Chongqing- The Long March 2F Y-15 rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-15 human-crewed spacecraft, blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu Province, Northwest China, on November 29.

The key aluminum alloy materials on the spacecraft and rocket, including skins and forged rings, are made by the Southwest Aluminum (Group) Co., Ltd, the hard-core base in Chongqing, ensuring the research and development (R&D) of aluminum alloy material for China's space project. 

The staff of Southwest Aluminum loads the furnace and prepares for quenching. (Photo provided to iChongqing)

The first forged ring in Asia

Providing aluminum alloy materials for the spaceship and rocket, Southwest Aluminum covers more than ten varieties in multiple categories, including forgings, plates, profiles, pipes, etc., which are used for connecting frames, intermediate frames, end frames, surface structures of spaceships, and other key parts of the rocket.

The aluminum alloy materials play the roles of support, connection, and skinning, with aluminum accounting for more than 60% of the total. Among them, 100% of the skins and forged rings for spacecraft and rocket propulsion modules are exclusively provided by Southwest Aluminum.

As one of the essential structural parts of rockets and airships, the forged rings provide armor for rockets and airships to avoid damage during launch. In 1989, Southwest Aluminum developed an integral aluminum alloy forged ring with a diameter of 3.5 meters, known as the first ring in Asia, which is also used in the rocket and the spaceship this time.

Different types of aluminum alloy plates produced by Southwest Aluminum are used for rocket propulsion cabins and spaceship skin, respectively. Due to the need for weight reduction, spaceship skin density is lower than rocket skin, with a highly manufactured 2.4m ultra-wide aluminum alloy plate.

Southwest Aluminum employee adjusts parameters on the machine tool to process aluminum forged rings. (Photo provided to iChongqing)

"Magical eyes" on the rocket for detection

Another piece of equipment, also made in Chongqing, provides remote sensing support for the Shenzhou spacecraft.

The Chongqing Aerospace Electronics Co., Ltd. offers a new generation of the third telemetry ground detection station for the Long March-2F remote 15 carrier rocket carrying the Shenzhou-15 human-crewed spacecraft.

This will allow receiving and demodulating of the signals sent by the rocket, and display, store and process the real-time data to the command center. 

The detection station enters into an efficient working state from a few hours before the rocket's launch to hundreds of seconds after, which can effectively evaluate whether the equipment on the rocket is working, similar to a pair of "magical eyes" on the rocket.

Compared with the previous equipment, the new generation of detection stations adopts more advanced technologies, such as new-generation digital baseband signal demodulation processing, to greatly improve equipment reliability. The structural design, cabinet layout, and adaptability are optimized as well. 

(Tan Jingyue, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)