Our planetary exploration journey will stand on a new starting point
Mars will welcome "Chinese visitors"
"At the beginning of the ancient times, who preached the preaching? The upper and lower parts are not visible, why should they be tested?"
More than 2,300 years ago, the poet Qu Yuan looked up at the starry sky and wrote his famous piece "Heavenly Questions", expounding his philosophical thinking about the universe.
Today, full of unremitting search for scientific truth, the Mars rover "Tianwen No. 1" developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation is about to embark on a long journey to Mars.
On July 17, the Long March 5 Yao-4 carrier rocket completed the final assembly test of the technical zone at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China, and was vertically transported to the launch area. It is planned to choose the opportunity to implement China’s first Mars exploration mission (Planetary) from late July to early August. Exploration project Tianwen-1 mission), "Chinese visitors" will soon be welcomed on Mars.
Human exploration of Mars never stops
Mars is one of the eight planets in the solar system. It belongs to terrestrial planets, and the farthest distance from the earth is over 400 million kilometers.
After more than 60 years of unremitting exploration, people’s understanding of Mars has been constantly refreshed: the radius of Mars is about half of the earth, the volume is one-seventh of the earth, and the atmosphere is only 1% of the earth; It is mainly carbon dioxide, thin and cold, and the appearance is orange-red; the inclination of the rotation axis and the rotation period are similar to those of the earth, and the average Martian day is 24 hours and 39 minutes; it also has the same seasons as the earth. It is under exploration in 2016 , NASA believes that there is liquid water on the surface of Mars... .
On April 24, the National Space Administration announced the name and mission logo of China's first Mars exploration mission at the launch ceremony of "China Space Day". China's planetary exploration mission was named "Tianwen series", the first Mars exploration mission was named "Tianwen No. 1", and subsequent planetary missions were numbered sequentially.
Unprecedented exploration
In order to ensure the successful launch of the Long March 5 Yaosi carrier rocket carrying the Mars rover "Tianwen-1" and ensure the smooth completion of China's first Mars exploration mission, on July 20th, China's space-based measurement and control system team has completed the "Tianlian One" Various technical status preparations such as the adaptation of the system mission of the No. 02 star and the “Tianlian No. 2 star 01”. At present, the performance indicators of the two relay satellites have reached the best condition, waiting for the launch of Tianwen-1.
According to reports, "Skylink" satellites are my country's geosynchronous orbit data relay satellites, which are responsible for space-based measurement and control and data relay functions, and provide global tracking and data relay support for my country's orbiting spacecraft.
According to the plan, this year China will use the Long March 5 carrier rocket to launch a Mars rover, carry out global and comprehensive exploration of Mars, and conduct fine inspections of key areas on the surface of Mars.
"This is unprecedented in the history of human Mars exploration." Pang Zhihao, the chief science communication expert of national space exploration technology, said in an interview with the media. The biggest highlight of "Tianwen No.1" is to realize the "three steps" of Mars orbiting, landing and patrol exploration at one time. Go" task. Adopting this kind of fire detection method of "three hits with one stone" has a high starting point and high benefit, but the challenge is great. If it succeeds, it will enable my country's deep-space exploration capabilities and levels to achieve leapfrog development and become the world's third country to land on Mars and the second country to patrol on Mars.
New starting point for planetary exploration journey
This year, Mars will be particularly lively. In addition to China, the UAE and the United States have also chosen to launch Mars probes during the window period from late July to early August this year.
According to experts, the distance between the Earth and Mars is not static, but constantly changing, with 55 million kilometers at the nearest time and more than 400 million kilometers at the farthest. In order to save launch costs, generally, when launching the Mars rover, the time when the Earth and Mars are closer is selected. Late July to early August this year is a rare window of time. Such opportunities only occur every 26 months.
The long wait is just one difficulty in the dangerous journey of fire detection. According to statistics, human exploration of Mars started in the 1960s, and by the end of June this year, a total of 44 fire detection activities were carried out. Among them, only 19 were completely successful, and even if they were partially successful, there were only 23, and the success rate was about 53%.
Detecting Mars is much more difficult than detecting the moon, and launching a deep space probe requires the launch vehicle to provide enough launch energy to enable the probe to obtain a sufficiently large initial velocity.
On July 20, the UAE’s first Mars rover "Hope" was launched by the Japanese H2A carrier rocket from Tanegashima, Japan. The "Tianwen No. 1" will be sent to the intended orbit of the Long March 5 Yao-4 launch vehicle independently developed by my country.
According to the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, under the condition that the separation speed is determined, the heavier the detector, the greater the launch energy required. The Long March 5 carrier rocket is a new generation of large-thrust liquid carrier rocket in my country, and it is currently the rocket with the largest carrying capacity in my country. Because of its larger size than other Long March rockets, the Long March 5 carrier rocket is also affectionately called the "Fat Five" rocket.
Before the appearance of the Long March 5 rocket, the Long March 3B rocket with the strongest carrying capacity at that time could send about two tons of detectors into the ground fire transfer orbit, and the Long March 5 carrier rocket’s ground fire transfer orbit launch capability, More than 5 tons. Therefore, only "Fat Five" is capable of launching a large detector such as "Tianwen One".
"Relying on the powerful carrying capacity of the Long March 5 rocket, our planetary exploration journey will stand at a new starting point." said Li Minghua, secretary of the party committee of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology and the first commander of the Long March 5 rocket.