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Wen Wenshidao
The progress of aviation science and technology is an important symbol of a country’s scientific and technological strength.
With the passage of time, the competition in the field of aerospace has become more and more intense, and the pace of technological innovation has been accelerating.
Nowadays, the successful lift-off of a spacecraft is no longer the only goal to be pursued, and the load-carrying capacity has become one of the important indicators of the level of aerospace science and technology.
In this field, China, the United States and Russia are undoubtedly at the forefront of the world, and they have been continuously exploring and making breakthroughs, with a view to achieving even greater achievements in the field of space science and technology.
According to the latest data, the United States has shown great strength in the weight-carrying capacity of its spacecraft, which has reached a staggering 3.3 tons.
In contrast, the Russian spacecraft has a slightly lower load capacity of 2.5 tons.
So how many tons can China’s spacecraft, which has gradually advanced to the top of the world in terms of science and technology, carry? Today, Mr. Literature and History explains some stories about the spacecraft.
U.S. Cygnus and Dragon
As a traditional power in the field of spaceflight, the United States has always been a global leader in the research and development and utilization of cargo spacecraft.
Since the 1980s, the U.S. Space Shuttle has taken the lead in space transportation, and is known as the first space truck.
This initiative not only demonstrated the strong strength of the U.S. in space technology, but also laid a solid foundation for subsequent space exploration and utilization.
After entering the 21st century, NASA did not stop, but continued to intensify its research and development efforts and successively launched the advanced Cygnus and Dragon cargo spacecraft.
Among them, the Dragon cargo spacecraft developed by Space X is considered one of the most advanced cargo spacecraft in the world today.
It adopts the concept of reusable design, which makes the Dragon spaceship not only significantly reduces the launch cost, but also improves the efficiency of the spaceship, which can be regarded as the leading technology in the world.
According to relevant data, the Dragon has a cargo volume of 9.3 cubic meters.
It can easily transport about 3.3 tons of cargo to the International Space Station and has the ability to bring about 3 tons of materials back to Earth.
In addition, it also has the function of carrying people, truly realizing the dual use of cargo and people, showing a very high comprehensive performance.
The Cygnus cargo spacecraft developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation, on the other hand, has a slightly lower payload capacity than the Dragon spacecraft, about 32 tons.
However, its advantage of being able to launch with a variety of rockets is also a capability that other spacecraft do not possess, a feature that makes it outstanding in terms of launch flexibility and adaptability.
Regardless of the type of rocket it is used with, Cygnus will be able to carry out space transportation missions in a stable and reliable manner.
Thanks to the success of these two advanced cargo spacecraft, the United States has maintained its leadership in the field of cargo spacecraft for a long time.
Their outstanding performance not only provides a strong guarantee for the operation of the International Space Station, but also opens up a broader path for future space exploration and utilization.
Russia Progress Spaceship
In the field of spaceflight, Russia, or the former Soviet Union as it is more commonly known, is as old as the United States.
Since its first flight in 1978, the Russian spacecraft has been in operation for 46 years, making a monumental contribution to the entire Russian space industry.
The Russian spacecraft, named Progress, falls short of the American Cygnus and Dragon in terms of payload capacity, with a maximum load of 2.5 tons.
But it also has 2 advantages that the American spacecraft does not have
1 As of 2017, the Progress has successfully carried out 158 launch missions, which is the highest number of missions among all the airships in the world, and is called the model of the cargo airship industry.
2 The Progress spacecraft, despite its somewhat retro appearance – it is, after all, a product of the 1970s – is widely recognized for its reliability and stability.
As of today, the Russian Progress is still serving in space, often replenishing the space station with fuel, food, water and other supplies, the nature of the labor model is admirable.
China Tianzhou Spacecraft
Compared with the United States and Russia, China started late in the field of cargo spacecraft. In addition, in the 1990s, the U.S. imposed a technology blockade on China in the field of aviation, which caused certain problems for China.
However, our scientists have never given up the dream, but paid a hundred times the efforts of ordinary people, and finally let the country’s aerospace science and technology development is exceptionally rapid, showing an amazing development speed and strength.
In April 2017, China’s first cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou 1, was successfully launched into space.
This milestone event marks China’s formal inclusion in the ranks of cargo spacecraft, becoming one of the few countries with independent cargo spacecraft capabilities.
Since then, in just a few years, China’s Tianzhou series of cargo ships have made remarkable development achievements.
The latest Tianzhou VII spacecraft has a stunning cargo capacity of 74 tons, a figure that not only demonstrates the strength of China’s aerospace technology, but also more than doubles the capacity of the American Dragon spacecraft.
In addition to its powerful transportation capacity, the Tianzhou spacecraft also has the ability to refill propellant in orbit.
This unique feature enables it to provide fuel replenishment for the space station, thus effectively extending the service life of the space station in orbit and further enhancing the sustainable development capability of China’s space industry.
It is also worth mentioning that the cargo-to-weight ratio of the Tianzhou spacecraft is as high as 0.51, a ratio far exceeding that of the United States Dragon spacecraft, which is 0.4.
This means that under the same carrying capacity, the Tianzhou spacecraft is able to make more effective use of its own resources and realize higher transport efficiency.
Thanks to its excellent performance and advanced technology, Tianzhou is now among the strongest cargo spacecraft in the world, fully demonstrating the rapid development and powerful strength of China’s aerospace technology.
Regarding the future competition pattern of air cargo spacecraft, nowadays, from the situation, Russia may have lost the larger competition due to the influence of economic troubles and slow technological updating.
The future competition has undoubtedly been arranged between China and the United States.
China and the United States cargo ship, each has its own advantages.
Even though the U.S. space technology has always been in the lead, especially the Dragon spacecraft has a more obvious advantage.
But China has always had a later on the strong momentum, the United States can re-establish full leadership through technological innovation, is still an unknown.
China, on the other hand, is continuing to optimize and improve the performance of the Tianzhou spacecraft, and is striving to achieve breakthroughs in more areas. It can be foreseen that China is very likely to be in the undisputed first position in the future cargo spacecraft.
Readers, about the comparison of Chinese, American and Russian cargo spaceships , what do you think? If you like this article, please share the collection Oh
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