of the spacecraft.

(2) Search and search stage

According to the procedure, the helicopter takes off to the standby airspace before the spacecraft lands, and uses the directional equipment equipped on the helicopter to receive the signal transmitted by the spacecraft and confirm the position of the spacecraft. . Since it is a night search flight, after the helicopter arrives at the location of the return capsule, it needs to continue for a period of time to confirm the status, attitude, and on-site terrain of the return capsule, and then command the helicopter to first choose a suitable place to land nearby and direct other helicopters to land. .

(3) On-site disposal stage

At this time, ground teams arrived one after another and disposed of the return capsule according to the work flow, which mainly included appearance inspection, cabin gas detection, microbial detection, Payload disassembly.

(4) Recovery and transfer stage

The payload will be quickly transported to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the return capsule will be transported to Hohhot Railway Station and then handed over to relevant units in Beijing.

The significance of Shenzhou 8: the window to the universe, the eyes of the world, we welcome the exploration of humans on earth in the vast universe.