Flying to the sky and realizing the dream丨Creating the \”first time\” in the world\’s aerospace history, the Chinese space station has installed an electric \”automatic door\”

China News Service, Hainan Wenchang, October 31 (Ma Shuaisha Yang Jing) On October 31, the Mengtian experimental module was successfully launched at the Wenchang Space Launch Site. The Mengtian experimental cabin is equipped with a new type of hatch – an electric hatch. It is not only the first \”automatic door\” in the history of Chinese space vehicles, but also the first time in the world\’s aerospace history that a sealed hatch with an electrically driven automatic switch is used in a space station.

At 15:37 on October 31, Beijing time, The Long March 5B Yaosi-4 carrier rocket carrying the Mengtian experimental module of the space station was ignited on time at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China. About 8 minutes later, the Mengtian experimental module successfully separated from the rocket and accurately entered the predetermined orbit. The launch mission was a complete success. . Photo by China News Service reporter Hou Yu

The new hatch is located on the airlock in the Mengtian experimental cabin. Its scientific name is the electric outer hatch. Its opening and closing mode is determined by the controller of the electric outer hatch. control. When the cargo enters the airlock and is ready to exit the cabin, the electric outer hatch rotates about 90 degrees along the hatch axis to open, ensuring that the cargo passage is fully opened and realizing the automatic exit of the cargo; after completing the cargo exit task, the electric outer hatch The hatch will close automatically.

At 15:37 on October 31, Beijing time, The Long March 5B Yaosi-4 carrier rocket carrying the Mengtian experimental module of the space station was ignited on time at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China. About 8 minutes later, the Mengtian experimental module successfully separated from the rocket and accurately entered the predetermined orbit. The launch mission was a complete success. . Photo by China News Service reporter Hou Yu

The \”automatic door\” of the Mengtian experimental cabin adopts a brand-new structure and mechanism design. It is the most difficult and longest-running door to develop among the doors of the China Space Station. Different from the traditional round and flat sealing structureFor the hatch, the electric outer hatch adopts a square and curved sealing structure for the first time. The \”automatic door\” is equipped with a special \”rope\”. This small rope is a non-metallic rope with extremely high strength. Under the same weight, its tensile strength is 6 times that of ordinary steel wires in life. It is an important part of realizing the hatch switch.

In order to ensure that the hatch can be closed tightly without air leakage and open and close without lag, after the \”automatic door\” on the Mengtian experimental cabin was assembled on the ground, the scientific researchers spent 35 days to pass Simulate the space environment to verify the sealing performance of the electric outer hatch. (End)