Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft has been successfully launched. What task will it accomplish? What changes will it bring to China's space development?

Tianzhou-6 was successfully launched and soared!

At 2 1 22 on May/0, 2023, the Long March 7 carrier rocket was ignited at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China and successfully flew with the Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft. According to the two-hour autonomous rapid rendezvous and docking technology adopted by the previous Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou-6 is about to dock with the backward docking interface of the core module of China Space Station "Tianhe", which will set a new record.

The main functions of Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft are to transport materials, refuel and unload wastes for the space station.

The types of materials transported by Tianzhou No.6 this time are not much different from those in the past, mainly including clothes, food and drinking water. Among them, the weight of fresh fruit is about 70 kilograms, which is about twice the weight of the fruit carried by Tianzhou-5. These fruits will guarantee the food needs of the astronauts of Shenzhou-15 and Shenzhou-16 at the same time.

Relatively speaking, the previous times brought less fruit. Through long-term in-orbit verification, it was found that some fruits were stored longer than expected, so as to bring more fruits into the sky during launch.

Take Shenzhou XII as an example. At that time, I brought 60 apples to heaven, 3 people, 20 apples each, and the shelf life was 2 months.

During the tenth five-year plan period, there are more kinds of fruits, including apples, raisins, tomatoes, oranges and oranges.

I believe that the variety of fruits will be further increased this time. In this way, astronauts can eat all kinds of fresh fruits.

The strongest cargo ship in active service in the world!

Compared with the five cargo ships from Tianzhou No.1 to Tianzhou No.5, the subsequent cargo ships after Tianzhou No.6 have been upgraded, and the freight capacity has been improved to a certain extent, from the previous 6.9 tons to the current 7.4 tons.

Save money and be efficient!

This also means that one launch mission of Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft will be able to meet two manned missions. Cargo ships are launched from twice a year to three times every two years, reducing costs and improving efficiency!

The materials carried by Tianzhou-6 can be used for the life and experiment of Shenzhou-16 and Shenzhou-17 for about one year.

In order to welcome the arrival of Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft had been evacuated before, separated from the backward docking interface of Tianhe core cabin and entered the independent flight mode for about one month. Different from the past, when the Shenzhou-15 manned spacecraft withdraws after completing its mission, the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft will dock again.

By then, China Space Station will become a sad structure with three cabins, and for the first time, two cargo spacecraft will dock at the space station at the same time, forming the latest configuration.

The successful launch of Tianzhou VI will once again set a new record and become one of the most powerful cargo ships in active service in the world. This mainly refers to the cargo capacity of Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft, which is the only 7.4-ton cargo ship in the world.

At present, not many countries have cargo ships. After all, manned space flight is not as easy as imagined.

First of all, the progressive MS cargo spacecraft of the Russian Federal Space Agency is similar to the Soyuz manned spacecraft in appearance, which can be regarded as an "old object". The cargo capacity of the cargo ship Progress is about 2 tons, which is not very high. However, the role of the progressive cargo ship is not low. In addition to carrying materials and bagged garbage, it also helps the International Space Station adjust its orbital height when it is in orbit.

Secondly, the American dragon boat, of course, mainly refers to the freight dragon boat here. In essence, it is a manned dragon boat, just taking out the seats inside to transport goods. The load capacity of freight dragon boat is about 6 tons in theory.

America's Cygnus cargo ship, Japan's HTV cargo ship, and Europe's "automatic transfer" aircraft are not worth mentioning.

In addition to carrying more daily necessities, Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft also carried out a number of cargo spacecraft experimental projects, such as xenon bottles, new lidar, satellite connection and supercritical fluid load required for electric propulsion of the space station.

Because the life test of two manned spacecraft in groups for nearly one year needs to be launched once, traditional festivals in China, such as the corresponding Dragon Boat Festival food zongzi, and some foods and articles used during the Spring Festival, are also considered in the food.

In the future, all cargo ships in China will follow this standard. With the development of technology, reusable cargo spacecraft may also appear, further reducing the cost of space exploration.

It is worth noting that with the official operation of China Space Station, the load of international cooperation projects will gradually enter China Space Station to carry out experiments, and foreign astronauts may enter China Space Station in the future. It's hard to imagine that China's application to join the International Space Station was rejected 30 years ago, and now it can allow astronauts from other countries to enter the China Space Station!

Our efforts will always bring gains! Come on, China Aerospace!