What is the meaning of the Martian photos sent back by "Tianwen-1"?
At 20 o'clock on February 5th, the "Tianwen No. 1" probe engine was ignited, and the fourth midway correction of the ground fire transfer section was successfully completed to ensure that Mars capture was implemented as planned.
The National Space Administration simultaneously announced the first Martian image obtained by "Tianwen-1" at a distance of approximately 2.2 million kilometers from Mars.
At 20 o'clock on February 5th, the "Tianwen No. 1" probe engine was ignited, and the fourth midway correction of the ground fire transfer section was successfully completed to ensure that Mars capture was implemented as planned.
The National Space Administration simultaneously announced the first Martian image obtained by "Tianwen-1" at a distance of approximately 2.2 million kilometers from Mars.
The above two pictures sparked heated discussions. Netizens also issued "soul torture" when they liked it. Isn't Mars red?
Why is this photo in black and white?
What were these photos taken?
What's the meaning behind it?
Why is the first image of Mars black and white?
A person from the National Space Administration said that the black-and-white imaging was adopted in this imaging mode, which is the main reason why the first image of Mars is black and white.
Accident?
The reason is so simple!
However, the first images of Mars are indeed "artifacts".
The relevant experts of the Aerospace Science and Technology Group said that the "Tianwen No. 1" uses an optical navigation sensor to find Mars in the vast sky, measure the relative angle, and then control the "Tianwen No. 1" to accurately point to Mars, and then use a high-resolution camera. When shooting Mars, the photo at the beginning of this article appeared.
What is an optical navigation sensor?
To put it simply, the optical navigation sensor is like the "eyes" of "Tianwen No. 1". With these bright "eyes", Tianwen No. 1 also has the ability to autonomously watch the target and fly to the goal. Ground.
After the "Tianwen No. 1" left the earth, Beidou and other global navigation systems gradually became useless.
In the absence of Beidou and GPS, in the vast outer space, "Tianwen-1" relies on optical navigation sensors to achieve navigation and guidance.
Different from traditional radio navigation, optical autonomous navigation can acquire navigation information such as position and speed through image target recognition and feature extraction.
Specifically, in the process of "Tianwen-1" flying close to Mars, the navigation sensor equipped with a telephoto lens is used as a "clairvoyance", which can identify Mars at a distance of up to 10 million kilometers and can adapt to it autonomously. Mars extracts Mars images from point targets to area targets, and from weak targets to strong targets, so that even without external navigation information, it can autonomously find a way forward in deep space flight.
This is also one of the important technologies that will support China to move further into the universe in the future.
Why do we have to go to Mars?
"Who can do the best?" More than 2,300 years ago, Chinese romantic poet Qu Yuan used the long poem "Heavenly Questions" to ask questions about the prehistoric nature of the universe and the natural world.
The mysterious and bright starry sky has made people living on earth full of curiosity and yearning since ancient times.
After the moon, humans often choose Mars as their next target because its natural environment is most similar to the earth.
Therefore, Mars is regarded as one of the planets that may give birth to life in addition to the Earth, and it is also considered to be the most likely planet for humans to migrate in the future. These have attracted many countries to explore this mysterious planet.
Since the 1960s, humans have continuously launched probes to Mars, but the only country that successfully landed on Mars is the United States.
Mars exploration is one of the important symbols of a space power. In this scientific wave of deep space exploration, how can China be missing?
At 12:41 on July 23, 2020, my country successfully launched the first Mars exploration mission "Tianwen-1" probe with the Long March 5 Yaosi carrier rocket at the China Wenchang Space Launch Site on the northeast coast of Hainan Island. The rocket flew more than 2,000 Seconds later, the probe was successfully sent into a predetermined orbit and started a journey to explore Mars.
It is expected that around February 10, 2021, that is, around New Year's Eve, "Tianwen No. 1" will perform near-fire braking (commonly known as "brake") to start a journey around Mars, and there are many tests waiting for it.
"The core and most difficult part of our Mars exploration mission is the aerodynamic shape and the parachute deceleration process after the probe enters the Martian atmosphere. There is only one chance." said Sun Zezhou, chief designer of the Mars probe of the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The research and development team has made full preparations, specially designed a new aerodynamic shape, a new type of parachute, etc., and hope everything goes well.
According to Xinhua News Agency