The only Chinese! Zhang Rongqiao was selected as one of the top ten people of the year in Nature

◎ Science and Technology Daily reporter Fu Yifei

The reporter learned from the National Space Administration that the British magazine Nature announced the results of the selection of ten people who affected the scientific events in 2021 on December 15, and Zhang Rongqiao, chief designer of China's first Mars exploration mission, was selected, becoming the only Chinese on the list this year.

Nature's Annual Top Ten People List aims to select ten people who will take their place in the year's major scientific events. Rich Monastersky, editor-in-chief of Nature's feature division, said: "From tracking dangerous CORONAVIRUS variants to proving the role of climate change in extreme weather to sending probes to Mars, this year's Nature Top Ten Personalities focus on individuals at the center of important scientific events that have had a profound impact on the world. ”

The organizers said that this year's major scientific events also include That China becoming the second country to successfully land the rover on Mars, which is also the perfect answer handed over by Zhang Rongqiao, chief designer of the China National Space Administration and the Mars exploration mission.

Zhang Rongqiao Source: Xinhua News Agency

Recently, Nature magazine conducted an exclusive interview with Zhang Rongqiao. Faced with the questions of "why should you go around, carry and tour at once", "the biggest challenge facing Zhu Rong", "your next plan", Zhang Rongqiao answered one by one. Talking about the feelings of the success of the mission, Zhang Rongqiao recalled: "I can't help myself, I shed tears, there are sweet and salty. ”

The transcript of the interview is as follows:

Q: As the chief designer of the Mars mission, what are your specific roles and responsibilities? How big is the team you manage?

A: Our Mars exploration project includes five major systems, including the overall engineering and the probe, launch vehicle, launch site, measurement and control, and ground application. The Chief Engineer System also includes the Deputy Chief Designer, the Chief Scientist of Applied Sciences and the Chief Designer of each system. The complete success of the project was achieved by the joint efforts of thousands of research and development units and tens of thousands of scientific and technological workers.

As the chief designer of the project, I am responsible for the technical work of engineering development, launch and flight control. Before the implementation of the task, organize the demonstration work and project of the completion of the task implementation plan, plan the implementation process and details of the entire project, organize the key technical research, carry out the overall program design and verification, and organize the completion of the technical interface design between the major systems. Make decisions on key nodes and technical issues in mission implementation to ensure that the mission is launched as planned. In the process of the probe flight, it is necessary to always grasp the running status of the probe, organize relevant personnel to deal with emergencies in time, ensure that the probe is in good condition, so that our rover can finally successfully land on the surface of Mars and complete the engineering objectives. The second is to be responsible for the organization of scientific research, organize domestic and foreign scientists in the planetary field to conduct academic discussions, and carry out academic exchanges for the scientific objectives and engineering conditions of the mission, so that scientists can have a deep understanding of the scientific payload of the detector configuration, prepare for the use of scientific data to carry out scientific research work as soon as possible, and strive for early results, more results, and good results.

Q: How do you balance the engineering and scientific goals of your mission and ensure that scientific tasks are prioritized when faced with engineering challenges?

A: The Mars exploration mission is guided by scientific goals and promotes the development of scientific research. Mars exploration missions are more difficult, especially the success rate of landing inspection missions is less than 50%, and China's first Mars exploration mission faces huge challenges. Even in the face of such challenges, we put scientific goals first when we carry out demonstration and planning implementation of tasks. Iteratively and optimizes the flight track design, the allocation of weight and power consumption resources for scientific payloads, load calibration and ground test verification, and communication capabilities to ensure that the detection data types are rich and high-quality.

Q: Why did you decide to circle, land, and patrol in one mission?

A: We are well aware that mars exploration missions are technically difficult and risky. China started relatively late in the field of planetary exploration and planetary science, there is a big gap compared with international advanced technology, and China has successfully realized manned spaceflight and lunar exploration projects, laying a better technical and capability foundation for Mars exploration, comprehensively considering China's current level of aerospace technology and the urgent needs of Chinese scientists for Mars scientific research, we believe that through the efforts of a mission to achieve the Mars "orbit, orbit, patrol" risk controllable.

Q: What was the biggest challenge you faced throughout the mission, and how did your team overcome them?

A: The challenges we face in going to Mars are enormous. First, in terms of technology, such as facing such a strange and complex environment as Mars, we know very little, and there are many unknowns about its surface morphology, meteorological conditions, space environment, etc., and even we may not know what we do not know. In order to make our detector adapt to the unknown environment as much as possible, a comprehensive and detailed mission implementation plan was made at the beginning of the design of the program, the detector was designed in a targeted manner, and a large number of ground test verification work was carried out. We have adopted a six-wheel independent drive active suspension structure system, so that the rover can achieve crab row, creeping and other forms of motion, to meet the rover can face the complex geographical environment of the Martian surface, but still be able to drive and carry out scientific exploration activities. In view of the thin and uncertain atmosphere of Mars, we have developed an aerodynamic deceleration technology that can unfold the pneumatic shape of the flattened wing to make the landing rover maintain a stable attitude during landing and ensure a smooth landing of the rover.

On the other hand, the guarantee of the development plan is that the launch window every 26 months is extremely precious, and once the mission is not launched on schedule, it will have to wait another 26 months. The sudden outbreak of the new crown epidemic has brought great impact on the implementation of the task. In the face of the serious difficulties caused by the epidemic, our engineering development personnel have the courage to take responsibility, and under the vigorous coordination, careful arrangement and close cooperation of the Chinese governments at all levels and relevant units, we have overcome the adverse impact of the epidemic on the implementation of the mission and achieved a successful launch on time as planned.

Q: What are the places where your mission has not been perfect? Are there any lessons learned?

A: Judging from the overall situation of the project, we have successfully completed the set mission goal of "orbiting, landing and patrolling", the detector is in good operating condition in orbit, and the 13 scientific payloads have all been turned on to carry out scientific exploration activities, providing scientists with rich high-quality scientific exploration data. But after all, this mission is China's first trip to Mars, so it cannot be said that it has been perfect. We have been reflecting, looking for gaps with international advanced technology, seeing what problems still exist in the implementation of the task, and constantly summarizing.

Q: When you learned the news of Zhu Rong's successful landing on Mars, you were very excited, what was it like for you that day, and what were you thinking at that moment?

A: When I first saw the telemetry information of the landing success on the spot, my heart was full of mixed feelings. Our "ten years of grinding a sword" finally tasted the joy of our wishes, the touch of the unremitting struggle for engineering development, and the gratitude for the full support of all parties, which surged into our hearts for a while, unable to help ourselves, shed tears, sweet and salty.

Q: How did the success of the Tianwen-1 and Zhurong missions change China's space science cause? What contribution has it made to China's planetary science community?

A: The success of our Tianwen-1 and Zhurong will greatly promote the development of China's space science, especially planetary scientific research. Our mission can obtain multi-element first-hand Martian scientific data including Martian topography, surface material composition, subsurface structure, magnetic field, meteorology and space environment, which meets the needs of planetary scientists for scientific data, provides a basic guarantee for planetary scientific research, and lays the foundation for more results and good results. Recognizing the mysteries of the universe is our human cause, and "Tianwen-1" provides new opportunities for human beings to understand Mars. The China National Space Administration has been actively promoting international exchanges and cooperation, providing opportunities for foreign scientists to participate in the scientific research of the "Tianwen-1" mission, and we warmly welcome foreign counterparts to carry out cooperative research with us.

Q: What were the key factors that determined the successful landing of Zhu Rong on Mars so far? Zhu Rong"What is the current goal? What are the biggest challenges?

A: The successful landing on Mars is the result of a multi-factor combination, the most critical of which is the reliability of our equipment and the feasibility of the solution. In the development process, we ensure the completeness of the detector equipment and the reliability of the quality, from the product raw material selection, each production link, product factory inspection and other aspects of the development of a series of strict quality standards, the development process does not relax any link, do not miss any details. Combined with the existing capabilities and technical level, a reasonable and feasible task implementation plan is designed, and the optimization design and repeated iteration are carried out according to the actual situation, so as to lay a solid foundation for the success of the task.

Zhu Rong has completed the established exploration mission of 90 Martian days (about 92 Earth days), and is currently in normal condition, and continues to drive towards the suspected ancient ocean and land junction in the southern part of the Utopia Plain, carrying out scientific exploration and exploring clues to uncover the mystery of the origin and evolution of Mars.

With the accumulation of time, "Zhurong" will face huge energy problems, and the dust weather on the surface of Mars will also have a greater impact on the energy acquisition of "Zhurong".

Q: How far do you think China's space industry will develop in 10 years? What's next for you?

A: The "Tianwen-1" mission is the first step in China's planetary exploration, and it will also choose opportunities to carry out asteroid exploration, Mars sample return, and Jupiter and interplanetary cross-country exploration. From the successful launch of the Dongfanghong No. 1 satellite in 1970 to the complete success of manned spaceflight, lunar exploration engineering, Beidou navigation and Mars exploration, China has completed one landmark achievement after another in 52 years, which epitomizes the steady improvement of China's aerospace technology level. The development of China's space technology has also laid the foundation for the further in-depth development of space science research. In the future, we will take the goal of scientific research and the development of human civilization as the starting point, carry out more deep space exploration activities, and contribute China's strength to mankind's further understanding of the universe.

Biography

Zhang Rongqiao, researcher, is currently the chief designer of China's first Mars exploration mission (Tianwen-1) project, and the 10th Standing Committee member of the China Association for Science and Technology. He holds a bachelor's degree in electromagnetic field and microwave technology from Xidian University and a master's degree in space electromagnetic field from China Academy of Space Technology.

He started his career in 1990 and successively served as the deputy director and director of the 503 Institute of the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the chief engineer and deputy director of the Lunar Exploration Engineering Center of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, the deputy chief designer of the lunar exploration project, the chief designer of the deep space exploration demonstration project, and the chief designer of the major special project (civil) of the high-resolution Earth observation system. Organize the completion of the second phase of the lunar exploration project, the implementation of the first Mars exploration mission plan, and the demonstration of the implementation plan for the major planetary exploration project. As the chief designer of China's first Mars exploration mission project, the organization completed the Tianwen-1 mission and achieved a complete success of "a mission to achieve Mars orbit, landing and inspection". He has won the Special Prize of National Science and Technology Progress, the Special Prize and the Second Prize of National Defense Science and Technology Progress.

Source: Science and Technology Daily

Editor: Wang Yu

Review: Yue Liang

Final Judge: Liu Haiying