On March 30, the Lijian-2 launch vehicle successfully made its first flight in the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Test Zone, ushering in a new member of the Lijian series of launch vehicles.
What are the characteristics of this newly unveiled launch vehicle? What is the significance of this first flight? What tasks will it serve in the future? Experts on the development of the Lijian-2 launch vehicle explained this.
On March 30, the Lijian-2 Yaoyi carrier rocket was successfully launched at the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Test Zone. Photo by Wang Jiangbo
Build a rocket like building blocks
The Lijian-2 launch vehicle adopts a universal, combined, and modular design. Each main part is an independent module that can be flexibly combined to achieve "building a rocket like building blocks."
For example, the Lijian-2 launch vehicle is equipped with 10 liquid rocket engines of the same type. Among them, the 9 engines installed in one sub-stage are completely interchangeable. At the same time, the rocket core first stage and booster adopt a 3.35-meter diameter configuration. This modular design allows key components such as tanks and engines to be rolled back up and interchangeable like car parts.
In the future, different modules can be flexibly matched to create different versions of the rocket to achieve various configurations such as bare rods or bundled with 2 or 4 boosters, covering the low-Earth orbit capacity range of 2 tons to 20 tons.
Lian Jie, deputy chief engineer of the China Aerospace Lijian-2 launch vehicle, said that this rocket research and development model of "developing one type and expanding three types" can realize the sharing of design, modules, testing, supply chain and production lines, general assembly plants, technical area plants, launch stations, etc., which will help shorten the development cycle of multi-type rockets, reduce research and development costs, and improve rocket production efficiency.
In order to further reduce launch costs, the Lijian-2 launch vehicle will be equipped with the Liqing-2 reusable engine in the future, and adopt a cluster recovery scheme, that is, the core first stage and the booster will not be separated and will be recovered together. Lian Jie said that this recycling method can make the recycling part account for a higher proportion of the entire rocket, more efficiently spread the cost of the entire rocket launch, and provide stronger support for large-scale constellation deployment.
On March 30, the Lijian-2 Yaoyi carrier rocket was successfully launched at the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Test Zone. Photo by Wang Jiangbo
New plan for "space delivery"
In this launch, the Lijian-2 carrier rocket carried a space test spacecraft.
Yang Haoliang, commander-in-chief of the China Aerospace Lijian-2 launch vehicle, pointed out that this mission verified the feasibility of the new cargo launch solution, which means that China’s layout of space cargo transportation capabilities is no longer limited to a single model and a single path, but has begun to form a systematic pattern supported by multiple types of launch vehicles, mutual backup, and flexible deployment.
"This systematic capability is of great significance for ensuring the long-term stable operation of the space station and improving the safety and reliability of cargo transportation." Yang Haoliang said that this will further enhance the resilience and elasticity of China's space cargo transportation.
Future partner "space shuttle"
Up to now, the Lijian-1 launch vehicle, the first member of the "Lijian" family, has carried out 11 flights. Its 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit has a carrying capacity of 1.5 tons and focuses on batch launches of small satellites. The newly added Lijian-2 launch vehicle has a carrying capacity of 8 tons in a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit, which can support the rapid deployment of China's low-orbit satellite Internet constellation.
In order to further improve launch efficiency, the Lijian-2 carrier rocket will later partner with the Lixun-1 upper stage to implement satellite launch missions.
The upper stage is vividly called the "space shuttle", and the satellites are its "passengers". In many cases, if the target orbit of the satellite is relatively high, it may be difficult for the rocket to send it directly into the target orbit. Instead, the satellite will be sent to its "starting station" in space. If the satellite wants to reach the "terminal station", it needs to change its orbit by itself. With the help of the upper stage, the satellite can be "one-stop" sent to a higher target orbit, reducing the satellite's own fuel consumption, thereby extending the satellite's life.
Lian Jie said that the Lixun-1 upper stage has the capability of deploying multiple satellites and multiple orbits, which can significantly expand the orbital coverage of the Lijian-2 launch vehicle and meet the requirements for multi-satellite and off-orbit deployment in medium and high orbits. (over)
