On April 24th, China's new generation of space "couriers" - the Qingzhou cargo spacecraft - was officially unveiled. Its initial prototype test spacecraft is scheduled to make its maiden flight this year, and the first prototype spacecraft is planned to have factory conditions next year and be able to carry out space station cargo transportation missions. The light boat cargo spaceship was developed by the Institute of Microsatellite Innovation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It is a light, small and fast spaceship with "low cost, high reliability, high strain and high intelligence". It is also an important part of China's space station's heaven and earth cargo transport system. It has the characteristics of moderate transport capacity, fast and flexible, and outstanding benefits. It will further enhance the safety and reliability of the space station's supplies, especially the heterogeneous backup capability, to provide a solid guarantee for the safe and stable operation of China's space station in orbit. The advantage of a light boat is its small size and light weight. Its self weight is about 5 tons, with an upward transport capacity of over 1.8 tons and a downward transport capacity of 2 tons. ”Chang Liang, chief designer of the light boat cargo spaceship and researcher of the Institute of Micro Satellite Innovation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced. The loading capacity of the light cargo spacecraft is about 9 cubic meters, and the volume of the cargo compartment is 27 cubic meters, which can carry astronauts' daily necessities, scientific experimental equipment, scientific payloads, etc. The cabin adopts a 4-layer shelving mode, with a total of 40 cargo compartments. To meet special cargo needs, corresponding interfaces are also reserved on the shelves. The integrated single cabin configuration design is a prominent feature of light cargo spacecraft. On the premise of meeting mission requirements, this configuration can improve space utilization, greatly reduce the external dimensions of the light boat, and adapt to multiple types of rockets, meeting the needs of rapid launch. ”Shu Rong, commander in chief of the light boat cargo spaceship and secretary of the Party Committee of the Institute of Micro Satellite Innovation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said. Intelligence is also a major feature of light cargo spacecraft. The light boat is equipped with an intelligent cargo transportation management system, which can achieve intelligent identification, positioning, and management of goods. ”Shu Rong said that astronauts can quickly find the required items through voice interaction and other methods, improving the efficiency of cargo retrieval and delivery. Chang Liang stated that the Qingzhou cargo spacecraft can not only transport conventional goods such as astronauts' daily necessities and scientific experimental equipment, but also carry various experimental payloads, supporting manned or unmanned space science payloads and various in orbit experiments, meeting the diverse needs of the space station and enhancing its scientific research and application value. It is worth noting that the Qingzhou cargo spacecraft has also introduced the concept and technological means of commercial aerospace. For example, for the first time, the business model of using a cargo transportation system to grasp the overall situation was adopted, which combined the transportation with the spacecraft more closely and achieved the overall optimization design of the system; Introduce commercial aerospace concepts to promote rapid iteration and application of new ideas, devices, and materials in the aerospace field. (New Society)