BSWA Technology Supports Successful Launch of Mars Exploration Rocket

On July 23, 2020, the Long March 5 (Yao-4) carrier rocket lifted off successfully from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan, sending the Tianwen-1 Mars probe into space. This marked the start of China’s Mars exploration journey and is surely another great achievement in the history of China’s aerospace industry.

Figure 1 Long March 5 carrier rocket ready for launch (arrow indicates BSWA microphone array, Photo by Shi Xiao)

The success of this launch is the result of cutting-edge technologies from all related fields. After providing technical support for the launch of the Long March 2F (Yao-11) rocket, which carried the Shenzhou-11 manned spaceship, the technical team of BSWA Technology Co., Ltd. was invited again to take part in the launch of the Long March 5 (Yao-4). The team successfully collected noise data during the entire launch process.

The noise made by a carrier rocket during launch has a big impact on launch safety and the rocket’s systems. That’s why we need comprehensive ways to detect and analyze this noise. For this mission, BSWA’s high sound pressure microphone array (equipped with the PAK system from Germany’s Müller-BBM GmbH) successfully collected noise data even under extremely tough test conditions.

Rocket launch sites are in extremely harsh environments: the ultra-high temperatures and powerful supersonic shock waves when a rocket takes off make it very hard to measure noise close to the rocket. So we need a high sound pressure far-field source identification system to measure and identify the launch noise from a distance.

To meet the mission’s needs, BSWA Technology designed and made its own high sound pressure microphones, calibrators and array systems, all adapted for the launch environment of the Long March 5 (Yao-4). All these products perform as well as or better than similar foreign products—they are highly precise, work over a wide dynamic range and can stand strong shocks. They have all been tested and calibrated by the National Institute of Metrology, China (NIM).

BSWA’s microphone array is designed to be fully reflective, easy to assemble and disassemble, and able to work without people on site—perfect for the needs of a rocket launch site. Together with its optimized microphone layout and the advanced sound source identification technology of the Müller-BBM PAK software, the array provided reliable technical support for measuring the rocket’s launch noise.

Figure 3 Billowing smoke at the rocket launch site

The success of this mission is the result of over six months of hard work by BSWA’s R&D and production teams. It also proves again the company’s professional strength and technical ability in the field of acoustic measurement.