Chinese scientists dream of man on the moon

Global News: Chinese scientists dream of man on the moon

Editor's Note:
The Chang'e-2 satellite, China's second lunar probe, was launched on October 1. China's space program began much later than other nations, but has made rapid progress. What's the significance of the launch of the Chang'e-2 satellite? How should China develop its space exploration? People's Daily Online (PO) talked to Yu Dengyun (Yu), deputy chief designer of Chinese lunar exploration program, on these issues.

PO: What's the role and significance of the Chang'e-2 satellite in China's lunar exploration program?

Yu: The Chang'e-2 satellite is a pioneer satellite for the second phase of the Lunar Exploration Program. The program has three phases: orbital mission, soft landing and automated sample return.

The first phase of the exploration program was mainly aimed at observing the global lunar surface and acquiring photos of the whole lunar surface, which has been successfully achieved by the Chang'e-1 satellite.
The second phase is to ensure a soft landing for the lunar prob
e and deploy moon rovers for lunar surface exploration. The objective is designed to be realized by the Chang'e-3 satellite or Chang'e-4 satellite.

In the third phase of the exploration program, a lunar sample return mission will be undertaken. Our unmanned lunar probe will take lunar samples back to the Earth for our scientists to conduct relevant scientific research.
Each phase of the exploration program is closely linked to the others and the success of the one is needed for the implementation of the next.

Therefore, besides further deepening our exploration of the lunar environment, the Chang'e-2 satellite plays an important role in the key technical experiments for the Chang'e-3 satellite's soft-landing mission and will take high-definition videos of the Chang'e-3 satellite's planned landing area.

The Chang'e-2 satellite is the pioneer satellite for the second phase of the lunar exploration program and serves as a link between the first and second phase.
PO: The Chang'e-2 satellite is the sister satellite of the Chang'e-1. Compared to the Chang'e-1, what technological improvement and innovation does Chang'e-2 have?
Yu: The Chang'e-2 satellite is the pioneer satellite for the second phase of our lunar exploration program and backup of the Chang'e-1.

When developing the satellite, in order to save money, we inherited and made full use of all the products and technologies of the Chang'e-1. However, there are still obvious technological differences between the two satellites.

We adjusted the satellite's orbit. The Chang'e-2 was directly sent to the earth-moon transfer orbit by rocket without orbiting the Earth first. By doing so, we greatly reduced the fuel use of the satellite and shortened the time it will spend reaching the moon.

We made adjustments and improvements on the Chang'e-2's payloads. A high-resolution CCD stereo camera has been added to the satellite and the optical resolution of the camera has been updated to less than 10 meters from 120 meters.
Other payloads, including exploration equipment such as altimeter, Σ-ray spectrometers, and x-ray spectrometers, have also been greatly improved. The purpose is to improve the adaptability and anti-interference ability of these payloads to better detect the lunar soil.

We added a technical experiment analysis chart which includes an X-band compact land camera and a surveillance camera. Once the technological system proves a success, it will be a good verification for the X-band monitoring and controlling system and some of the small low-power design techniques.

Besides, we will make full use of the land camera and surveillance camera to take photos on some key events in the process of the satellite flying to the moon. Therefore, we can not only accumulate more experimental data, but also increase the quality of the images for people watching the launch on TV.

Of course, these cameras are also being used to take photos of both the Earth and the moon.

As long as the pictures are transmitted back to the ground, our people will get a vivid image of the Earth and the moon during the flight of the satellite.
We improved the adaptability of other analytical tools. For example, the radiation and heat on the lunar surface are huge, so we fully designed the thermal control system to ensure the normal operation of the equipment.
We have also increased the transmission speed for the satellite to send information back to Earth. The goal is to transfer the scientific exploration data back to the ground more quickly and effectively, so we can improve our detection efficiency and get more scientific data.

All in all, all these technological changes and innovations are designed to better meet our common scientific goals.

PO: How long did it take to achieve these innovations? How much of the intellectual property rights belong to China?
Yu: After the success of the Chang'e-1 satellite, we received more support from the government and the public. We have tried our best to seek greater development in space exploration.

We made modifications and improvements to the backup satellite of the Chang'e-1, so the intellectual property rights of the Chang'e-2 completely belong to China.
And it didn't take us a long time to achieve this. It has been less than three years since the launch of the Chang'e-1 satellite.

PO: The world's second round of space exploration is approaching. Compared to the US and Japan, what advantages do we have? Will their exploration plans affect ours?
Yu: China started lunar exploration at a comparatively late date. The US and the former Soviet Union launched the first round of lunar exploration.

In the 21st century, the world's enthusiasm for lunar exploration is heating up and many countries have been inspired to explore space, such as the US, the European Space Agency, and our neighbors Japan and India.

They are not only carrying out lunar exploration, but deep space exploration. Japan has made great progress in space exploration. It has launched lunar probes, Mars probes, asteroid probes and Venus probes.

How should we develop our space exploration? I think our space development plan should be based on our national situation. Of course, we need to take other countries' development conditions into consideration, but our national situation is more important. We should take an independent way to explore the moon and space.
PO: When can we send our astronauts to the moon?

Yu: Our manned space flight has made great achievements and certainly all the people in our country are expecting our astronauts not only to walk in space but also land on the moon. As scientists, we hope we could send our astronauts to the moon as soon as possible.

But as far as I know, there is not a definite plan. For our scientists, for the love of the space and out of longing for deep space exploration, we will actively research this area.