China-Shenzhou-12/Parachutes

China to upgrade 1,200 square meter parachute of Shenzhou-12 for further space program

  • English

Shotlist


Beijing, China - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Parachute in lobby of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC)
2. Various of staff folding parachute, putting it into bag
3. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Rong Wei, deputy chief designer, Shenzhou spacecraft system, CASC (starting with shot 2/partially overlaid with shot 4):
"The return capsule still travels at 200 meters per second when it's 10 kilometers above the ground. That's about twice the speed of the 350 km/h high-speed trains. It is not practical to open the main chute at that time. It's just like that on rainy days when the wind speed is high, your umbrella can easily turn over."
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
4. Various of parachute, detail of parachute
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
5. Bag
6. Various of Rong, reporter holding parachute rope
7. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Rong Wei, deputy chief designer, Shenzhou spacecraft system, CASC (starting with shot 6/partially overlaid with shots 8-9):
"One meter of the rope weighs less than a ping-pong ball, but it's strong enough to hold five people, each weighting 70 kg like me."
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
8. Ropes
9. Rong, reporter holding parachute rope
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
10. Staff putting parachute in bag by machine

Beijing, China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
11. Parachute of return capsule opening
12. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Jia He, chief designer, Shenzhou manned spacecraft recovery and landing subsystem, China Academy of Space Technology, CASC (starting with shot 11/ partially overlaid with shots 13-15):
"We did all the experiments from the material level, the component level, the single parachute level to the whole parachute system. For example, in the material-level test, we should check the strength of the material and all indicators. And then when it comes to sewing, we're going to do tests on all key parts such as the stress. When each process is guaranteed to pass the test, we would do it on the whole parachute system. Next, there is a strength test. At last, we would do an airdrop test, which is dropping it from an airplane, to test the entire process."
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
13. Various of parachute
14. Staff folding parachute
15. Animation showing parachute of return capsule opening, capsule returning to earth
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
16. Animations showing parachute of return capsule opening, capsule returning to earth
17. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Jia He, chief designer, Shenzhou manned spacecraft recovery and landing subsystem, China Academy of Space Technology, CASC:
"We follow the procedure. First we lay it out, then we fold it up one by one. After that, we make constraint and control in some key steps. And then our staff put the parachute in the package by hands. Every step of the packaging is tested."
18. Various of staff laying parachute
19. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Jia He, chief designer, Shenzhou manned spacecraft recovery and landing subsystem, China Academy of Space Technology, CASC (partially overlaid with shot 20-21):
"For our space station, our Shenzhou spacecraft are very mature. Our level of independent control is very high. We can guarantee safe near-earth return of three astronauts. In the future, we are looking at further manned missions to the moon, and we have a new generation of manned spacecraft for the space station, and, which will also be tested. That's what we are doing now. The new parachute is made up of three parachutes, each one is smaller than this one, but their combination is larger than this one."

++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
FILE: China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
20. Various of parachute of return capsule opening, capsule landing

Beijing, China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
21. Animations showing test of advanced parachutes
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
22. Animations showing return capsule landing

Storyline


The parachute that softens the landing of the return capsule of the Shenzhou-12 manned spaceship covers 1,200 square meters and Chinese scientists are making efforts to upgrade the parachute for the country's space program in the future.

The parachute stretches about 70 meters from the top to the end that connects the spacecraft, which equals the width of a football field. The 1,200 square meter parachute is able to slow the craft down to seven meters per second before landing.

"The return capsule still travels at 200 meters per second when it's 10 kilometers above the ground. That's about twice the speed of the 350 km/h high-speed trains. It is not practical to open the main chute at that time. It's just like that on rainy days when the wind speed is high, your umbrella can easily turn over," said Rong Wei, deputy chief designer of the Shenzhou spacecraft system of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).

Therefore, the craft first opens a smaller chute - to slow it down to 90 meters per second before pulling out the main chute. At one meter above the ground, the engine at the bottom of the craft can further slow it down to a safe landing speed. The parachutes are designed to save space and weight for manned spacecraft. The chute package weighs less than 100kg and can be packed into a bag with the size of only two suitcases.

"One meter of the rope weighs less than a ping-pong ball, but it's strong enough to hold five people, each weighting 70 kg like me," said Rong.

An expert explained how the sewing and packaging process of the parachute ensured the safe landing. The parachute deploys for only a few seconds during landing. But it takes decades for researchers to make those seconds count.

"We did all the experiments from the material level, the component level, the single parachute level to the whole parachute system. For example, in the material-level test, we should check the strength of the material and all indicators. And then when it comes to sewing, we're going to do tests on all key parts such as the stress. When each process is guaranteed to pass the test, we would do it on the whole parachute system. Next, there is a strength test. At last, we would do an airdrop test, which is dropping it from an airplane, to test the entire process," said Jia He, chief designer of the Shenzhou manned spacecraft recovery and landing subsystem of the China Academy of Space Technology under the CASC .

Throughout the process, the most complicated and important one is packaging. A total of 96 ropes must be packed precisely so they don't get tangled.

"We follow the procedure. First we lay it out, then we fold it up one by one. After that, we make constraint and control in some key steps. And then our staff put the parachute in the package by hands. Every step of the packaging is tested," said Jia.

Scientists have started to develop more advanced parachutes for manned space missions in the future.

"For our space station, our Shenzhou spacecraft are very mature. Our level of independent control is very high. We can guarantee safe near-earth return of three astronauts. In the future, we are looking at further manned missions to the moon, and we have a new generation of manned spacecraft for the space station, and, which will also be tested. That's what we are doing now. The new parachute is made up of three parachutes, each one is smaller than this one, but their combination is larger than this one," said Jia.

The structure of new parachute is similar to the previous one. However, the return capsule of the new manned spacecraft is larger and heavier and it needs greater decelerating power and smoother load control.

DOWNLOAD
  • ID : 8227106
  • Dateline : Recent/File
  • Location : China
  • Category : science and technology
  • Duration : 2'38
  • Audio Language : Chinese/Nats/Narration/Part Mute
  • Source : China Media Group(CMG)-CCTV,China Media Group(CMG)-CGTN
  • Restrictions : No access Chinese mainland
  • Published : 2021-09-18 17:04
  • Last Modified : 2021-09-18 17:08:24
  • Version : 1

China-Shenzhou-12/Parachutes

China to upgrade 1,200 square meter parachute of Shenzhou-12 for further space program

Dateline : Recent/File

Location : China

Duration : 2'38

  • English


Beijing, China - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Parachute in lobby of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC)
2. Various of staff folding parachute, putting it into bag
3. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Rong Wei, deputy chief designer, Shenzhou spacecraft system, CASC (starting with shot 2/partially overlaid with shot 4):
"The return capsule still travels at 200 meters per second when it's 10 kilometers above the ground. That's about twice the speed of the 350 km/h high-speed trains. It is not practical to open the main chute at that time. It's just like that on rainy days when the wind speed is high, your umbrella can easily turn over."
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
4. Various of parachute, detail of parachute
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
5. Bag
6. Various of Rong, reporter holding parachute rope
7. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Rong Wei, deputy chief designer, Shenzhou spacecraft system, CASC (starting with shot 6/partially overlaid with shots 8-9):
"One meter of the rope weighs less than a ping-pong ball, but it's strong enough to hold five people, each weighting 70 kg like me."
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
8. Ropes
9. Rong, reporter holding parachute rope
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
10. Staff putting parachute in bag by machine

Beijing, China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
11. Parachute of return capsule opening
12. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Jia He, chief designer, Shenzhou manned spacecraft recovery and landing subsystem, China Academy of Space Technology, CASC (starting with shot 11/ partially overlaid with shots 13-15):
"We did all the experiments from the material level, the component level, the single parachute level to the whole parachute system. For example, in the material-level test, we should check the strength of the material and all indicators. And then when it comes to sewing, we're going to do tests on all key parts such as the stress. When each process is guaranteed to pass the test, we would do it on the whole parachute system. Next, there is a strength test. At last, we would do an airdrop test, which is dropping it from an airplane, to test the entire process."
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
13. Various of parachute
14. Staff folding parachute
15. Animation showing parachute of return capsule opening, capsule returning to earth
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
16. Animations showing parachute of return capsule opening, capsule returning to earth
17. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Jia He, chief designer, Shenzhou manned spacecraft recovery and landing subsystem, China Academy of Space Technology, CASC:
"We follow the procedure. First we lay it out, then we fold it up one by one. After that, we make constraint and control in some key steps. And then our staff put the parachute in the package by hands. Every step of the packaging is tested."
18. Various of staff laying parachute
19. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Jia He, chief designer, Shenzhou manned spacecraft recovery and landing subsystem, China Academy of Space Technology, CASC (partially overlaid with shot 20-21):
"For our space station, our Shenzhou spacecraft are very mature. Our level of independent control is very high. We can guarantee safe near-earth return of three astronauts. In the future, we are looking at further manned missions to the moon, and we have a new generation of manned spacecraft for the space station, and, which will also be tested. That's what we are doing now. The new parachute is made up of three parachutes, each one is smaller than this one, but their combination is larger than this one."

++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
FILE: China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
20. Various of parachute of return capsule opening, capsule landing

Beijing, China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
21. Animations showing test of advanced parachutes
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
22. Animations showing return capsule landing


The parachute that softens the landing of the return capsule of the Shenzhou-12 manned spaceship covers 1,200 square meters and Chinese scientists are making efforts to upgrade the parachute for the country's space program in the future.

The parachute stretches about 70 meters from the top to the end that connects the spacecraft, which equals the width of a football field. The 1,200 square meter parachute is able to slow the craft down to seven meters per second before landing.

"The return capsule still travels at 200 meters per second when it's 10 kilometers above the ground. That's about twice the speed of the 350 km/h high-speed trains. It is not practical to open the main chute at that time. It's just like that on rainy days when the wind speed is high, your umbrella can easily turn over," said Rong Wei, deputy chief designer of the Shenzhou spacecraft system of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).

Therefore, the craft first opens a smaller chute - to slow it down to 90 meters per second before pulling out the main chute. At one meter above the ground, the engine at the bottom of the craft can further slow it down to a safe landing speed. The parachutes are designed to save space and weight for manned spacecraft. The chute package weighs less than 100kg and can be packed into a bag with the size of only two suitcases.

"One meter of the rope weighs less than a ping-pong ball, but it's strong enough to hold five people, each weighting 70 kg like me," said Rong.

An expert explained how the sewing and packaging process of the parachute ensured the safe landing. The parachute deploys for only a few seconds during landing. But it takes decades for researchers to make those seconds count.

"We did all the experiments from the material level, the component level, the single parachute level to the whole parachute system. For example, in the material-level test, we should check the strength of the material and all indicators. And then when it comes to sewing, we're going to do tests on all key parts such as the stress. When each process is guaranteed to pass the test, we would do it on the whole parachute system. Next, there is a strength test. At last, we would do an airdrop test, which is dropping it from an airplane, to test the entire process," said Jia He, chief designer of the Shenzhou manned spacecraft recovery and landing subsystem of the China Academy of Space Technology under the CASC .

Throughout the process, the most complicated and important one is packaging. A total of 96 ropes must be packed precisely so they don't get tangled.

"We follow the procedure. First we lay it out, then we fold it up one by one. After that, we make constraint and control in some key steps. And then our staff put the parachute in the package by hands. Every step of the packaging is tested," said Jia.

Scientists have started to develop more advanced parachutes for manned space missions in the future.

"For our space station, our Shenzhou spacecraft are very mature. Our level of independent control is very high. We can guarantee safe near-earth return of three astronauts. In the future, we are looking at further manned missions to the moon, and we have a new generation of manned spacecraft for the space station, and, which will also be tested. That's what we are doing now. The new parachute is made up of three parachutes, each one is smaller than this one, but their combination is larger than this one," said Jia.

The structure of new parachute is similar to the previous one. However, the return capsule of the new manned spacecraft is larger and heavier and it needs greater decelerating power and smoother load control.

ID : 8227106

Published : 2021-09-18 17:04

Last Modified : 2021-09-18 17:08:24

Source : China Media Group(CMG)-CCTV,China Media Group(CMG)-CGTN

Restrictions : No access Chinese mainland

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