Recently, an engineering academy of the General Staff of People's Liberation Army (PLA) successfully destroyed the escape capsule of Shenzhou V spacecraft with the technology of high-energy charge armor-breaking detonation. This marks a significant breakthrough in the recovery technology of China's space experiment.
The escape capsule of "Shenzhou V" spacecraft is an escape system to ensure the safety of the astronaut in emergency, which is to send the astronaut and equipment safely to the ground through unlocking the security control equipment and by relying on the six rockets in the fairing of the escape capsule. After the spacecraft enters the preset orbit, the rocket of the escape capsule at high altitude will tear itself from the spacecraft along with the fairing and fall onto the ground. As the rocket, after landing will be unrecoverable because of serious distortion and the solid fuel inside is of core secret, so it must be destroyed in time in order to keep the secret and ensure the safety of the people around the landing area.
The engineering academy of the General Staff of People's Liberation Army (PLA) conquered the difficulties of the lack of reference and experience in recovering, analyzed the data of the experiment, simulated the recovery process, and designed several projects according to the damage of the escape capsule. They successfully destroyed the escape capsule with the technology of high-energy charge armor-breaking detonation, which is of the same level with its same type in the world. They also accumulated a set of projects for safe and swift destruction and destroyed the escape rockets of "Shenzhou II," "Shenzhou III," "Shenzhou IV" unmanned spacecrafts and Shenzhou V manned spacecraft. This technological breakthrough not only save tens of million yuan for the country but also draw a conclusion for the success of the launch and recovery of China's first manned space flight.
(People's Daily January 2, 2004)
