Shenzhou-17 Astronauts Return with Space Station Experiment Materials

TapTechNews May 18th news, the 3 astronauts of Shenzhou-17 have returned to the ground on April 30th, and along with them are the space station's extravehicular exposure experiment materials.

According to CCTV reports, the 71 pieces of extravehicular exposure experiment devices and scientific experiment samples that returned with Shenzhou-17 have been sent to the Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences for analysis and research in these days.

The official said that on aerospace facilities such as spacecraft and space stations, the role of lubricants is very significant. For example, the deployment and retraction of solar wings, as well as the rotation of antenna systems, etc. all require lubricating materials, which can extend the service time of spacecraft.

According to the introduction, some of the materials exposed outside the cabin this time, including lubricating materials and experiment devices, can better verify the reliability of the materials. TapTechNews noticed that although these materials can also conduct vacuum experiments on the ground, some environments in space cannot be completely simulated on the ground yet.

In space this time, in addition to the exposure experiment, a dynamic friction experiment was also conducted. Through the ball-on-disk tribology experiment and the bearing experiment, it was actually verified whether the lubricating materials can withstand the test in the real space environment.