Return to the moon and land on Mars. Are you serious this time?
Space-X, full fire!
Military satellite competition enters a new era
Cassini's gorgeous curtain call
The era of transportation and communication in Qualcomm has arrived.
World record: one arrow from India 104 star.
Kepler made an amazing discovery: Are humans unique?
The "hero curtain call" of the U rocket of the Undead Veterans League
Galileo and Beidou fully challenge GPS
Iridium system Jedi rebirth!
15 On May 57, the first intercontinental missile R7 in human history was launched in the Soviet Union. Just over four months later, this intercontinental missile was converted into the first rocket in human history and sent the first satellite into space. This incident greatly shook the eastern and western camps and became one of the major events in the history of the 20th century. Its direct consequence is the beginning of the space race between the East and West camps.
By 20 17, human spaceflight has gone through 60 years. After the frenzied arms race in the early 1950s and 1960s, the near-earth space race in the 1970s, the extinction in the 1980s, the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the 1990s and the absolute hegemony of the United States, the 20th century witnessed the best era of letting a hundred flowers blossom, and 20 17 was an extraordinary year.
10. Iridium system Jedi rebirth! 1990, Motorola, which was in full swing, put forward a scheme of iridium satellite mobile communication system beyond the understanding of that era. It is estimated that 77 satellites will be launched into seven polar orbits with a height of 780 kilometers, providing users anywhere in the world with direct satellite communication.
Iridium also comes from 77, which happens to be the number of electrons outside the nucleus of iridium (actually only 66 have been issued, but the name is still in use). Motorola invested so much money in this project that in a short period of three years (1996- 1998), all satellites were laid and put into operation in June 1998+0.
But as soon as it was established, it caught up with the mobile communication service based on ground base stations in the United States, occupied various markets and swept the world. Iridium project with better and more stable quality was quickly eliminated because of its high cost. Only half a year after it was put into operation, this huge personal satellite communication system was forced to go bankrupt because it was unprofitable, and Motorola fell into a huge crisis.
A leading technology across the times, lost in front of the market.
A new generation of iridium satellites will realize all-weather personal barrier-free communication around the world and get rid of ground base stations completely?
In terms of technology and cost performance, Iridium greatly surpassed the similar MILSTAR system of the US military at that time, and the cost was as high as $654.38+06 billion. In contrast, the cost of iridium is only one-fifth of its cost. Therefore, at the beginning of 2 1 century, the U.S. military began to use iridium satellite system as the communication mode of ground military units, and iridium satellite ushered in a major turning point. By 20 15, iridium had a turnover of 400 million dollars and a profit of more than 7 million dollars, which was simply a resurrection.
On 20 17, Iridium's new generation system officially started networking and made a comeback. Its reconstruction has not only brought great progress in technology, but also directly challenged the traditional mobile operators in terms of capabilities. The mobile communication based on the ground base station service will be impacted on a large scale, which may directly subvert everyone's mobile terminals.
The construction speed of the new iridium satellite system is still extremely exaggerated: 65438+ 10/0/4, ten stars with one arrow; On June 25, one arrow and ten stars; 65438+1October 9, one arrow and ten stars; 65438+February 23, one arrow and ten stars. These were all launched by the Space-X Falcon 9 rocket, which was recycled and reused. It is expected that a new generation of iridium satellite system will be established at the beginning of 20 18.
The speed of iridium coming back to life is shocking. Whether it can become another landmark in the commercial aerospace field remains to be seen.
9. Galileo and Beidou fully challenged GPS. The GPS system, which has monopolized human satellite navigation terminals for 23 years, is facing challenges again. Unlike the GLONASS system of the Soviet Union/Russia more than ten years ago, it gradually declined, and this time its opponent was stronger. They are China's third generation Beidou satellite navigation system and Europe's Galileo system, and both countries/regions have huge economies and potential users, which will directly shake the position of GPS system.
Beidou system under construction in China
At present, China has launched 25 satellites, only two years away from the construction goal of 35 satellites; Europe also realized the networking of 22 satellites after one arrow and four satellites in 65438+February. This means that the world satellite navigation market structure will be rewritten, and China and Europe with independent military-civilian dual-use systems will completely get rid of their dependence on GPS system and have greater room for progress in military, economic and commercial aspects.
8. Soyuz's U-rocket "Hero Curtain" series is the first rocket family modified from Soviet R7 missile, and it is also the most successful rocket family in history. The total number of its * * * launches has reached an astonishing 187 1, accounting for more than 30% of the world's space rocket launches, far ahead of any other rocket.
Time of launch and take-off of Soyuz U rocket
As one of the most successful and far-reaching U-shaped rockets, it experienced the 786th launch and the 765th success on February 22nd this year, and successfully sent the cargo ship Progress to the International Space Station. Then the famous rocket officially announced its retirement with a success rate of 97.3%.
Although its mission was relayed by the second-generation Soyuz rocket, the new-generation rocket soon went wrong after it was retired:165438+1failed to launch multiple satellites with one arrow on October 28th, resulting in the destruction of all the 19 satellites of Russia/USA/Canada/Japan/Norway/Germany/Sweden. While lamenting the failure of the new generation of rockets, people can't help but think of the martyrs of the Alliance -U rocket in their twilight years and their incomparable courage.
This type of rocket once carried the glory of the Soviet Union and Russia in space, but now it has entered history.
7. Kepler made an amazing discovery: Are humans unique? Are humans lonely in the universe?
Today, only astronomical telescopes flying in space can give you the answer. This is the Kepler telescope launched in 2009.
65438+February 65438+April, it released a big news: Kepler telescope discovered another solar system, which also has 8 planets! Become the only system comparable to the solar system.
A comparison of two solar systems.
This system, temporarily named Kepler -90, found eight planets only in the area between the sun and the earth, which is really shocking. But what is even more shocking is that its eighth planet Kepler -90i was discovered from scratch by Google's artificial intelligence through machine learning, surpassing the ability of top astronomers.
This event is more like a sign: with the rapid development of artificial intelligence, they have begun to invade the top scientific research posts of human intelligence. Kepler estimated that the number of terrestrial planets in the universe is/kloc-0 169999983000000000, which is almost a number that human beings can't pay. With the launch of a new generation of space telescopes, humans will undoubtedly find more and rely more on artificial intelligence to help process data.
However, when they find traces of extraterrestrial life, who, if, when and how to answer?
6. World Record: One Arrow in India: 104 Stars: 20 17 February: 15, India successfully put 104 satellites into orbit by using the polar orbit launch rocket PSLV-XL, including India/USA/Israel/Switzerland/Netherlands/.
Launch time of India PSLV-XL rocket
Although the carrying capacity of Indian rockets in low-earth orbit is only 3.5 tons, it is not the same as that of China Long March 4 (4 tons), Long March 3 (6- 1 1 ton), Long March 2 (9 tons), Long March 7 (14 tons) and Long March 5 (25 tons). The satellite it launched, which is not technically equivalent to one arrow, two stars/three stars/four stars, requires high accuracy of orbit control, but this success means the rise of Indian rocket launch in the world commercial space launch field.
Due to the impact of the US Wolff Act on China Aerospace and the exclusion of Russia and Ukraine due to political pressure, India quickly seized the low-end space launch field at low cost, thus earning a considerable sum of money for the continued development of rocket research. In addition to this time, the same Indian rocket successfully launched a 3 1 satellite mission for 17 countries on June 23rd.
India's space flight has taken a different approach and is also developing rapidly.
The era of mass communication in Qualcomm has arrived. In 20 17, about half of the large satellites (weighing more than one ton) launched by human beings in space are still communication satellites, but compared with traditional communication satellites, they only have the communication capability of 1-2 Gbit/s and use the traditional C-band (4-8 GHz). The communication satellite launched this year is far ahead: it not only uses Ku( 12- 18 GHz) and Ka(27-40 GHz) with higher frequencies, but also improves the communication capacity to 100 Gbit/s level. Therefore, these satellites are called Qualcomm mass communication satellites.
The capacity of this ViaSat-2 Qualcomm communication satellite can exceed the sum of 65,438+000 communication satellites 65,438+00 years ago.
China launched the first Qualcomm communication satellite, Shijian-3/Zhongxing 16, with a communication capacity of 20 Gbit/s, while the unfortunately failed Shi Jian 18 reached 70 Gbit/s. And several international communication satellite companies continue to make efforts. In June, ViaSat-2 produced by Boeing reached the highest record of 300 Gbit/s, waiting for other companies to continue to surpass it.
With the launch of a large number of Qualcomm mass communication satellites, the communication cost in space has gradually approached the cost of terrestrial broadband networks. When we switch from mobile phone 2G to 4G or even 5G, and the Internet switches from dial-up to broadband or even optical fiber, a new round of data revolution is also going on in the sky. Their ultimate goal is to defeat the ground and realize the real "wireless" era of human data and traffic.
4. Cassini's gorgeous curtain call Cassini Huygens took off for Saturn in 1997 and finally arrived after seven years of long interstellar travel. After the Huygens lander was released to the surface of Titan, a long-term observation of Saturn began. Therefore, it is one of the greatest detectors in human history.
In April this year, the scientific team of NASA, which extended the mission cycle of Cassini for many times, announced that Cassini finally ushered in its great curtain call performance and finally entered the embrace of Saturn on September 15.
During the mission cycle of 13, Cassini transmitted nearly 500 GB of Saturn-related data for human beings, and human scientists published nearly 3,000 scientific papers for this purpose, completely subverting our understanding of Saturn and even the solar system. Its complex orbit design and control have also greatly improved the deep space exploration, control and navigation technology of human spaceflight.
Artistic renderings of Cassini when it entered Saturn's atmosphere and began to rub violently.
On September 20 17 15, 3: 3 1: 48 (Pacific daylight saving time), Cassini crashed into Saturn's atmosphere and began to rub violently, and finally disintegrated after 12 seconds. The signal received by human beings, even at a speed of 300,000 km/s, has to wait 83 minutes before it can be transmitted back to Earth from the distant Saturn.
Cassini, may the great you rest in glory.
3. Military satellite competition has entered a new era. Human space originated from V2 rocket of Nazi Germany during World War II, and all early space missions also served the military industry. Because satellites fly hundreds or even tens of thousands of kilometers on the surface of the earth, and the flight speed is on the order of 3-7 kilometers per second, if supplemented by high-precision observation equipment, a large amount of intelligence information can be obtained, far exceeding the traditional reconnaissance means. For example, the significance of military-civilian dual-use GPS navigation satellites need not be introduced.
The working status of the space-based intercontinental missile early warning system announced by the US military can monitor every corner of the earth in real time.
20 17 The military satellite launch of the world's space powers is unambiguous. The US Air Force launched the ninth space-based intercontinental missile early warning system satellite SBIRS GEO-3, which increased the early warning speed of intercontinental missiles to an astonishing 3 seconds. The US Army also launched a new generation of near-earth reconnaissance "Red Falcon Eye" 2M satellite, and the Intelligence Reconnaissance Bureau also launched the eighth satellite of the Navy's ocean surveillance system "Invader 8" and a series of reconnaissance satellites NROL-42, NROL-52 and NROL-76, occupying the absolute dominance of the world's military satellites. The technical level and launch times of these satellites are all high points over the years.
Not to be outdone, Russia launched EKS-2 intercontinental missile early warning satellite; Japan's Self-Defense Forces launched the second generation communication satellite Kirameki-2 and the fifth radar intelligence gathering satellite IGS- Radar 5; . Italy also launched the military OPTSAT-3000 satellite; China has also launched the Remote Sensing 30 Series and Jilin Series for both military and civilian use.
The level of military satellites represents the highest peak of a country's space strength. For example, the Hubble telescope, which has been in orbit for 27 years, was modified from the lower version of the military keyhole KH- 1 1 satellite launched by the United States in 1976 (reducing its accuracy), which is far from the latest version of the reconnaissance satellite.
In 20 17, the world's space powers competed behind the scenes, which was a battlefield without smoke.
2.Space-X fire is full! 20 17 is the most brilliant year of Space-X, and rocket recycling technology is no longer news. If it is not a particularly heavy launch mission, it has been recovered.
On March 20th, the first recovery rocket was launched again. This scene was staged four times in a year. The rocket recycling and cost reduction mentioned by Elon Musk did not stop at the PPT of the roadshow, but it was really realized.
But even a new rocket, Falcon 9' s price of only $60 million is enough to whitewash the world space launch market. In one year, Falcon 9 has achieved 17 launches, and maintained a success rate of 100%, far exceeding the joint launch alliance of Loma and Boeing by 8 times. This figure is even close to the total annual rocket launches of Russian (20 times) and China (16 times).
65438+February 15, the Space-X second-hand rocket+second-hand spacecraft combination was successfully launched.
At the same time, Space-X's unique "black technology" dragon cargo ship is the only cargo ship in the world that can be recycled. Space-X not only completed the cargo contract for the International Space Station this year, but also successfully launched a second-hand rocket and a second-hand spacecraft in June 5438+February 65438+May, which shocked the world. The launch was completed after a comprehensive evaluation by the NASA expert Committee, which is of great significance to Space-X.
In addition, Space-X began to get involved in the US military satellite launch contract on a large scale this year, serving the US Air Force, Navy and Intelligence Investigation Bureau, and vigorously seizing the market once monopolized by the United Launch Alliance of the United States.
At the beginning of 20 18, Space-X will test-fire the super-heavy Falcon rocket. Once successful, it will be the strongest rocket in active service in the world, with a carrying capacity of 54 tons, which is about twice that of the current strongest Delta -4. In addition, the manned spacecraft contract for the International Space Station will be implemented next year, which means that the international manned space market monopolized by Russia for nearly 10 years is about to be broken.
From 2065438 to 2008, Space-X has signed 30 launch contracts, which means that the company has grown into the world's number one rocket launch force, which is undoubtedly the pinnacle of human commercial aerospace. Its achievements today, even Elon Musk, who founded it, may not be able to think of it.
1. Return to the moon and land on Mars. Are you serious this time? Manned space flight originates from competition, but it must stop there. The space race between the Soviet Union and the United States once created the myth of Apollo landing on the moon. Since 1972 Apollo 17 succeeded, no man has set foot on the surface of the moon for 55 years. After a new round of huge investment in 2 1 century, in 20 17, Donald Trump's administration took over the new stick and announced that the United States would return to the moon and land on Mars. Judging from all the actions of the United States this year, I'm afraid it's really going to be done this time.
1 In July, the United States announced the reconstruction of the National Space Commission, headed by the Vice President. This is the third time in history that the United States has established this committee. For the first time, the Committee established today's NASA and major centers in an all-round way. The second time, during Reagan's administration, the Committee carried out "Star Wars" in an all-round way, which became the last straw to crush the Soviet Union. This year is the third time, and the motivation can be imagined;
Up to 300 billion space launch systems and Orion spacecraft have been burned.
On September 22nd, NASA announced that it would launch a new generation of American lunar landing/Mars rocket space launch system and a new generation of spacecraft Orion for the first time in 20 19, with the goal of orbiting the moon and returning. In the past ten years, this system has burned more than 40 billion dollars. At present, all subsystems have been tested, and the final launch debugging is in progress.
On September 27th, 20 countries, including the United States and Russia, announced that they would build a lunar space station called "Deep Space Passage" on the moon, which was technically and financially guaranteed.
Regardless of the final development speed, we can see that returning to the moon and landing on Mars has been the policy of the United States for nearly 20 years since the Bush era, and this year's span is undoubtedly the biggest.
Perhaps, 60 years later, the moon that has been with the earth for hundreds of millions of years will welcome visitors again.
20 17 World space flight is full of changes of the times and technological leaps. This craze will continue on 20 18. With the arrival of China's second lunar exploration and the time window for the United States to explore Mars, I believe that in the new year, there will be new surprises in manned space flight and deep space exploration.