Orbiter and "selfie" of Mars Chinese space map
At the beginning of the new year, the Chinese Mars probe Tianwen-1 sent back a "selfie" of the orbiter and Mars, which amazed space enthusiasts at home and abroad.
Andrew Jones, a Finnish journalist who has been following China's space for many years, wrote that this was a "huge surprise" brought by the New Year of Tianwen-1. Spanish aerospace science writer Pedro Leon 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.
Space selfies require "a few steps"
This is already the second selfie of Tianwen No. 1. On National Day last year, Tianwen No. 1 sent birthday wishes to the motherland through "selfies" on the way to the fire.
As early as the beginning of China's first independent Mars exploration project, the research and development team was thinking about how to do a good job in visual monitoring of the orbital working status of Mars probes.
But wanting to "take a selfie" is not simple. Because the surrounder itself is too large, it needs a selfie stick up to 15 meters long to achieve full-body photo selfies, which not only consumes large resources, but also has 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, and in the process of slowly moving away, it used two wide-angle lenses installed on both sides of itself to take an image per second, and transmitted the image back to the Tianwen-1 probe through Wi-Fi transmission, and finally presented the Arctic ice sheet, the local close-up of the orbiter and the picture of the orbiter and Mars.
Simply put, it's about throwing out a small camera and sending the photos back over Wi-Fi.
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, Wi-Fi communication and other functions after separation have brought great challenges to the development process.
In Wi-Fi communication, in order to verify the actual situation of communication under high and low temperature conditions, the team members repeatedly tested the product for a wide range of temperature adaptability, measured and analyzed the key signals, and obtained the circuit status data under the actual temperature shock change. Subsequently, the team made multiple rounds of iterative improvements to the relevant circuits, and continuously modified and improved the software protocol, and finally realized the stable Wi-Fi 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 include a local close-up of the orbiter, the Arctic ice sheet of Mars, and the fire surface landform taken by the "Zhurong" rover.
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.
Yamala Gramps, 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 aerospace journalist, Toby Lee, 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 that Tianwen-2, Mars sampling, and Jupiter exploration are all 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 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." There are also (planned) probes for 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: Central Committee of the Communist Youth League