by Launch preparations are accelerating for China’s next spacecraft to launch to the moon – the Chang’e 6 robotic mission.
The spacecraft is now sitting atop the Long March 5 rocket at its departure site in Wenchang, in China’s Hainan province. Chang’e 6 is reported to be launched on Friday (May 3) at 3:50 am EDT (0759 GMT; 3:50 pm Beijing time).
The 8.2-meter Chang’e 6 is aimed to touch down in the South Pole-Aitken Basin (SPA) on the far side of the moon. There are four components in the mission: orbiter, lander, ascender and a reentry module.
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Try for the first time
Chang’e 6 will be the first ever attempt to return dust and rocks from the far side of the moon. If the plan is successful, these samples will be placed on the ascent to be transported from the surface to lunar orbit, after which they will be transferred to a re-entry module that will transmit the collectables to Earth.
The United States, the former Soviet Union and China brought lunar samples to Earth. China was the latest to do so, with its Chang’e 5 mission in 2020. But all this material was collected on the near side, the part of the moon that always faces Earth.
China scored the first ever soft landing on the side of the moon with its Chang’e 4 lander-rover mission back in early January 2019.
According to Xingguo Zeng, of the Laboratory for Lunar and Deep Space Exploration at the National Astronomical Observatories, Chang’e 6 is designed to address questions about the lunar eclipses near the far side, and to provide new insights provide the early impact both. the history of the solar system and the geological evolution of the moon.
Toward that end, Chang’e 6 will touch down in the southern part of the Apollo basin, providing access to a variety of SPA materials, Xingguo recently mentioned in a paper published in Nature.
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Design and control
“The Chang’e 6 aims to achieve breakthroughs in the design and control technology of the lunar reverse orbit, intelligent sampling, takeoff and ascent technologies, and automatic sample return to the far side of the moon,” Ge Ping, deputy director of the Center for Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering of the China National Space Administration, told China Central Television (CCTV).
“Currently, the Long March 5 carrier rocket and the Chang’e 6 probe are in good condition,” Ge said. “All preparations for the launch are proceeding in an orderly manner, according to normal working procedures.”
Liao Guorui, an engineer at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site, told CCTV:
“Currently, the launch site has ensured the routine testing of Chang’e 6 and the Long March-5 Y8 carrier rocket. Our Hainan launch site has high temperature, high humidity, and high salt fog. Corresponding preparations have been made for the environmental conditions, and we have also prepared some typhoon prevention plans to adapt to the weather in Hainan.”
Zhu Haiyang, a staff member with the Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology noted the details of the launch window.
“The signature feature of the Chang-e 6 mission is that it has extra high requirements for the launch window, mainly due to the lunar orbit. To achieve the best possible energy, it has a high requirement for the launch time of the rocket and the time of delivery to the lunar transfer orbit [LTO]so the launch window is quite narrow,” Zhu told CCTV, “We have done several verifications of the ‘narrow window and multiple orbit’ technology.”
Transfer point
For this Chang’e 6 launch, 10 lunar orbits were designed for the rocket. Chang’e 6 must enter the LTO with a perigee (closest approach point) of 125 miles (200 kilometers) and an apogee (farthest point) of 255,000 miles (410,000 km), and the requirement for with orbit entry accuracy also exceptional. high
“As for the rocket, we mainly need to send it to the LTO transfer point,” Zhu said. “In terms of process coordination before launching at the launch site, coordination and drills were also carried out throughout the narrow window of multi-orbit technology. . With higher accuracy in orbit insertion, Chang’e-6 will consume less propellant to adjusting its attitude, including orientation, orbital elevation, and orbit change.”
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Scoop and drill
According to James Head, a noted lunar scientist at Brown University, the Chang’e 6 mission is very similar to Chang’e 5 in terms of its spacecraft and operational strategy: It will scoop and drill samples, possibly up to 4.4 pounds in total. (2 kilograms).
The recently launched long-distance communications satellite Queqiao 2 has been tested in lunar orbit and is fully functional to support not only the Chang’e 6 mission but also the Chang’e 7 and Chang’e 8 robotic missions. which will follow. support the establishment of a lunar base called the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), Yin said.
