Energy absorption characteristics of landing buffer system of crew module of China’s next-generation manned dpacecraft

The safe landing technology of manned spacecraft crew modules is one of the key technologies in manned spacecraft. Traditional buffer seats can effectively absorb the impact energy in the chest-back direction of astronauts, but are less effective in buffering horizontal impacts. This paper proposes a novel parallel buffer-support system to ensure the life safety of astronauts in the event of a manned spacecraft's crew module's hard landing in China's next-generation manned spacecraft. The buffer-support system has multi-directional cushioning capabilities by selecting lightweight variable cross-section hollow lattice structures as buffers, eliminating the support mechanisms such as pistons and moving pairs, and greatly improving the weight utilization efficiency of the system. Firstly, the lattice cell and buffer unit are optimized and designed, and their performance is comparatively verified through quasi-static compression tests and drop tower impact tests. Secondly, the deformation modes of the buffer unit under different oblique impact angles are discussed through simulation analysis. Finally, a finite element model of the hard landing of the crew module is established to analyze the astronaut's acceleration curves under hard landing conditions with horizontal impacts from different directions, initially verifying the feasibility of this scheme.