This star is going to the moon

Chapter 458 As everyone knows, the PowerPoint presentations made by Americans have all been implemented by Chinese people.

Wearing a blue intravehicular activity suit, Jing Haipeng placed the 200-kilogram, 1.1-meter-long "Space Industry No. 1" CubeSat onto the "payload elevator" of the space dock's airlock, and then closed the hatch.

Once the airlock is depressurized and the outer door opens, the payload lift lifts the satellite out of the cabin and exposes it to the space environment.

(Diagram of the payload transfer mechanism of the Tiangong space station's Mengtian experimental module)

Once the "payload lift" came to a stop, the robotic arm that had been waiting at the door grabbed the orbit release device that held the satellite in place and launched the "Space Industry One" CubeSat.

Thus, the satellite, which used some space-made parts and was then assembled in orbit by astronauts, was successfully released into orbit.

The satellite will later change its orbit to reach the precise location.

As the satellite was ejected, the live stream chat was filled with "666".

【handsome!】

[Building satellites directly in space and then releasing them directly from space—that's incredible!]

It really does have a sci-fi movie feel to it.

Indeed, if we think about it on a larger scale, could we build real spaceships based on this?

"Then we'd need a real space dock, these are all experimental now."

Yes, it's really difficult to build even a satellite this small these days; 95% of the parts still need to be transported from the ground...

Although the satellite is small, its significance is considerable.

The development of space manufacturing can be traced back to the 1960s.

At that time, the Soviet Union and the United States were the first to explore the feasibility of material processing in a space environment. In the early stages, they focused on the impact of microgravity on material properties and the manufacture of large truss structures, but due to technological limitations, most of their research remained on the ground.

In the following decade or so, after both countries had their own space stations, they successively completed electron beam welding experiments, which promoted the development of space welding technology and made it possible for astronauts to repair the sealed cabin of spacecraft in outer space.

Since the beginning of the new century, the development of space manufacturing technology has accelerated further.

For example, in 2014, the International Space Station deployed a 3D printer for the first time, completing the on-orbit manufacturing of plastic parts.

After 2020, technologies such as laser additive manufacturing entered the engineering verification stage.

Since 2016, Laos and China have accelerated the development of space manufacturing technology, and two years ago they achieved the world's first on-orbit additive manufacturing of continuous fiber composite materials.

Furthermore, after Chang'e 5 brought back lunar soil and learned about its basic structure, they have begun to use simulated materials to perform in-situ melting verification of "lunar soil bricks".

As a nation known for its massive infrastructure development, this is preparation for large-scale infrastructure projects on the moon in the future.

As for Lao Su...

Space manufacturing only saw significant development after the turn of the century; before that, when it was still in the experimental stage, the Soviet Union had already...
The 5% of space station-made parts used on this space-manufactured satellite are made of three materials: plastic, carbon fiber, and metal.

Besides the first two, 3D printing of metallic materials for space environments is a recent breakthrough.

Space manufacturing is not simply a matter of transplanting technologies from Earth.

The world's first industrial-grade metal manufacturing 3D printer was installed at the end of last year during the renovation of the "Space Dock". It is a 180-kilogram device, about the size of a washing machine, and is sealed in a metal box similar to a safe.

The reason for this is that the internal laser temperature exceeds 1200 degrees Celsius, and the heat must be strictly controlled.

Furthermore, the fumes and other harmful substances generated during its manufacturing process also require strict protection to prevent potential safety hazards.

In addition, to adapt to the microgravity environment, engineers were forced to abandon commonly used powder processing techniques.

Because the powder would scatter, metal wire was used for printing instead.

Printing a 5-centimeter-sized part takes 20 hours and is limited to 4 hours of operation per day to prevent noise disturbance to astronauts. Although space 3D printing missions have many limitations, their advantage of producing parts on demand in space provides the space station with emergency repair capabilities, making them still necessary.

Don't be fooled by the slow printing speed now, because there's only one printer. Whether we improve the technology or increase the number of printers in the future, we can meet the early needs for printing space parts.

As for the US, although its space metal 3D printing is still in the verification stage, it does not prevent NASA from proposing the "on-orbit manufacturing concept of kilometer-scale structures" a long time ago.

In its future presentation, it was stated that space manufacturing will completely transform the design paradigm of aerospace systems.

Its core value lies in breaking through the limitations of launch volume and mass, further reducing the cost of deep space missions, and realizing the on-orbit construction of ultra-large structures, such as kilometer-level antennas and ultra-large solar space power stations.

Meanwhile, NASA's "Extraterrestrial In-situ Resource Utilization" program can support the sustainable development of lunar and Martian bases, and technologies such as using lunar soil to produce oxygen and converting Martian carbon dioxide into fuel have entered the verification stage.

This plan also requires the integration of autonomy and robotic manufacturing.

These cutting-edge systems are capable of manufacturing various components and assembling them directly in outer space, enabling the localized production of basic materials such as spacecraft components, specialized tools, and solar energy equipment in space.

Previously, ultra-large components could not be transported as a whole due to limitations in payload size. In the future, they can be manufactured directly in space, providing crucial support for the construction of lunar bases, Mars missions, and deep space exploration.

The future autonomous space manufacturing system will demonstrate an amazing level of intelligence, with no human intervention required throughout the entire production process, from material selection and structural design to finished product manufacturing and quality inspection.

The intelligent quality monitoring system, through image recognition and collaboration with a robotic arm, can capture defects such as indentation deformation and interlayer misalignment in the space 3D printing process in real time, and immediately carry out in-situ repair in space.

This "self-diagnosis and self-repair" capability not only significantly reduces material loss, but also avoids the high cost of transporting faulty parts back to Earth.

Isn’t it beautiful?

But they're all PPT presentations!

Whether it will work out... well, that's uncertain.

Regardless, countries around the world are now gearing up for a showdown.

Just like the lunar exploration program more than a decade ago.

(Screenshot of newspapers from around the world, showing countries eagerly anticipating the competition)
Now, the United States has listed "space services assembly and manufacturing" as a national strategy.

The EU's "Moon Village" project will integrate construction and robotics technologies.

The lunar village is also part of the EU's "lunar village" plan, after all, it had this plan in the previous "preparedness" period.

The 2021 National Space Program White Paper by Laos and China also clearly outlined the goals for building on-orbit manufacturing capabilities.

However, the progress of this plan by Laos and China is too fast, which has attracted great attention from other countries.

"You just announced this year's space goals at the beginning of the year, and you've already seen results in September?"

"You're making us look really silly!"

This is not over yet.

After the successful launch of the "Space Industry One" satellite into orbit, the space agency held a small press conference. When it was Lu Yun's turn to speak, he immediately quoted a famous quote.

"As we all know, many of the PowerPoint presentations created by Americans have been implemented by us, and this time is no exception!"

Lu Yun said with a smile, "With the integration of materials, robotics and artificial intelligence, space manufacturing will develop towards intelligence and standardization, giving rise to a new form of space economy."

"We are now at a critical juncture for the technological and economic breakthrough of space manufacturing. Human industrial production is beginning to be liberated from the constraints of gravity, and the sign of this is the successful launch of the 'Space Industry One' satellite into orbit just now."

"I can predict that within the next ten years, a space factory with commercial mass production capabilities will appear in low Earth orbit, and we will also realize the kilometer-scale spacecraft that the Americans have mentioned..."

(End of this chapter)