Abstract

The SJ-10 Recoverable Microgravity Satellite of China

Author(s): Zhao HG, Qiu JW, Tang BC, Kang Q and Hu WR

The program SJ-10 is one of the scientific satellite programs in the Strategic Priority Research Program on Space Science, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and was launched in April 6, 2016. There are totally 19 scientific payloads. Among them, there are two multitask payloads, one is a multi-function furnace for 8 materials research missions, the other is a payload of three-dimensional cell culture for researches on neural stem cell and hematopoietic stem cell. The recoverable satellite consists mainly of two capsules: a recoverable capsule was recovered on April 18, 2016 with all payloads of life science in addition of the payload of the multi-function furnace and the payload for measurements of Soret Coefficients of Crude Oil (SCCO), and an un-recoverable capsule persisted to work in additional 8 days of all other physical payloads. The experiments were operated via tele-operations, and all experimental data were received by the ground station in near real time. The data and recoverable samples are analyzed by the teams of experimental program. The development of the recoverable satellite SJ-10, the performance during the space mission, and the recovery procedure were presented in this paper.