CCTV news: Recently, the preliminary prototype of the light boat cargo spacecraft developed by the Microsatellite Innovation Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has completed a number of key technical verifications and entered the overall testing stage. In the future, the Qingzhou cargo spacecraft will also undertake the low-cost upstream and downstream cargo transportation tasks of the Chinese Space Station. Watch the exclusive visit of CCTV reporters.
CCTV reporter Shuai Junquan: What is it like to unpack express delivery in space? Recently, the space courier guy - my country's latest developed light boat cargo spacecraft has undergone its preliminary examination and entered the overall testing stage. We conducted an exclusive visit, and the light boat cargo spacecraft also made its first public appearance.
It can be seen that our light boat cargo spacecraft is composed of a sealed cabin in the main body and an unsealed tail cone in the rear section. It can be vividly imagined as the truck we see, just like a large sealed box with a pickup truck cargo compartment at the back. In this way, a lot of precision equipment and supplies for daily life can be carried in the sealed cabin, and the open tail vertebra at the back can carry some equipment that requires space exposure experiments.
CCTV reporter Shuai Junquan: "Door door delivery" is the core mission of "Qingzhou". It can carry 1.8 tons of "space packages" steadily to the space station. In addition, the "Qingzhou" spacecraft is also responsible for the task of "door-to-door pickup". It can pack and store the domestic garbage produced in the space station and the replaced waste equipment. At the end of the mission, it will act as a responsible "scavenger", taking the entire ship's waste with it, falling into the Earth's atmosphere according to the specified direction, and burning up completely over the uninhabited waters of the South Pacific. It must truly "wave its sleeves and leave no garbage behind."
In addition to being able to deliver and retrieve, the cargo hold of the "Qingzhou" spacecraft is even more unique. First of all, it is equipped with a configurable cold chain system, which is equivalent to a modular "space refrigerator". Each module has a volume of 60 liters, and the number of refrigerators can be flexibly configured like building blocks. A maximum of 5 refrigerators can be configured, which is a total capacity of 300 liters. What's more considerate is that the temperature of the cold chain can be accurately adjusted between 0-8℃. Whether you are preserving fresh fruits and vegetables or storing special biological samples, you can find the right temperature. In the future, the ingredients for “space barbecue” will be fresher and richer.
Not only that, the cargo hold of the "Qingzhou" spacecraft is also intelligent. Through AI management of cargo, astronauts can quickly find the items they need through voice interaction and other methods, and keep track of the material situation at any time, further improving the efficiency and convenience of space life.
Currently, the transportation cost of this "Interstellar Express" service is about 100,000 yuan per kilogram. With the addition of mass production and commercial aerospace, the "postage" will become cheaper in the future. In ancient times, there was a saying that "a light boat has crossed the Ten Thousand Mountains", but now there is a "light boat that travels between heaven and earth". The light boat spacecraft uses the most cutting-edge technology to bring human fireworks to the distant space.
