China News Agency, Beijing, April 24 (Guo Chaokai) The National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced the name and mission logo of China's first Mars exploration mission on the 24th. The Chinese planetary exploration mission was named "Tianwen" series, the first Mars exploration mission was named "Tianwen-1", and the subsequent planetary missions were numbered sequentially.
The reporter learned that the name is derived from Qu Yuan ’s long poem "Questions of Heaven", which expresses the tenacity and perseverance of the Chinese nation in the pursuit of truth, and embodies the cultural heritage of the exploration of nature and cosmic space. Never end.
The mission logo symbolizing "Lan Xing Jiutian" shows the image of the unique letter "C", which brings together multiple meanings such as China's planetary exploration (China), international cooperation spirit (Cooperation), and the ability of deep space exploration into space (C3). Demonstrated the concept of China's open space cooperation.
Due to the revolution of the Earth, Mars and the Earth will have the shortest distance every 26 months or so, known as "Mars Rising Sun". This period is also the best period to detect Mars. Humans can use the lower cost to move the probe Send to Mars. 2020 is the window period for Mars exploration activities. According to the plan, China will use the Long March V launch vehicle to launch the Mars rover this year, to realize the “three steps” of Mars orbiting, landing and patrol detection at one time, to carry out global and comprehensive exploration of Mars, and to conduct detailed patrols on key areas on the surface of Mars. Survey.
It is understood that the Chinese Mars rover is divided into two parts: the orbiter and the lander, which were developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The rocket launches the detector to the ground fire transfer orbit, then with the support of the ground measurement and control system, through multiple orbit maneuvers and midway corrections, the brake is applied at the near fire point, enters the ring fire elliptical orbit, and runs to the selected entry window , The detector will perform derailment control and release the landing patrol.
After the landing patrol enters the Martian atmosphere, it adopts aerodynamic shape, parachute, engine, multi-stage deceleration and landing recoil soft landing. After the separation of the rover (namely the patrol device) and the landing platform, regional patrol detection and related engineering practice activities will be carried out. The surround will provide relay communication links for the rover, and carry out surround scientific exploration.
In addition to China's "Tianwen-1", 2020 will fly to Mars, as well as the US "Perseverance" rover and the UAE's "Hope" Mars probe. The ExoMars Mars rover, which was originally scheduled for "fire detection" this year, has cooperated with Europe and Russia and has been announced to be postponed until 2022. (Finish)