At the beginning of the new year, the Chinese Mars probe Tianwen-1 brought a set of exquisite images, including a "selfie" of the orbiter and Mars, which caused the amazement and praise of space enthusiasts at home and abroad.
In the vast universe, which invisible hand took this magnificent group photo?
The WeChat public account "Shanghai Aerospace" issued an article on January 4 that the 803 Institute of the Eighth Academy of Aerospace designed a monitoring system composed of multiple separated measurement sensors to complete the deep space "selfie" of the probe by throwing these "little guys" away. This is already the second selfie of Tianwen No. 1. During the National Day in 2020, Tianwen No. 1 also sent birthday wishes to the motherland through "selfies" on the way to the fire.
Overseas space enthusiasts are amazed by this. Adrew Jones, a Finnish journalist who has been following China's spaceflight for many years, wrote that this was a "huge surprise" brought by the new year of Tianwen-1. Spanish aerospace science writer Pedro León lamented: "It feels like China is in 2122. ”
In 2021, Chinese entered its own space station for the first time, Zhu Rong left its footprints on Mars for the first time, and Xihe pushed China into the "era of sun exploration"... China Aerospace handed over a full-score answer sheet. In 2022, China Aerospace will complete the construction of the space station. Tianwen-2, Mars sampling and even Jupiter exploration are already in the next step of the plan.
Orbiter and "selfie" of Mars Chinese space map
"China lives in 2122"
Shanghai Aerospace issued an article on January 4 detailing the principle of "selfie" of the Tianwen-1 orbiter. It turned out that as early as the beginning of China's first independent Mars exploration project, the development team was thinking about how to do a good job of visual monitoring of the orbital working status of mars probes.
Mars, nearly 400 million kilometers away from the earth, there is no other "tourist" can help take pictures, if the way to take a selfie is not so simple, because the orbiter itself is too large, it needs a selfie stick up to 15 meters long to achieve full-body photo selfie, not only the resource consumption is large, but also there are certain safety risks.
To this end, the Eighth Academy Mars Orbiter Engineering Measurement Subsystem Team proposed a "separation monitoring scheme", designed a monitoring system composed of multiple separated measurement sensors, and completed the deep space "selfie" of the probe by throwing these "little guys" away.
During the National Day on October 1, the China National Space Administration released the flight image of China's first Mars exploration mission, the Tianwen-1 probe, and the five-star red flag on the map showed a bright Chinese red. This is the first deep-space "selfie" taken by the Tianwen-1 probe using this technology.
This time, the separation measurement sensor once again implemented the separation monitoring task under ground control, using two wide-angle lenses installed on both sides of itself in the process of slowly moving away, taking an image per second, transmitting the image back to the Tianwen-1 probe through wifi transmission, and finally presenting the Arctic ice sheet, the local close-up of the orbiter and the picture of the orbiter and Mars.
Simply put, it is to throw out a small camera and send the photos back over wifi
In the development process of separate measurement sensors, there are many technical difficulties that need to be overcome. Zheng Xunjiang, chief of the 803 products of the Eighth Academy, introduced that the separation measurement sensor is a product designed in accordance with the concept of small satellites of surveillance cameras, which needs to be locked and unlocked within the total mass of 1kg, separated and released, and the functions of self-power supply, automatic photography, wifi communication and so on after separation have brought great challenges to the development process.
In the wifi communication, in order to verify the actual situation of communication under high and low temperature conditions, the team members repeatedly tested the temperature adaptability of the product over a wide range, measured and analyzed the key signals, and obtained the circuit status data under the actual temperature shock change. Subsequently, the team carried out multiple rounds of iterative improvements to the relevant circuits, and continuously modified and improved the software protocol, and finally realized the stable wifi data transmission of the flying process after separation.
After overcoming various problems, the development team finally handed over this answer sheet.
In addition to the "selfie", the images transmitted by Tianwen-1 this time also surrounded the local close-up of the orbiter, the Arctic ice sheet of Mars, and the "Zhurong" rover to photograph the fire surface landform.
The North Pole Ice Sheet of Mars
As soon as this set of pictures came out, it caused quite a stir among space enthusiasts at home and abroad. Andrew Jones, an American Space.com columnist who has been following China's space for many years, wrote a long article praising Tianwen-1's feat.
The article begins: "China's Tianwen-1 Mars rover brought a huge surprise in the New Year, when a small camera flew out of the orbiter to take amazing new photos of the Red Planet. ”
Subsequently, Jones introduced the principle of "selfie" in the article, and also quoted Sun Zezhou, chief designer of the Mars rover system, as saying that the group of photos showed that the orbiter was in good condition. "It should be said that the current state of orbiter flight around Mars is very good. (In the picture) you can see a working state of the orbiter flying around Mars, you can clearly see the solar wing, directional antennas, and you can also see some antenna mechanisms that are deployed in orbit. ”
He also said the photos attracted a lot of attention on foreign social media, including engineers involved in Mars photography at other space agencies.
Amara Graps, a doctor of planetary sciences, said on Twitter that she thought the photo had been PS, but it wasn't. This was taken by a small camera released by the surrounder.
Another space journalist, Toby Li, introduced the principle and sighed: "What a great way to successfully complete 2021, happy new year everyone!" ”
Spanish aerospace science writer Pedro Leon said: "This is an impressive photo! Shot by a small sensor released by the surroundor. China is in 2122. ”
Next, how will China's aerospace go?
"Tianwen" and "Zhu Rong" visited Mars, Chang'e-5 lunar samples made a wonderful appearance, "Tianhe", "Shenzhou" and "Tianzhou" formed China's own space homeland, and "Xihe" took a new step in China's solar exploration... In 2021, the number of launches of China's aerospace industry exceeded 50 for the first time, setting a new high and ranking first in the world.
CCTV News reporter learned from the Aerospace Science and Technology Group on January 5 that this year the group company plans to arrange more than 40 space launch missions, including 6 major missions for manned spaceflight, including two cargo spacecraft, two Shenzhou spacecraft, experimental module I. and experimental module II. launches. In 2022, the Chinese space station will be fully completed. In addition, it will also complete the launch of many key models such as the first flight of the Long March 6 carrier rocket, and carry out a series of important flight tests and mass production deliveries of strategic and tactical weapons.
Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China's manned space project, commented on China's manned space industry in 2021 with the word "inspiring" on December 27 last year. Zhou Jianping is full of expectations for 2022, he said that the construction of the Chinese space station will be completed next year; after the return of the Shenzhou 13 group, it will continue to launch the cargo spacecraft, the Shenzhou 14 manned spacecraft, and the first experimental module of the Chinese space station.
"The first experimental module is called Qingtian, and the second experimental module is called Mengtian, which completes the docking with the core module, forms the three-cabin configuration of the space station, and completes the construction of the Chinese space station." This is China's manned spaceflight project, and it is also a milestone event in China's spaceflight, marking that China's manned spaceflight project has entered a new era. ”
Zhang Rongqiao, chief engineer of the Mars exploration mission, mentioned in an interview with CGTN that Tianwen-2, Mars sampling, and Jupiter exploration are already planned. "Our Tianwen-2 started two years ago (prior studies) and the key technologies have been solved. We want to achieve a sample return from a near-Earth asteroid, and at the same time go to the main belt to conduct orbital detection of the asteroid. ”
Zhang Rongqiao was interviewed
He introduced: "After that, there is a sample return on Mars, this task is more difficult, at present, no country in the world can take samples back from Mars, we have a plan, we have confidence." Also, (planned) exploration of Jupiter and its moons. Including Mars sampling and Jupiter exploration, we still have this attitude, extensive international cooperation, and colleagues around the world work together to explore our sea of stars. ”
Source: Observer Network