Author: Rong ping source: official account: Rong Ping (ID: rongping898) has been authorized to reprint
At 7:52 on April 23, 2010, the US developed space fighter x37b was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida. It landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 1:16 a.m. local time on December 3, lasting more than 8 months. It is said that x37b is capable of conducting military operations against enemy satellites and other spacecraft in wartime, including controlling, capturing and destroying enemy spacecraft or military reconnaissance.
As the first military aircraft specially used for space operations, the appearance of x37b and the scenes of science fiction films such as star wars have rushed in an instant, pushing the influence of US military hegemony to the peak. The United States, Japan, Europe and other countries are singing and dancing. It’s not happy.
X37b, which is regarded by the West as the beginning of the space military era, is the headline news in 2010
In contrast, on the Chinese Internet, which has always been hostile to the United States, pessimistic sentiments are everywhere.
The pessimism of Chinese netizens is not unreasonable.
At that time, the military gap between China and the United States was still widening at a speed visible to the naked eye. China’s most advanced fighter, the J-10, had just formed a large-scale combat capacity, and there was no news of the j-20. The news of the successful anti-ship ballistic missile test was also a rumor. The underwater acoustic countermeasure technology was several times behind that of the United States. The only thing that made everyone happy was the Liaoning ship of the Varyag. Every once in a while, new photos were sent out, This is the last spiritual pillar of netizens.
On the other hand, in the United States, B2 dominates the sky for many years, and F22 has not met any rival since its debut. As a result, the US emperor has to specially develop a low-cost F35 to reduce the marginal cost. For many Chinese people, such a gap, let alone anti surpassing and equalizing, has become a kind of extravagant hope even not to be too backward.
The appearance of x37b is like the last straw to crush the camel. When it is difficult for the Chinese air force to defend Tianjiang in front of the United States, the so-called “one hour global instantaneous strike” air and space fighter completely shattered the beliefs of netizens. Some people began to be confused and others began to despair.
However, some people, relying on their warm blood and their unconditional absolute trust in the motherland and the firm will of the Chinese nation to defeat imperialism and all its running dogs, ignited a spark in the endless darkness. I still remember a netizen’s message. He said that the Americans will be rampant for a short time, and that in ten years at most, China will be able to build an aerospace plane even more advanced than x37b!
Military fans regard this as a heroic speech to boost their morale, but they are not sure whether it can be realized.
The United States, Japan and the public view this as hysterical nonsense. What can a country that can not even build stealth fighters, a country that can not even play with aero engines, and a country that has just realized the localization of the third generation of fighters compare with the United States in the space field? Do you match me?
However, everyone did not expect that this prophecy was only one year late!
In July and August 2021, China successfully launched two suborbital space vehicles. In the past decade, after a series of soul stirring news such as the j-20 Weilong in the sky, the psychological endurance of netizens in various countries has increased a lot. In fact, this kind of news is not surprising.
However, in sharp contrast, the western world has blown the pot. The US military claims that part of the orbital bombing system tested by China is an achievement that violates the laws of physics.
The financial times of the United Kingdom has put it more exaggerated. The report points out that China is testing a hypersonic nuclear missile that can fly around the world and re-enter the orbit. Looking at this group of foreign media who were somewhat bewildered, the Ministry of foreign affairs calmly said that this was a routine spacecraft experiment to verify the reusable technology of spacecraft.
The Ministry of foreign affairs is not fooling people. This is really a reusable sub orbital vehicle!
On August 26 this year, the official wechat of China Aerospace Science and technology group said that the reusable flight test of the lift type sub orbital vehicle independently developed by the first Institute of China Aerospace Science and Technology Group Co., Ltd. was a complete success.
I thought that this experiment could cure Western paranoia, but I didn’t expect that after the news was released, their condition seemed to be more serious. In late August, the US military and the Atlantic Council submitted a report on the development of the space industry to the White House. The report said that China is making steady progress towards the goal of replacing the United States as the dominant force in space by 2045, and the government should make plans to compete with China with the strength of the whole country.
We do not know whether the report led by the US military wants to use the China threat theory to ask Congress for more money, or whether it is really frightened by the sub orbital reusable aircraft. But what is certain is that the technology of this device tested last year and this year is nowhere ahead of that of the United States!
The first thing to bear the brunt is the mode of taking off and landing.
Reusable launch vehicles can be divided into three types according to the level of technical difficulty. The first type is vertical take-off and landing, that is, vertical take-off and vertical landing. The advantage is that the structure and layout are simple, which can be achieved by existing rocket technology; The disadvantage is that the lift provided by the atmosphere cannot be used, and a large amount of fuel must be carried, resulting in the limited launch efficiency of the rocket having to tilt to the fuel.
In the field of recoverable rockets, although China started later than the United States, a large amount of industrial demand will sooner or later make China surpass the Falcon supported by NASA in industry and technology
The second is vertical take-off and horizontal landing, that is, the carrier rocket brings the space shuttle into space, and then the space shuttle returns to land at the airport by itself. The current space shuttle uses this mode, and the x37b of the United States is no exception. The advantages are lower landing overload, strong maneuverability and more reuse times; The disadvantages are high cost, complex system and difficult maintenance.
For example, the hydrogen oxygen engine with staged combustion cycle needs to be disassembled and maintained in turn. Another example is the thermal protection system. Under the effect of friction, the space shuttle will generate intense high temperature when entering the atmosphere. Therefore, the mainstream space shuttles now will be covered with thermal protection tiles to insulate the surface, with a total of tens of thousands of pieces. Even if a small piece is defective, it must be replaced in time, otherwise it will be easy to break and fall off during flight.
The source of the tragedy of the space shuttle Columbia was precisely because a piece of environmental protection material fell off and smashed the heat-resistant tile, causing the high-temperature gas to burn the wing structure. Finally, the space shuttle was inevitably disintegrated under the condition of overload and out of control.
It is also because the maintenance process is extremely complex, so the reuse time interval of the space shuttle is quite long. It starts in a month and is not capped in a year, which makes the attendance rate of the traditional space shuttle pitifully low!
The third type is horizontal takeoff and landing, that is, the space shuttle takes off from the airport and lands at the airport. The advantage is that there is no need to spend money to build a fixed launch site. On the one hand, the fixed launch site has the disadvantages of high launch cost and long launch preparation period. On the other hand, the fixed launch site of rockets is a high-value strategic target and is vulnerable to the enemy’s key attacks in war. In addition, the space shuttle with horizontal take-off and landing can make full use of the lift in the atmosphere to fly without carrying so much oxidant. In this way, the marginal cost of a single launch will be greatly reduced.
The disadvantage is that the technology is too difficult, and the United States and the Soviet Union have not fully understood it for many years!
It is reported that the test on July 16 last year was a vertical takeoff and a horizontal landing, and the test in August was a horizontal takeoff and a horizontal landing.
If the news is true, it is almost certain that China’s space shuttle technology has surpassed that of the United States. It is neither true nor important, because the re-use flight test on August 26 this year can also prove that China is progressiveness in this respect. If it wants to lead, it will lead the United States.
The suborbital reusable launch vehicle tested by China this time is not reuse in the traditional definition. After all, reusable is the basic operation of the space shuttle. It is meaningless to specifically mention it. Therefore, strictly speaking, it should be reusable in a short time. This involves two basic issues.
First of all, how to do it: the factor limiting the frequency of traditional space shuttles is maintainability, especially the maintenance of heat protection system. After a flight, tens of thousands of heat protection tiles must be carefully inspected, which greatly slows down the maintenance speed of the space shuttle. If we want to solve the problem of repeated take-off at short intervals, we must first find a heat insulation technology that can replace the thermal pad.
The top scientific research team of America, Soviet Union and Europe has searched for decades and basically confirmed that under the current conditions, there is no material that can be reused under the reentry high temperature, except for the high-temperature heat protection pad. This means that chemical technology has come to an end in the reentry heat protection, and physical technology must be started.
China’s successful test flight of a short space reusable sub orbital vehicle shows that it has made a milestone in the field of space physics and thermal insulation. This significance is not bad whether it is at the level of Sino US science and technology competition or at the level of human exploration of space!
The maximum surface temperature of the thermal pad system of the space shuttle is about 1650 ?
Second, what can be done: suborbital prefix attribute is very important! In theory, suborbital refers to the airspace 20 to 100km from the ground, also known as near space. China already has an aircraft that can fly to the highest point of suborbital, i.e. 100km. The newly tested suborbital multiplex carrier has no reason to be lower than this altitude.
This altitude is particularly unfriendly to unfriendly countries. Its position is higher than the maximum interception altitude of conventional air defense missiles and lower than the orbit of satellite operation. In addition, it is similar to hypersonic strange trajectory. The existing antimissile system has no way to deal with it, and the anti satellite system has no way to deal with it. Such characteristics have great development value in the military field!
At a small scale, it can replace satellites for reconnaissance purposes in sub orbit with mobility and anti interception.
The range of our anti-ship ballistic missiles is within the second island chain, not because the range of the missiles can only reach 3000 to 4000 kilometers, but because the maximum reconnaissance range of the long-term UAV, which serves as an eye in the entire anti-ship system, is only 3000 to 4000 kilometers.
Although satellites can achieve global reconnaissance, first, they can not achieve global real-time reconnaissance. Due to the limitation of Oceanic Meteorological environment and intelligence analysis, the relatively vast sea surface without landmarks such as aircraft carriers is considered as a small target, and it is difficult for satellites to achieve real-time tracking and reconnaissance; Second, considering that we have already started to fight against the targets of high military value and political significance such as aircraft carriers, we must prepare for the worst. We must not fight with the mentality that once the space war is launched, the Pandora’s box will be opened and the opponent dare not take risks. This is both unrealistic and dangerous!
However, the short space reusable suborbital reconnaissance aircraft can make up for this defect. Given the power of hypersonic, it can fly to any place in the world within half an hour. It is reusable and can increase the search range. In theory, as long as the data link and communication system can be solved, the global anti-ship may not be unable to do so.
Generally speaking, with the increase of payload technology, it is not impossible to replace transport planes and bombers.
Tengyun project: before 2030, design and manufacture China’s first space shuttle that can take off and land horizontally and can be reused for many times. If the project proceeds smoothly, China will surpass the United States in all respects and become the space hegemon in technology. This will be a milestone in the Sino US science and technology competition.
Ten years is not a long time, but change is a sea of vicissitudes.
The United States is a Yangzhou dream once in a decade. When it wakes up, all the global instantaneous attacks and star wars will be lost, leaving only a group of congressional lords who give money alone in the wind; China is trying to break the wall once in a decade, the United States is the wall shaper, the x37b space fighter is the wall, and China is the wall breaker.
Rising from the clouds and mist, ten years of light, turning over x37b, surpassing the United States, breaking the wall in space, China has done it!