On September 25, the "Global Times" reporter learned from the commercial aerospace company Zhongke Aerospace that at 7:33 on the same day, the Zhongke Aerospace Lijian No. 1 Yao-4 carrier rocket was successfully launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, using the method of "one arrow and five satellites", and successfully sent five satellites, including Zhongke Satellite 01 satellite, Jilin No. 1 SAR01A satellite, and Yunyao-1 No. 21 satellite, into the predetermined orbit, and the launch mission was a complete success, and the satellites were mainly used in land census, meteorological observation and other fields. This launch is also the first successful launch of the Lijian-1 rocket in the morning and dusk orbit.
"From the perspective of rockets, the morning and dusk orbital launch has the following characteristics, first of all, the launch time is relatively early, usually around 7 o'clock in the morning, which requires us to strictly control the time of the launch process. The second is that the requirements for the layout of the satellite are relatively strict, after entering the predetermined orbit, the lens of the remote sensing satellite can not be aimed at the sun, but the unfolded satellite sail board has certain requirements for the light," Shi Xiaoning, vice president of Zhongke Aerospace and chief designer of Lijian 1, said in an interview with the Global Times reporter that the launch of the morning and dusk orbit puts forward new requirements for the accuracy of the rocket into orbit, which makes the Lijian 1 must make a new design in the timing of separation and the layout of the satellite in the fairing.
However, the advantages of placing satellites in dawn and dusk orbits are also obvious, especially for remote sensing satellites. Shi Xiaoning further introduced that in the morning and dusk orbit, the sunlight is always perpendicular to the orbital plane for irradiation, and the lighting conditions of the remote sensing satellite for earth observation are better, so the imaging effect of the satellite is better.
According to the "Global Times" reporter, among the five satellites launched, the 01 and 02 satellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Satellite are synthetic aperture radar remote sensing satellites, and the two satellites are mainly loaded with Ku-band synthetic aperture radar, and the satellites have the ability to have a resolution of better than 1 meter for ground remote sensing imaging, which is mainly used for all-day and all-weather high-resolution ground microwave remote sensing imaging. Jilin-1 SAR01A satellite is an X-band microwave remote sensing payload satellite developed by Changguang Satellite Technology Co., Ltd., whose main task is to obtain microwave remote sensing images of earth observation, which can achieve continuous strip imaging with sub-meter resolution, and has the ability of left and right side view scanning imaging, which can realize the monitoring and monitoring of global land and ocean information around the clock and all day, and provide users with remote sensing information services such as situation analysis, target monitoring, regional general survey, and ground object classification. The 21 and 22 satellites of Yunyao-1 are the two satellites of the Yunyao meteorological constellation, and the satellite payload is the GNSS occultation detection payload, and the atmospheric temperature, humidity, pressure and ionospheric electron density can be obtained through the inversion of GNSS occultation data. Yunyao meteorological constellation satellite has the characteristics of short development cycle, high integration, light weight, small size and high cost performance.
Up to now, the Lijian-1 carrier rocket has accurately sent 42 satellites into the predetermined orbit, with a total load mass of more than 4 tons, and this type of rocket has become one of the most mature commercial space launch vehicles in China. After continuous improvement around the goal of "reducing costs and increasing efficiency", the freight per kilogram of load of this type of rocket is about 70,000 yuan, and it has the ability to provide cost-effective and high-success rate of small satellite networking, carpooling, special car, hitchhiking and other flight-based launch services in the domestic and foreign commercial aerospace markets.
It is understood that the follow-up Zhongke Aerospace will aim at the needs of the construction of the continental low-orbit Internet satellite constellation network, as well as the mainland's space science exploration mission, and accelerate the research and development of the Lijian 2 carrier rocket, which has a carrying capacity of more than 10 tons in low earth orbit and can realize the launch of low-cost cargo spacecraft on the continental space station.
"This type of rocket will use the configuration of three boosters in parallel, and the boosters will not be separated after the rocket is launched, but separated as a whole. This type of rocket will be based on mature technology to achieve low-cost launch on the basis of ensuring the reliability and success rate of the launch," Shi Xiaoning said.
Source: Global Times-Global Network
Editor: Dong Ying
Editor: Zhao Zongjie
Final review: Li Enguang
Director: Zhao Huiru