On the first day of 2022, the China National Space Administration released the images transmitted by the Tianwen-1 probe. One of the group photos of the orbiter and Mars surprised everyone, and it was also the first time in the history of human spaceflight to be taken from this perspective.
There is no doubt that there must be a camera far away from the orbiter to take this group photo.
In fact, the photo is taken with a "selfie artifact", which separates the measurement sensor, in short, throwing out a small camera to help take pictures. This kind of "riot operation" of Tianwen No. 1 is not the first time.
There was once as early as 2020, and it was announced on October 1. It was a rare opportunity for the Dates of national and Mid-Autumn Festival to coincide, and the Tianwen-1 Mars rover, which had flown for nearly 190 million kilometers continuously, also sent its most unique blessing: a super selfie of the farthest and strongest in Chinese history, and a bright five-star red flag shining in the depths of space.
Completing this selfie is not simple. The overall structure of Tianwen-1 can be seen from the figure, which includes a surrounder with a huge solar sail board and a communication antenna, as well as a combination of landers and rovers wrapped up. If you take the five-star red flag in the figure as a reference, its size (39 * 26 cm) is close to the size of an A3 paper, and the size of the entire combination can be imagined in comparison. This kind of angle of selfie is obviously not a combination of "selfie stick + wide-angle camera" can be completed, and Tianwen-1 needs to bring an "exclusive photographer".
This "photographer" is a separate measurement sensor separated from Tianwen-1, in layman's terms, a tiny satellite similar to a camera. It was developed by the Shanghai Institute of Aerospace Technology of China Aerospace Science and Technology Group Co., Ltd., and its role is to monitor the overall working state of the probe in the process of leaving Tianwen-1, take pictures of it in an all-round way, measure (stay) (read), and record this special moment. The measurement sensor does not have a complex attitude holding system, in order to best complete the goal, it has two wide-angle lenses in front and behind it, and after leaving Tianwen-1, it maintains a speed of 1 shot per second to shoot Tianwen-1.
Due to its limited capabilities, the tiny satellite does not have a huge antenna to transmit photo data directly back to the earth, and also needs to rely on the super Wi-Fi transmission data used for communication with Tianwen-1, which then chooses the opportunity to send the processed image data back to the Chinese astronauts on the earth, and the tiny satellite will eventually disappear in deep space.
Therefore, the overall process can be described as: "Net red" Tianwen No. 1 adjusted the two cameras in front of and behind the selfie artifact to automatic shooting mode, and threw it farther and higher in order to allow it to capture its own huge panorama. Tianwen-1 faces the camera with the most delicate makeup, especially the big national flag. During the "click", "click", "click" shooting process, the camera transmits the photo data back to Tianwen No. 1. After the "refined" operation, Tianwen No. 1 was subsequently sent to the circle of friends (earth), which really aroused the warm pursuit of various media and fans!
On how the "net red" beauty selfie is refined, it is such a difficult operation!
This time in the new year, there is no doubt that Tianwen-1 once again threw out a separate measurement sensor, and the selfie completed such a cool space selfie.
Of course, the role of the separation measurement sensor carried by Tianwen-1 is not only self-timer, its most important mission is to monitor the flight status of Tianwen-1 as a whole, such as the overall state after orbit correction operation. At the distance scale of Mars, astronauts simply cannot monitor it through optical observation and other means. The selfie data transmitted back is an effective means of monitoring. Small cameras are lightweight and costly.
Even for the Zhu Rong Mars rover, the same means were chosen, and the famous photo with the lander after it landed, "Spark of Fire", was also through a similar means. It's just that this camera was thrown to the ground.
There are not only video recordings of it taking pictures, but also turning around and moving. It can be clearly seen that after the Zhu Rong number was thrown down, the Zhu Rong number slowly left, posed, and took a group photo.
It can be said that this selfie method of Tianwen-1 and Zhurong is an unprecedented new idea in the history of human Mars exploration. The effect of scientific research and popularization of science is no one, and it is worth introducing it to the public.
(Source of this article: China National Space Administration)
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