Dafang Double Girder Overhead Cranes Assists in the Successful Launch of Zhuque-2

At 9:00 a.m. Beijing time on July 12, 2023, the Zhuque-2 was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China, completing its mission in accordance with the established procedures, and the launch mission was a complete success. It was officially announced to the world that the world’s first liquid-oxygen-methane rocket had “flown to the sky” and successfully entered orbit.

In this launch mission, the launch site used a number of new Chinese double girder cranes developed and produced by Dafang Heavy Machinery, which assumed the key link of the rocket transfer and hoisting, and completed with high precision the handling, transfer, turning, inspection, testing, and fuel refueling of the rocket in the plant.

Zhuque-2 liquid oxygen methane carrier rocket is a two-stage configuration, with a diameter of 3.35 meters, a height of 49.5 meters, a takeoff weight of 219 tons, and a takeoff thrust of 268 tons, making it the world’s first liquid oxygen methane rocket to successfully enter orbit.

A tiny lapse can lead to a huge mistake, any process of rocket launching has extremely high requirements for precision, and a slight mistake in each link will lead to launch failure, therefore, it has very high requirements for the crane’s precision, angle and micro-motion in the process of rocket lifting.

The new Chinese double girder crane provided by our company is equipped with self-developed electrical anti-sway, automatic positioning and micro-motion operation control system, which can reduce the amplitude of the sway by 95%, with a control precision of 2 millimeters, and a precision of 1 millimeter of the control micro-motion, which greatly improves the stability and precision in the process of the rocket lifting, and provides “Made in DaFang” equipment support for the flight of Zhuque-2.

Electrical anti-swaying, automatic positioning, micro-motion operation control technology, through the simulation of the laws of motion, the design of mathematical models, etc., the use of computers to control the operation of key components, so that the crane lifting the heavy loads “steady as Mt Tai”, and accurately achieve the operational intent.
At present, Dafang has established good cooperation with the four major satellite launch centers in China, and has successively helped Shenzhou series spacecrafts, Tiangong series space labs, Chang’e series lunar probes, and Long March series carrier rockets to fly successfully in the sky.

To be able to do our part for the national aerospace industry, each of us is very proud and proud; our lifting equipment can be photographed in the same frame with the rocket, each of us feel supreme honor.

Space exploration is never-ending, and the journey of dreaming is a long way to go. As a firm supporter of the national space industry, in the future, Dafang Heavy Machinery will continue to uphold the original spirit of industrial service to the country, highlight the power of China’s manufacturing in the new era, and contribute to the realization of the great dream of building a strong spacefaring nation, so that the Chinese people’s footsteps to explore the space are more stable and farther away.