FLUG REVUE October 2003: Taikonauts prepare for launch

CHINA PLANS FIRST MANNED SPACEFLIGHT

By Matthias Gründer

The countdown to the launch of the first manned Chinese spaceship, carrying the country's first cosmonaut, or rather, “taikonaut”, has begun. Of all the scanty information that has reached the outside world in recent years about China's work on its manned space programme, the term that this huge country uses to refer to its astronauts is actually of little importance, but, in line with long-established custom, even the smallest detail is kept secret.

In fact the Chinese scientists and engineers have every reason to boast of their accomplishments, as what they have achieved independently in the area of rocket technology and spaceflight over the last 54 years since the foundation of the People's Republic is extremely impressive.

Back at the end of the 1950s the Soviet Union handed over some samples, design drawings and production documents for its first rockets, replicas of the German V2, to its neighbour, to which at that time it was tied by a “brotherly” relationship. Starting from this foundation, Chinese specialists developed their own technical and technological base for the development and production of new, improved rockets to cover all the requirements of the military and the scientific community. By the time the People's Republic parted company both ideologically and militarily with its “Big Brother” in the 1970s, its rocket technology was already on an independent footing.

Here they were helped greatly by the return to China in 1956 of a man who had previously worked on the US space programme and was one of the founders of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Qian Xuesen. He organised the fifth research institute of the State Defence Ministry, devoted to rocket technology, and under his leadership the first medium-range missile, the DF-1, a clone of the Russian R-2, was launched on Chinese soil in November 1960.

Little by little details emerged about the country's space policy, especially after a more commercial approach was adopted and foreign customers were offered launcher rockets and technology satellites. Only in the matter of their manned space flight ambitions did the Chinese maintain a steadfast silence, which occasioned much speculation. Amongst other things, from 1975 sufficient opportunity was gained during launches of reusable technology satellites for them not only to solve the problem of re-entry but also to start both biological and materials technology studies.

When, under the suspicious eye of western reconnaissance aircraft and spy satellites, Chinese tracking ships finally took up positions on the oceans in the autumn 1999, the Chinese propagandists could no longer remain silent.

On 19 November 1999, the purpose of the laborious preparations finally became apparent: 49 days after the originally planned date (the national holiday of the People's Republic), a launcher CZ-2F rocket took off from the Jiuquan launch facility in the province of Gansu, carrying a new space vehicle into low earth orbit. This information was released surprisingly quickly, as was the news that the mission was the first unmanned trial of the Shenzhou space capsule, which in English means “Divine Craft”.

On board the two-part capsule was 100 kilograms of ballast in the form of seed, and, whereas the returning module landed safely in Inner Mongolia after 21 hours, the orbital module remained in orbit until 27 November. With this, and with the aid of some drawings or model photos that quickly circulated on the Internet, it became clear that Shenzhou was a three-part spacecraft similar to the Russian Soyuz capsule, even if it was around 15 percent larger. The usable volume was around eight cubic metres, and the cylindrical orbital section had a separate escape catch and two separate solar panels. The fact that this section was still orbiting the earth independently for another week suggests that the development of manned space station modules on this basis would be feasible.

A relatively short time after the first successful mission, the Chinese space authority raised the veil of secrecy somewhat further and the Xinhua news agency even published some pictures, albeit of a very poor quality. Nevertheless, it was clear from these, and also from the relatively clear photographs of the new launcher rocket, that close co-operation had almost certainly taken place between Chinese and Russian specialists for some time.

Meanwhile, some technical data was also published about the Divine Craft: it is 8.65m long, has a diameter of 2.8m and a mass of 7.8t. The solar panels on the equipment module are 19.4m long and the total surface of all four panels is 36m2, allowing over 1.3kW of electrical power to be generated. It is envisaged that missions operated with a three-man crew will last for 20 days, while the orbital section can be operated autonomously for over a year.

The launcher rocket is a Chinese development, but its orbital stage is heavily based on the Russian Soyuz rocket. The payload fairing has the same stabilising surfaces for emergency release, and the tower-like structure with the booster rockets was originally taken from the Russian design. Also of Russian origin are the Sokol pressure suits which the Chinese purchased quite pragmatically so as to avoid having to reinvent the wheel, and an unspecified number of Chinese military pilots have received training at the space facility near Moscow since 1996. Whether these were “authentic” spaceflight candidates or “only” specialists who would then perform the role of instructor in the homeland was not disclosed.

Meanwhile it emerged that a Chinese manned spaceflight programme had actually been initiated back in 1973 under top-secret Project 921, but had had to be frozen shortly afterwards due excessive costs. Only in 1992 when the icy relations between Russia and China began to thaw and the Russians were prepared to sell their expertise and major systems at reasonable prices, was the programme revived under codename 921-1.

Three further launches of Shenzhou capsules followed on 9 January 2001, 25 March 2002 and 29 December 2002. These were of different lengths and contained a wide range of experiments, including animals and plants. During mission Shenzhou 3, a life-size doll fitted with numerous biomedical sensors was carried, and after mission Shenzhou 4 the system was officially declared suitable for manned flight. So now the international space community is waiting with eager anticipation to see what its new colleagues from the Middle Kingdom will accomplish next.

From page 38 of FLUG REVUE 10/2003

Last updated 1 September 2003

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