Rocket tech gives lift to domestic bobsled

The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology houses a dedicated workshop for manufacturing rocket fairings and the return capsules responsible for ensuring the nation's astronauts' safe return to Earth.

However, it has expanded its assembly line to include a new product — a bobsled.

Renowned for breakneck speed and precision-steering, China's bobsled team is poised to benefit from a novel sled crafted with Chinese rocket technology.

The academy recently presented the sled, which was codeveloped with homegrown luxury auto brand Hongqi, to the national bobsled team.

The achievement marked a major milestone in the collaborative effort to develop a third-generation domestic bobsled. In January 2021, the academy and Hongqi unveiled the first version of a self-made sled. In September that year, five months before the Beijing Winter Olympics, they delivered the second version to Chinese sports authorities.

As one of the fastest sports on the planet, bobsledding is an event in which one, two or four people race down an ice track riding a specially designed sled, with the winning competitors completing the route in the shortest time. A typical bobsled in a race can achieve speeds ranging from 135 to 165 kilometers per hour. The event has been a part of the Winter Olympic Games since its first edition in 1924.

However, China hadn't set up a national bobsled squad until 2016. In October 2019, researchers at the academy, China's leading rocket manufacturer, were tasked with designing the first domestic racing bobsled.

Noting the critical nature of equipment in the sport, they had hoped to take advantage of rocket materials and aerospace engineering to make the Chinese team more competitive.

But, none of the engineers had ever seen an actual sled.

"Constructing a previously unseen product within a year presented us with an immense challenge," lead researcher Zhou Yu recalled. "Before this task, our knowledge of bobsledding was limited to mere glimpses online. However, the design and manufacturing process remained elusive."

In the early stage of the project, there were only a few people involved and no racing track in China. Furthermore, the bobsleds purchased by the national team had been sent overseas due to training requirements, leaving no race sled available as a research reference within China.

Zhou's team started with only a technical manual and two old models purchased from abroad, which they were not allowed to disassemble. After weeks of study, they found that rocketry aerodynamics and structural design could be adapted to help the sled's body minimize air resistance, or drag.

They chose carbon-fiber composites, a lightweight material used in rocket nose cones, as the sled's surface material.

In integrating rocket tech with the architecture of sports equipment, the rocket scientists prioritized speed and safety. At the same time, the car experts from Hongqi focused on comfort, crafting the sled to suit the physique of Chinese athletes.

According to the designers, the speed of the Chinese-made sled exceeded 160 km per hour in testing, making it among the fastest in the world.

The third-generation sled delivered a better performance on ice. Mao Kezhu, a senior engineer at the academy, said the new version adopts blended wing-body architecture and design, further reducing air resistance by 13 percent compared to the previous versions.

The academy can now produce up to 105 sleds per year.

"I would be very proud if Chinese athletes could ride homegrown bobsleds, speeding down the ice track and obtaining good scores at the Winter Olympic Games," Zhou said.

Xinhua