Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon
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BEIJING, May 17 (Xinhua) — China’s Chang’e-4 probe has survived 500 Earth days on the far side of the moon while conducting a scientific exploration of the virgin territory.
The lander and rover of the Chang’e-4 probe have resumed work for the 18th lunar day on the far side of the moon after “sleeping” during the extremely cold night.
The lander woke up at 3:25 a.m. Sunday (Beijing time), and the rover awoke at 11:53 a.m. Saturday. Both are in normal working order, according to the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
The Chang’e-4 probe, launched on Dec. 8, 2018, made the first-ever soft landing on the Von Karman Crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon on Jan. 3, 2019.
A lunar day equals 14 days on Earth, and a lunar night is the same length. The Chang’e-4 probe switches to dormant mode during the lunar night due to the lack of solar power.
The rover Yutu-2, or Jade Rabbit-2, has driven 447.68 meters, and is now 292 meters away from the lander. It has conducted scientific detection on lunar rocks, the lunar soil on its track and some impact craters.
Scientists used the Lunar Penetrating Radar on Yutu-2 to study the geological structure with a depth of 40 meters, unveiling the secrets buried under the surface of the far side of the moon, enriching our understanding about the history of celestial collisions and volcanic activities and shedding new light on the geological evolution on the moon.
Scientists also analyzed the data of the infrared imaging spectrometer on Yutu-2 and revealed the material composition on the moon’s far side, verifying that the lunar mantle is rich in olivine, which deepens our understanding of the formation and evolution of the moon.
China plans to launch its first Mars exploration mission Tianwen-1 in July. Due to the modification of the ground communication facilities, the rover and the lander will conduct in-situ detection during the 18th lunar day, said the CNSA.
The scientific tasks of the Chang’e-4 mission include conducting low-frequency radio astronomical observation, surveying the terrain and landforms, detecting the mineral composition and shallow lunar surface structure and measuring neutron radiation and neutral atoms.
The Chang’e-4 mission embodies China’s hope to combine wisdom in space exploration with four payloads developed by the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Saudi Arabia.
Staff members pose for a group photo to celebrate the timely finding of the return capsule of the trial version of China’s new-generation manned spaceship that successfully returned to the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, May 8, 2020. The return capsule successfully returned to the Dongfeng landing site at 1:49 p.m. (Beijing Time) Friday, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). (Photo by Wang Jiangbo/Xinhua)
by Xinhua writers Quan Xiaoshu, Yu Fei and Li Guoli
JIUQUAN, May 8 (Xinhua) — The return capsule of the trial version of China’s new-generation manned spaceship successfully returned to the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 1:49 p.m. (Beijing Time) Friday, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
The test was a complete success, the agency said.
Following the instructions from the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, the experimental spaceship applied the brake and entered the return orbit at 12:21 p.m., and its return capsule separated with its service capsule at 1:33 p.m.
After it re-entered the atmosphere and reached the designated altitude, the two deceleration parachutes and three main parachutes on the return capsule opened, slowing the flight speed of the spacecraft to the driving speed of an urban vehicle. Before touching down, its six airbags were deployed and inflated to help it land softly, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
At 1:49 p.m., the return capsule landed safely. The search team found it in a timely manner and confirmed that the capsule structure was intact.
China launched the trial version of the new spaceship without a crew by the Long March-5B carrier rocket from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China’s island province of Hainan on Tuesday.
The experimental spaceship flew in orbit for two days and 19 hours, during which it carried out a series of space science and technology experiments, including space 3D printing, said CMSA.
It also tested key technologies including the heat shielding and control during its re-entry into the atmosphere, as well as multi-parachute recovery and partial reuse, CMSA said.
The new-generation manned spaceship is an advanced space transport vehicle adapted to multiple tasks. It can be used not only in low-Earth orbit missions to support the construction of China’s space station but also for deep-space exploration, such as manned lunar exploration, CMSA said.
INNOVATIVE DESIGN
Developed by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) under the CASC, the test spaceship is nearly 9 meters tall and about 4.5 meters at its widest point. It weighs more than 20 tonnes.
Different from the three-capsule structure of Shenzhou spaceships currently in use, the new spacecraft comprises a return capsule, which is the command center and the living place for astronauts, and a service capsule, which provides power and energy, according to the CAST.
In Shenzhou spaceships, astronauts have to go back and forth between two smaller capsules for life and work. The return capsule of the new ship has a larger sealed space. In the future, it can be partitioned to set up a work area, entertainment area, dining area and bathroom, so as to provide a more comfortable living environment for astronauts.
The capsule can also be equipped with large screens for entertainment and display instruments connected with wearable devices so that astronauts can enjoy colorful space travel and be kept informed of the ship’s conditions.
The new design can also shorten the spaceship development cycle and cut the development costs, which will show a significant advantage in the future with space exploration activities more and more frequent, said Yang Qing, a designer of the experimental spaceship with the CAST.
Researchers have integrated the power supply, propulsion, fuel resources and other subsystems all into the service capsule, so that the same return capsule can be paired with different service capsules to meet variant needs of multiple tasks, including the space station operation and subsequent manned space missions.
The return capsule is designed to be reusable. Star sensors, computers and other high-value equipment have been moved from the service capsule to the return capsule so that they can be recycled after returning to Earth.
The return capsule is wrapped in two items of “clothing.” The inner layer is made of new metal materials and acts as a “wall” around the “driving cab.” The outer layer is made of a new type of light heat-resistant material, which can withstand ablation of thousands of degrees Celsius in the process of re-entry and return, according to Guo Bin, a member of the development team of the experimental spaceship with the CAST.
The new heat-resistant materials, adopted for the first time, are lighter than the traditional materials by 30 percent but have a greater heat-shielding capacity. They are also replaceable to improve the reusable rate of the capsule, Guo said.
The return capsule also uses a non-toxic propulsion system, consisting of 12 monopropellant-powered engines with the largest thrust in the world, which are applied for the first time in China to make the capsule safer and reusable, Guo said.
NEW DREAM SHIP
China started its manned space program in 1992 and has so far witnessed 11 astronauts enter space and return safely.
However, when the country eyes on the moon and the deeper space, Shenzhou spaceships and Tianzhou cargo spacecraft are no longer enough to meet its greater dreams.
Engineers started to create the new test spaceship from January 2017 and completed it in just three years after making many technological breakthroughs.
It can transport both people and goods, greatly expanding the capability and application of China’s manned spacecraft, Yang said.
It can be called a “space bus” as it is able to send six to seven astronauts at a time into low-Earth orbit. It can also be converted into a “space truck” according to new mission requirements, delivering a large number of supplies to the space station or bringing back space engineers’ test samples to Earth, Yang said.
The reliability, safety, comfort, economy and intelligence of the new spaceship have been greatly improved.
When in orbit, the ship’s “brain” — the guidance, navigation and control systems — can control the flight independently without relying on instructions from the ground. Through the combination of high-performance computers and sensors, the ship can fulfill emergency orbit entry, orbit raising and lift control autonomously, enabling it to cope with various emergencies quickly and calmly.
If a “health problem” occurs, the new spaceship can make a diagnosis itself through its intelligent system to locate the lesion and remove it temporarily or permanently. It will then share the work of the malfunctioning part by optimizing and recombining the functions of other parts, which can greatly simplify the ground control and support work.
In addition to the non-toxic monopropellant-powered engines, the new spacecraft adopts a series of advanced technologies, including the distributed integrated electronic system, solar cells with high conversion efficiency and multi-terminal human-computer interaction system, which improve its overall performance by leaps and bounds.
The engineers also installed a data acquisition system in the test spaceship, which will help provide scientific reference for the development and optimization of the follow-on versions of the new spaceship.
“The new and old spaceships will compliment each other. Just as trucks, buses and vans are all available on the road, there should be more transport means between space and Earth, and the new ship will enrich the selections,” Yang said.
Joint mission will send two unmanned probes into orbit around the closest planet to the sun
The BepiColombo standing in position at a test facility in Spijkenisse. Its mission to Mercury is scheduled for launch on an Ariane 5 from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana on October 20. Photo: AFP Photo
Final preparations were underway on Friday for the launch of a joint mission by European and Japanese space agencies to send twin probes to Mercury, the closest planet to the sun.
An Ariane 5 rocket is scheduled to lift the unmanned spacecraft into orbit from French Guiana shortly before midnight, the start of a seven-year journey to the solar system’s innermost planet.
Mercury is seen in silhouette, lower third of image, as it transits across the face of the sun. Photo: AFP PHOTO / NASA / BILL INGALLS
The European Space Agency says the €1.3 billion (US$1.5 billion) mission is one of the most challenging in its history. Mercury’s extreme temperatures, the intense gravity pull of the sun and blistering solar radiation make for hellish conditions.
The BepiColombo spacecraft will have to follow an elliptical path that involves a fly-by of Earth, two of Venus and six of Mercury itself so it can slow down sufficiently before arriving at its destination in December 2025.
An Ariane-5 rocket is set for launch at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou in French Guiana. Photo: Kyodo
Newly developed electrical ion thrusters will help nudge the spacecraft, which was named after Italian scientist Giuseppe “Bepi” Colombo, into the right orbit.
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When it arrives, BepiColombo will release two probes – Bepi and Mio – that will independently investigate the surface and magnetic field of Mercury. The probes are designed to cope with temperatures varying from 430 degrees Celsius (806F) on the side facing the sun, and -180 degrees Celsius (-292F) in Mercury’s shadow.
An Ariane-5 rocket is transported to its launch site at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou. Photo: Kyodo
Scientists hope to build on the insights gained by Nasa’s Messenger probe, which ended its mission in 2015 after a four-year orbit of Mercury. The only other spacecraft to visit Mercury was Nasa’s Mariner 10 that flew past the planet in the mid-1970s.
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Mercury, which is only slightly larger than Earth’s moon, has a massive iron core about which little is known. Researchers are also hoping to learn more about the formation of the solar system from the data gathered by the BepiColombo mission.
Modified version of country’s most powerful rocket carries next-generation capsule designed to take astronauts to its planned space station
It will be able to launch and land with three crew members and up to 500kg of cargo, according to state media
China launched a new version of its heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters
China successfully launched a prototype of its next-generation manned spacecraft – without astronauts – along with a new version of its heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket on Tuesday, its space agency said.
The Long March 5B rocket was launched into low-Earth orbit from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Centre on Hainan Island in the country’s south.
The launch marks a significant step forward for China’s two big space exploration ambitions – building a space station and a mission to Mars.
A modified version of China’s most powerful rocket, the Long March 5B is 53.7 metres (176 feet) tall. It will carry the next-generation crew capsule prototype designed to replace the Shenzhou spacecraft, to transport astronauts to its planned space station in low-Earth orbit.
China aims to launch the core module of that space station designed for three crew members, the Tianhe, in 2021. Beijing has been planning to build its own space station for decades as an alternative to the International Space Station, from which China has been excluded by the United States over security concerns.
China’s space station project has been delayed by problems with its heavy-lift rockets. Photo: Xinhua
The prototype capsule has a different configuration to Shenzhou’s and it will be able to launch and land with three astronauts on board as well as up to 500kg of cargo, according to state news agency Xinhua. That will mean it can be used to transport research specimens and hardware from the space station back to Earth.
While the Shenzhou can ferry three astronauts, the new capsule design will be able to accommodate up to six crew members and, unlike the Shenzhou, it will be capable of carrying them to the moon, according to Chinese media reports.
Its systems, performance in orbit and parachute deployment are among the areas that will be put to the test during the launch.
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The long-anticipated space station project has been delayed by problems in the development of heavy-lift rockets to carry the modules. In 2017, an oxygen supply problem caused the failure of the second Long March 5 launch, and it plunged into the Pacific Ocean shortly after take-off. But in December it successfully carried a Shijian-20 satellite into orbit, while the liquid oxygen-liquid hydrogen engines used in both the Long March 5 and 5B rockets passed testing in January.
China’s other space ambitions include a Mars probe, and landing astronauts on the moon within the next decade. For the Mars mission, the unmanned orbiter and rover Tianwen-1 will be launched by the Long March 5 and it is expected to take up to seven months for the probe to reach the red planet. China would be the third country to do so – after the United States and the Soviet Union.
Zhang Kejian, head of the China National Space Administration, said China was on track to launch the mission this year, with July the likely launch date.
BEIJING, April 17 (Xinhua) — The lander and rover of the Chang’e-4 probe have resumed work for the 17th lunar day on the far side of the moon after “sleeping” during the extremely cold night.
The lander woke up at 1:24 p.m. Friday (Beijing time), and the rover awoke at 8:57 p.m. Thursday. Both are in normal working order, according to the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration.
The Chang’e-4 probe, launched on Dec. 8, 2018, made the first-ever soft landing on the Von Karman Crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon on Jan. 3, 2019.
A lunar day equals 14 days on Earth, and a lunar night is the same length. The Chang’e-4 probe, switching to dormant mode during the lunar night due to the lack of solar power, has survived about 470 Earth days on the moon.
The rover Yutu-2, or Jade Rabbit-2, has worked much longer than its three-month design life, becoming the longest-working lunar rover on the moon.
Carrying scientific instruments such as panoramic camera, lunar penetrating radar, infrared imaging spectrometer and neutral atom detector, the rover will continue to move northwest to conduct scientific detection.
The scientific tasks of the Chang’e-4 mission include conducting low-frequency radio astronomical observation, surveying the terrain and landforms, detecting the mineral composition and shallow lunar surface structure and measuring neutron radiation and neutral atoms.
The Chang’e-4 mission embodies China’s hope to combine wisdom in space exploration with four payloads developed by the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Saudi Arabia.
‘As two of the great countries on Earth, cooperation between China and the US could, and should, be used to bring a more positive outcome for all humankind,’ academics say
‘Political bickering does nothing to contribute to the healthy development of Sino-US relations, nor will it help the people of the world to rationally and accurately understand and cope with the pandemic,’ they say
Chinese academics have urged nations to cooperate to find a solution to the global public health crisis. Photo: AFP
A group of 100 Chinese scholars has signed an open letter calling on the
The signatories, who include former diplomats and academics from various fields, including political science, international relations and sociology, said that while the origins of the coronavirus remained unknown, hurling accusations achieved nothing but hurt.
Nations should stop “complaining, finger-pointing and blaming one another” and instead cooperate to find a solution to the global public health crisis, they said.
“Political bickering does nothing to contribute to the healthy development of Sino-US relations, nor will it help the people of the world to rationally and accurately understand and cope with the pandemic,” the scholars said in the letter published on Thursday in online news magazine The Diplomat.
“As two of the great countries on Earth, cooperation between China and the US could, and should, be used to bring a more positive outcome for all humankind,” it said.
The scholars also urged the two sides to put aside their bickering over where and how the disease originated.
“At this stage of the pandemic, the exact source and origin of Covid-19 remain undetermined, but these questions are unimportant and finger-pointing is demeaning and hurtful to everyone,” they said.
US and Chinese officials have sparred for weeks over the origins of the coronavirus, which was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan but has since spread around the world, infecting more than 1 million people and killing close to 53,000.
Donald Trump has repeatedly referred to the pathogen as the “Chinese virus”. Photo: Bloomberg
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly referred to the pathogen as the “Chinese virus”, while other US politicians have said it was created in a Chinese laboratory. For China’s part, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian suggested the coronavirus
might have been carried into the country by US soldiers.
China’s ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai said in an interview on American television last month that speculating about the origin of the virus was “harmful”, but the finger-pointing on both sides has plunged relations between the two countries to a new low.
The open letter was the idea of Wang Wen, executive dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University in Beijing, who said its aim was not only to show the willingness of China’s intellectual elite to promote solidarity and reduce tensions, but to make clear that the priority right now was saving lives.
“We did not criticise anyone in the letter, or mention any names. We did not want to fuel the current disputes and confrontations,” he said.
“Most Chinese intellectuals are peaceful, rational and constructive, and thankfully we quickly reached consensus on the content of the letter.”
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The scholars said that after months of battling the coronavirus and seeing the situation at home improve, China now wanted to share its experience and knowledge with other countries as they seek to contain its spread.
“Chinese people have made unimaginable efforts and sacrifices to achieve hard-won results,” Wang said.
“We are grateful for the support of the international community, including donations from American friends, during the most critical stage of the fight … and we are willing to share our experiences with other countries and provide all available assistance to them.”
Wu Sike, a former Chinese special envoy to the Middle East, was among the signatories to the open letter. Photo: Xinhua
Among the other signatories were Wu Sike, a senior fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies and former special envoy to the Middle East, and Wang Yiwei, an international relations professor at Renmin University, who described the Covid-19 pandemic as a “global issue that overrides geopolitics concerns”.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump agreed in a telephone call last week to work together to contain the spread of Covid-19, but critics have questioned how long their cordiality can last against a backdrop of rising China-US tensions over trade, the media and regional security.
Long March-5 Y3 blasts off from Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China’s Hainan Province, Dec. 27, 2019. The rocket, coded as Long March-5 Y3, blasted off from the coastal launch center at 8:45 p.m. (Beijing time), carrying the Shijian-20 technological experiment satellite weighing over eight tonnes, the heaviest and most advanced communications satellite of the country. About 2,220 seconds later, the satellite was sent into its planned orbit. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu)
by Xinhua writers Quan Xiaoshu, Yu Fei
WENCHANG, Hainan, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) — Aboard the third Long March-5 rocket, China’s largest carrier rocket, Shijian-20, a new technology test and verification satellite, successfully entered its orbit Friday night.
The rocket, coded as Long March-5 Y3, blasted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China’s Hainan Province at 8:45 p.m. (Beijing time).
Shijian-20, weighing more than eight tonnes, is the country’s heaviest and most advanced communications satellite in geosynchronous orbit, according to its maker, the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
It will carry out orbit experiments for a series of key technologies, the CAST said in a press release.
It will demonstrate in orbit its heat transfer technology based on cryogenic loop heat pipes, an efficient thermal control device for space applications, to lay the foundation for the development of highly sensitive space probes.
The satellite will test the controllable deformation of shape memory polymers, a type of smart material that can switch between temporary shapes, to pave the way for the development of large variable space structures.
It will also carry out satellite-ground communication tests using Q/V bands, which lie between 33-75 GHz, within the extremely high frequency (EHF) area of the radio spectrum. These frequencies are used mainly for satellite communications.
“The major way to improve the satellite communication capacity is to expand the bandwidth of available frequency bands. If we liken the geostationary orbit to an expressway, which is now the most crowded in space, the use of Q/V bands will help to widen the expressway by four to five times,” said Li Feng, chief designer of the satellite with the CAST.
The test is key to the development of the next generation of high throughput satellites capable of delivering 1Tbps bandwidth for ultrafast speeds, he said.
Shijian-20 has the largest solar wings among all China’s satellites, with the total wingspan 10 meters wider than that of a Boeing 737 aircraft.
The solar wings will unfold twice, the first time after the satellite enters its orbit and the second after it flies around the orbit for about a week. The increase of the solar wing area will supply the satellite with abundant power.
The satellite adopts a hybrid propulsion system. Chemical propulsion is powerful but inefficient, and is used in rapid orbit change or satellite attitude adjustment to send it to the planned orbit as soon as possible. Electric propulsion is more precise and efficient but less powerful, which is suitable for long-term delicate adjustments in orbit.
Electric propulsion is also a preferred technology for future deep space exploration. Missions to explore Mars, Jupiter and asteroids are all too far away from Earth to be fulfilled by chemical propulsion alone, as it is impossible to bring the amount of fuel needed.
Shijian-20 will also test the adaptability of the DFH-5 satellite platform, which may serve the needs of high-capacity satellites for high orbit communications, microwave remote sensing, optical remote sensing, space scientific exploration, in-orbit service and other purposes in the next 20 years.
“With the government’s consistent support for the communications satellite industry in the past decades, we have developed the DFH-3 and DFH-4 satellite platforms, making China one of the few countries in the world that can independently develop large communications satellites and provide in-orbit commercial services,” said Hao Yanyan, product assurance manager of Shijian-20 with the CAST.
So far, there are more than 20 communications satellites based on the DFH-4 platforms running stably in orbit.
To meet the pressing needs of economic development, the research and development of the DFH-5 platform started in 2010.
According to the design, the takeoff weight of a satellite based on the DFH-5 platform can reach eight to nine tonnes, and its payload capacity 1,500 to 1,800 kg. The power for the whole satellite is more than 28 kilowatts, while the power for its payload above 18 kilowatts.
“According to these technical indicators, a satellite based on the DFH-5 platform in orbit can provide services equivalent to that of two or three satellites on the DFH-4 platform,” Hao said.
The new technologies verified by Shijian-20 will further promote the development of new satellites, especially the high throughput communications satellite and high resolution remote sensing satellite, which is of great significance to the progress of China’s space technology, Li said.
Image copyrigh tGETTY IMAGESImage caption Chandrayaan-2 is a three-in-one mission comprising an orbiter, a lander and a six-wheeled rover
India’s second Moon mission will see the country’s space agency attempt to land a rover on the lunar surface on 7 September. Science writer Pallava Bagla explains how it will reach the Moon and why it is significant.
Why is this mission unique?
Costing $150 million, Chandrayaan-2 will carry forward the achievements of its predecessor Chandrayaan-1 which was launched in 2008 and discovered the presence of water molecules on the parched lunar surface.
Chandrayaan-2 is a three-in-one mission comprising an orbiter, a lander named Vikram and a six-wheeled rover named Pragyaan.
It was launched on 22 July, a week after its scheduled blast-off, which was halted due to a technical snag.
It entered the Moon’s orbit nearly a month later in a tricky operation, completing a series of manoeuvres before its lander was cut loose on 2 September.
Media caption The successful launch of India’s Moon mission
Now, on 7 September, a little after midnight India local time (1800 GMT), the lander which contains the rover will be sent hurtling down to the lunar surface where it is expected to make a landing near the South Pole of the Moon.
The last 15 minutes of the mission, when the Vikram lander will attempt to autonomously guide itself down to the lunar surface with no support from ground control, has been described as “15 minutes of terror” by the head of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), Dr K Sivan.
If India does succeed in touching down with the Vikram lander intact, it will become the fourth country to do so after the US, Russia and China.
More importantly for Indians, it will mean the nation’s flag will reach the Moon intact.
How will it land on the Moon?
The Moon may be Earth’s closest neighbour, but landing on it is a very tricky operation.
It has no atmosphere worthy of the name, which means parachutes cannot be used to slow the lander’s descent to the surface. The only option therefore is to go in for what is called a “powered descent”.
This means that the velocity of the lander is steadily reduced with its own rocket engines.
The lander will be moving horizontally across the surface of the Moon as it descends. The rocket engines must bring that horizontal movement to a stop whilst at the same time controlling the rate of descent to near zero just before the moment of touchdown.
This is known as a “soft landing”.
Before the final approach, both the orbiter and lander would have surveyed the Moon to find a “sweet spot” with no craters and boulders where it can land.
If the lander does not function properly it could crash land on the Moon surface, like its predecessor Chandrayaan-1 – though this was an intentional crash landing as in 2008 India had not yet mastered how to perform a soft landing.
Media caption Is India a space superpower?
Either way, once the landing happens and the lunar dust that may have been kicked up settles, the ramp opens up and the rover is very gently wheeled out.
The rover will then “Moon walk” at the princely speed of one centimetre per minute. It can travel a maximum of 500m (1,640ft) from the lander.
Both the lander and rover are powered with solar batteries and carry three instruments apiece.
What will the lander do?
The lander will, among other things, measure Moon quakes in its vicinity and do a thermal profile of the lunar “soil”. Meanwhile, the rover will further analyse the lunar soil.
The rear wheels of the rover are imprinted with the national emblem – the Ashoka Chakra – and the Isro logo, which means a permanent mark of India’s visit will be left on the surface of the Moon.
But the extreme temperatures on the Moon’s surface are a real challenge to the mission.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGESImage caption The rover will “Moon walk” at a speed of one centimetre per minute
When the Sun shines, the lunar temperature can cross 100C and when it sets the temperature can drop to -170C.
As their batteries must be recharged with sunlight, the nominal life of both the rover and lander is expected to be one lunar day, since Isro is not sure if they can survive the ultra-cold temperatures of the long cold lunar night which lasts 14 days.
Both will send back photos of each other so the first Indian “selfies” from the lunar surface are expected soon after they land.
Why is the South Pole of the Moon significant?
The South Pole of the Moon is still a largely unexplored area, and India is targeting a spot that no other landing craft has reached so far. The mission will attempt to soft land its rover and lander in a high plain between two craters – Manzinus C and Simpelius N – at a latitude of about 70° south.
Most earlier missions including the Apollo manned missions targeted the equatorial region of the Moon.
Isro says the lunar South Pole is especially interesting because the surface area that remains in shadow here is much larger than that of the Moon’s North Pole. This means that there is a possibility of water in areas that are permanently shadowed.
In addition, the South Pole region has craters that are cold traps and contain a fossil record of the early Solar System.
This unexplored region is also especially important because in the near future, possibly by 2024, the US space agency Nasa aims to place boots back on the Moon through its Artemis Mission, and wants to target landing near the South Pole.
India’s mission will therefore give the Americans much needed data of this unchartered territory.
Why will the orbiter circle the Moon for a year?
The Chandrayaan-2 orbiter is expected to circle the Moon for a further year.
During that time, it will map lunar minerals, take high resolution photos and search for water on the lunar surface in the most detailed fashion till date by any lunar craft, using an infra-red imager and radars.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGESImage caption The imprints of India’s national emblem and the Isro logo will be left on the Moon by the rover
The high resolution camera will help make a digital terrain map of the moon
It will also analyse the thin lunar atmosphere.
There is also the possibility that the orbiter may last longer than a year, as Isro says it has made suitable savings in fuel. But once its fuel runs out, the orbiter will become a long-lasting Indian-made lunar satellite.
India hopes the $145m (£116m) mission will be the first to land on the Moon’s south pole.
Last month’s launch was the beginning of a 384,000km (239,000-mile) journey. Scientists hope the lander will touch down on the Moon on 6 or 7 September as planned.
India’s first lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, was launched in 2008 but it did not land on the lunar surface. However it carried out the first and most detailed search for water on the Moon using radars.
Chandrayaan-2 (Moon vehicle 2) will try to land near the little-explored south pole of the Moon.
The mission will focus on the lunar surface, searching for water and minerals and measuring moonquakes, among other things.
India used its most powerful rocket, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk-III), in this mission. It weighed 640 tonnes (almost 1.5 times the weight of a fully-loaded 747 jumbo jet) and, at 44 metres (144ft), was as high as a 14-storey building.
The spacecraft used in the mission has three distinct parts: an orbiter, a lander and a rover.
The orbiter, which weighs 2,379kg (5,244lb) and has a mission life of a year, will take images of the lunar surface.
The lander (named Vikram, after the founder of Isro) weighs about half as much, and carries within its belly a 27kg Moon rover with instruments to analyse the lunar soil. In its 14-day life, the rover (called Pragyan – wisdom in Sanskrit) can travel up to a half a kilometre from the lander and will send data and images back to Earth for analysis.
Media caption Is India a space superpower?
How long is the journey to the Moon?
The journey of more than six weeks is a lot longer than the four days the Apollo 11 mission 50 years ago took to land humans on the lunar surface for the first time.
In order to save fuel, India’s space agency has chose a circuitous route to take advantage of the Earth’s gravity, which will help slingshot the satellite towards the Moon. India does not have a rocket powerful enough to hurl Chandrayaan-2 on a direct path. In comparison, the Saturn V rocket used by the Apollo programme remains the largest and most powerful rocket ever built.
“There will be 15 terrifying minutes for scientists once the lander is released and is hurled towards the south pole of the Moon,” Isro chief K Sivan said prior to the first launch attempt.
He explained that those who had been controlling the spacecraft until then would have no role to play in those crucial moments. So, the actual landing would happen only if all the systems performed as they should. Otherwise, the lander could crash into the lunar surface.
Developers say their prototype craft could dive to 1,000 metres in five minutes
Liu Kaizhou, who also worked the Jiaolong submersible, says ‘We are in uncharted water’
Professor Liu Kaizhou, who developed the autopilot for China’s manned Jiaolong submersible, says his team has designed a vessel that can move through water like a plane moves through the air. Photo: Xinhua
Chinese engineers say they are developing a radical design for a super-fast robot submersible which the project leader, who worked on the manned deep-sea vessel Jiaolong, or Sea Dragon, claims can “fly” in water like a plane travels through the air.
At 3 metres (9.8ft) long, the prototype consists of a cigar-shaped body, with a guidance system in the bow and a jet plane style rudder and a propeller in the stern.
Outriggers house batteries and two more propellers. These are attached to the body by wing-like planes that the developers said will give the vessel the kind of lift in water that takes an aeroplane into the air and back to the earth.
Developers said the prototype will be capable of 10 knots and could dive to a depth of 1,000 metres (3,281 feet) – or surface from that depth – at about three metres a second, taking about 5½ minutes.
Professor Liu Kaizhou, lead scientist of the project at the Shenyang Institute of Automation, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Liaoning province, said the design had great potential.
If a traditional submarine was like an air balloon, he said, the prototype was like an aircraft. “It is technically flying, fast and freely, like a plane for the water.”
The prototype has 20 major components on board, including a computer, and communications and surveillance equipment. These were all developed and tested by the team, but getting them to work together posed some unexpected challenges, Liu said, meaning the transition to operations in a tough marine environment was some time away.
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“We aim to make the first open sea test in about a year,” he said.
The submersible can be powered by conventional batteries or a chemical engine that mixes lithium and sulphur hexafluoride to produce heated steam for electrical generators – an energy source often used by torpedoes.
Funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology from 2017, the project was driven by China’s growing ambition to become a superpower in the world’s oceans.
The team said their submersible had the potential to become the backbone of China’s search-and-rescue operations at sea, naval intelligence gathering, high-precision sea floor mapping, or to transport minerals from the seabed to the surface.
Professor Liu Kaizhou (left) with colleagues Ye Cong and Yang Bo, was instrumental in the success of China’s Jiaolong manned submersible. Photo: Xinhua
Professor Du Tezhuan, a researcher in fluid dynamics at the Institute of Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, said the design was a bold one but it posed the research team many hard questions.
The density of water was much higher than that of air, he said, which meant the vessel would encounter more drag and would need a strong power source.
“Without sufficient speed, the lift will be weak, and to reach high speeds, lots of energy will be needed. Flying in water is not as easy as flying in the air,” said Du, who was not involved in the project.
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“But in theory it should work. It is worth a try.”
Liu – who led the design of the autopilot system that can take the Jiaolong to depths of more than 7,000 metres (23,000 ft) – said that after tests on the prototype were complete, other innovations were possible. These included covering the vessel with air bubbles to reduce friction.
“This technology is brand new,” he said. “We are in uncharted water and we are excited by the challenges.”
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