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At 2:07 on November 19, China successfully launched the 42nd and 43rd Beidou navigation satellites in the mode of “sending two satellites into space through one launch vehicle” at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center by the Long March 3B/Expedition 1 launch vehicle.
As an important technical product support unit, CASIC has undertaken the development and production tasks for a number of products such as on-board atomic clocks, SAW filters, zinc-silver battery packs, electrical connectors, relays, crystal components and fasteners, and has made positive contributions in the field of Beidou application with engineering experience in relevant projects and core technology advantages.
The atomic clock is a device that uses the stable atomic transition frequency to obtain accurate time-frequency signals, regarded as the heart of a navigation satellite. The 42nd and 43rd Beidou navigation satellites are equipped with the on-board atomic clocks developed by the Second Academy.
The 42nd and 43rd Beidou navigation satellites launched this time are equipped with new-generation atomic clocks, and they are smaller and lighter than previous-generation atomic clocks. Previously, the Second Academy has provided a number of on-board atomic clocks for the overall system. The products have undergone all stages such as system design, verification, testing and networking, and the Second Academy has made outstanding contributions to the networking of Beidou. In addition, the crystal components developed by the Second Academy ensure the functions of satellite such as communication, control and signal transmission.
In this mission, the Tenth Academy mainly undertook the supporting development and production tasks for a number of products such as electrical connectors, relays and zinc-silver battery packs. The electronic components such as multi-type electrical connectors and relays developed and produced by the Tenth Academy can smoothly and accurately transmit various signal commands. In this mission, the Tenth Academy provided a number of multi-type zinc-silver battery packs, and their ground charging and discharging devices. The batteries were used to supply power to control and measurement systems. The related products functioned properly during the mission, with stable performance and reliable quality. The power supply task has been successfully completed.
In addition, the two satellites were equipped with the SAW filters developed by the Second Academy. Those filters were mainly used to filter out various interference signals in communication to ensure the smooth communication between the satellite and the ground center. In space with extremely complex and harsh environment, SAW components with high reliability and performance play an important role in the accuracy of satellite communications.
The high-performance fasteners produced by CASIC were used to link mechanisms and fasten systems in this task. With the reliable quality and technical support capabilities, all parts were integrated as an organic whole to make the satellites and launch vehicle strong so that they can withstand the environment conditions.
Since 2012, the Third Academy has undertaken a number of tasks for the second-generation Beidou system. The Beidou task evaluation team has successively participated in the quality assurance work of several sub-systems such as navigation task processors and data processing terminals, and has undertaken the third-party testing tasks, playing an active role in ensuring the safe and stable operation of the second-generation Beidou satellite navigation system. In addition, CASIC has made positive explorations and attempts in the application field of Beidou in recent years.
The success of this mission marks the successful completion of the deployment of the basic system constellation of Beidou-3 in China. The joint commissioning and performance index evaluation of the system will be carried out in the follow-up stage. The system will be put into operation before the end of this year to provide basic navigation services for countries and regions along the Belt and Road.
(Reported by Ke Xuan; Photographed by Liang Keyan from Xichang Satellite Launch Center)
