Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Thanks to CTOnews.com netizens for the delivery of clues on the way! CTOnews.com, June 12, according to the evening news of Shanghai Space Propulsion Institute on June 11, from June 5 to 7, 2023, under the cooperation of heaven and earth, the air cylinder of the electric propulsion subsystem of the Chinese space station successfully completed the on-orbit installation task.

▲ China Space Station, Tuyuan China manned Space Office, according to the introduction, the team completed the supplement of xenon, the electric propellant "propellant" rather than "replenishment", through a simple floating locking connection to solve the problem of supercritical high density xenon addition in orbit, and the cylinder volume, working pressure and working fluid that can be disassembled and replaced many times are not limited by the original system. The goal of simple, efficient and reliable replacement of "propellant" has been achieved.

First of all, the large gas cylinder is assembled, self-tested and tested by the astronauts, which is sent to the outside through the automatic extravehicular device, and then the extravehicular mechanical arm grabs and transfers it and docks it to the installation position of the air cylinder in the electric propulsion subsystem of the core cabin. The limitations, safety, maneuverability, error prevention design and operation feedback of astronauts in orbit, the matching of manipulator interface, the accuracy requirements after many times of disassembly and assembly, and the matching of different active and passive ends are fully taken into account in the design. reliable docking, reliable locking, circuit insulation, gas seal requirements.

In order to realize the on-orbit assembly of the gas storage module, the project team investigated the locking forms of electrical, pneumatic and mechanical docking commonly used at home and abroad, and creatively put forward a simplified version of floating docking. The initial positioning and large deviation adaptation of the manipulator are realized through the coarse positioning guide device, and then the alignment locking of the electrical, pneumatic and mechanical is further modified by the autonomous fine positioning. This step-by-step approach greatly improves the tolerance and reliability of docking. The precise dimension chain design and the formation of fine assembly specifications can ensure that the precision can meet the requirements even if it is disassembled and assembled many times in orbit.

In principle, the interface reserved by the electric propulsion subsystem can be adapted to different volumes of gas cylinders, and the propellant filled by the cylinders is not limited to the existing system of xenon, but can be upgraded to different propellants according to the development of technology. the building block design of the electric propulsion subsystem not only greatly increases the life and reliability of the system, but also enriches the function of the system.

Shanghai Space Propulsion Research Institute said that the success of this mission provides valuable experience for the subsequent disassembly and installation of atmospheric cylinders and the replacement of Hall thrusters in orbit, as well as an important reference for the maintainability design of other electric propulsion tasks.

CTOnews.com Note: Shanghai Space Propulsion Research Institute (Aerospace 801), which belongs to the sixth Research Institute of China Aerospace Science and Technology Group Co., Ltd., is an aerospace high-tech research institute specializing in the research and development of space propulsion systems and medium and small thrust attitude and orbit control liquid rocket engines. Its products are related to carrier rockets, satellites, manned spaceflight, missile weapons and deep space exploration.

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