World's largest returned module on show, an insurance of 200m Yuan

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, November 25, 2003

World's largest returned module on show, an insurance of 200m Yuan

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Shenzhou V module

The returned module of Shenzhou V came back home in Beijing by a special plane and carefully pulled into Beijing Exhibition Hall after its touring show in Hong Kong, Macao, Shanghai, and Chongqing. The module, together with a set of advanced aerospace technology products, will make their appearance at "the 5th China International Exhibition on Aerospace Tech, Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System, and the GPS".

Mobile show of "Shenzhou V" module covered by an insurance of 200m for transportation

The special plane carrying the returned module "Shenzhou V", the space food, space suit, and parachutes for the show landed at Nanyuan airport, Beijing, at about 3:30 pm. Then a spectacular convoy with escort police cars, platform trailers, cranes, and station transport cars marched toward Beijing Exhibition Hall.

Pan Ke, who is responsible for the show from China Institute of Space Technology, told us that over the 20 days of mobile show round the four cities, Shenzhou V was afforded with great treatment, as it is the glory of China's space cause. It was conveyed with a special plane IL-76 when traveling from one city to another and was taken to Hong Kong by Boeing-747. The speed limit was 50km/h on the road from the airports to the exhibition sites to protect it from any damage incurred by shocking. Wherever it went, it was escorted by police cars. To guard against any scratch, it was hooded with a camouflage cover and a steel-holder underneath and steel railings round its middle. A premium of 200m yuan covers the transportation for the returned module and other space products on this tour show, according to Pan Ke.

The module with a diameter of 2.5m is so colossal and heavy that it took great efforts in moving it into Beijing Exhibition Hall. All vehicles available, platform trailer, crane and forklift had to be used. At the corner of a corridor in the Hall, the forklift driver finally placed it on the right position with a great manoeuvre. Pan Ke said that its trip in Chongqing was even more difficult, where they must remove the floor and dig a pit deep as half a meter as the door was not high enough for it to get into the hall. The floor was restored when the module was moved in.

Five highlights in space show, "Shenzhou V" the most attractive

The show was actually a specialized one on space technology. But with so attractive an item as Shenzhou V the returned module, it aroused great interests also among ordinary people. The show will last till Nov. 27.

Highlight 1: Shenzhou V returned module, the world's biggest

The returned module of Shenzhou V is the cabin in which the astronaut stayed during the space flight. Looking like a big bell it weighs more than 3 tons and the biggest of its kind in the world today. Its interior is made of light aluminum alloy to guarantee the tightness while its exterior is made of light heat releasing material which is capable of resisting the high temperature exceeding thousand degree Celsius when reentering the great atmosphere. It was in this module that Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut, made the first spaceflight for the Chinese people. A glass cover was set up by the exhibition-sponsor to protect the exhibit.

Highlight 2: the extra-large parachute

The three colored parachute, blue, white, and red, escorting the safe landing of Shenzhou V module and the astronaut covers an area of 12,000 square meters, the largest one in China. The canopy is made up of 20 ring-cloths and sails with each sail consisting of 96 pieces of "cloth". The parachute is as big as a small a football field when unfolded.

Highlight 3: the space suit Yang Liwei wore

The space suit on show is the very one that Yang Liwei wore during his space trip. It is made of special polyester of high tenacity, which is able to cope with all sorts of requirement during the ascending and descending process of the astronaut. A round button is affixed at the heart of the suit for adjusting the internal pressure, temperature and humidity. A narrator is available at the exhibition site for explanations and the suit is unfolded.

Highlight 4: a model of lunar rover

As China's moon exploration is drawing near, the project attracts the attention of more and more people. Lunar rover, actually a robot for lunar probing, consists of two types, manned and remote controlled. China is focusing on the latter. In China��s planned moon probing task, a lunar rover may be the "first visitor" sent by China to the moon. It is supposed to carry out the surveying, analyzing and sampling studies on the moon.

Highlight 5: a market competition between Galileo and GPS

The Galileo project is the most attractive to professional visitors on this show. In the world at present, there are two global guiding system for satellite navigation America's GPS and Russia's GLONASS. GPS is used in China now. The Galileo project focusing on the satellite navigation technology is so far the largest project under the Sino-EU cooperation framework. It is widely agreed in the circle that with China's participation, the project, originally launched by EU to cope with America's GPS, is more international-orientated and with more power pumped into it for challenging the GPS monopoly.

(Article from Beijing Youth Daily and translated by PD Online)

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