India's lunar rover that was finally sent to the moon, even the lander became "disposable"? Not only that, their scientists still have to admit that they have to admit that they adapted well to the Chinese lunar rover, but they didn't expect it to be so difficult to actually do!
On July 14, 2023, India successfully launched the lunar probe Chandrayaan-3 at the Sadish Dhawan Space Center to explore the south pole of the moon.
As scientists continue to deepen their research on the moon, it has been found that there is a high probability of water resources at the south pole of the moon, which is crucial for the subsequent construction of a base on the moon - so all major powers have begun to rush to the south pole of the moon.
On August 23, Chandrayaan-3 made a soft landing near the south pole of the moon (slowed down to land on the ground undamaged), making India the fourth country in the world to successfully land on the moon and the first country to land near the south pole of the moon.
India turned out to be the first person to eat a crab - is this still the India we know? However, this "crab" is not so delicious, the Indian lunar rover soon gnawed the "hard bones", encountered the technical barrier that could not be broken, and the Chandrayaan 3 went dormant and could not return to Earth. Indian experts even exclaimed that "China can do it"! What the hell is going on here?
There was no time to celebrate the landing, followed by a "dormant crisis"
On August 23, after the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3, the lunar rover Pragyan (meaning "wisdom" in Sanskrit, which shows the expectations of the Indians) was successfully deployed as planned, began a lunar exploration mission, and successfully traveled 101.4 meters on the lunar surface.
According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), a batch of data on lunar soil has been successfully transmitted back to Earth.
(The picture shows the "Pragian" lunar rover driving away from the lander released by ISRO)
After nearly 11 days at work, Pragian faced a huge challenge – the moonlit night was coming. In fact, the Moon, like the Earth, has a day and night cycle, but due to the difference in rotation period, the day and night of the Moon are much longer than the Earth's time. On the moon, one day is equivalent to 29.5 days on Earth, and one night is equivalent to 14.25 days on Earth.
Whether it is the Earth or the Moon, the surface temperature on the side without direct sunlight will decrease. The moon has no atmosphere to keep warm, and because of the long hours of day and night, its temperature difference is also very large. During the day, the temperature of the moon can reach 127 °C, but at night, it can drop to -183 °C.
The destination of the Indian lunar rover is the south pole of the moon, and it will be even colder at night.
This makes it difficult for Indian scientists - with Pragian's manufacturing technology, even if the lunar rover is dormant, it is difficult to survive the long dark night on the moon.
Whether it is extreme heat, or extreme low temperature, it will be devastating to the equipment on the lunar rover. However, in order to maximize Pragian's utility, they decided to "gamble".
Four days before the arrival of the moonlit night, the relevant personnel filled the battery of the Pragian lunar rover in order to have enough energy to survive the cold of the moonlit night. For this reason, Pragian's originally planned working time (14 days) also made way for charging, shortening it by 4 days. In order to charge the rover as soon as daylight arrives, technicians also pointed its solar wings in the direction of the rising sun, after which it went to sleep early.
Soon after, Indian scientists activated the engine on the lunar rover lander Vikram and maneuvered the 626-kilogram behemoth to complete a jump.
It first "clumsily" jumped up about 40 cm, and then moved 30-40 cm to one side. After doing this series of actions, the lander also went into hibernation.
All that remains to be done is to wait – only when the sun next rises on the moon will we finally know the fate of the Indian rover.
However, many professionals have expressed a negative attitude towards this early on. ISRO experts have bluntly admitted that they believe that the design level of the lunar rover is limited, and the probability of awakening it is not large, but they still hope that luck is enough, "otherwise it will stay there forever as India's 'lunar ambassador'." ”
Indian science writer and aerospace analyst Pallava Bagla also pointed out the shortcomings of the rover: "The battery is limited" and "India does not yet have the technology to make circuits and electronic components that can withstand the extremely low temperature environment of the moon."
Expectations were disappointed, where did the Indian lunar rover lose?
On September 22, the moon's day quietly arrived, and this day is also the day set by Indian scientists to wake up the lunar rover. However, ISRO had not made contact with the rover and lander until September 23. The two are both dumb, and the Chandrayan 3 is completely "rested"! The probe from India may remain at the south pole of the moon forever.
However, ISRO has not given up completely. Somanath, a space expert and chairman of ISRO, said that the cold of the moonlit night may have frozen the equipment of the lunar rover, but they are not willing to let go of any life. Chandrayaan-3 may also have the possibility of awakening.
Indian experts have this idea because they refer to the example of what happened in China's aerospace sector. China's "Chang'e-4" and "Jade Rabbit-2" lunar rovers have experienced many awakenings after lunar night sleep, and can continue to work normally. Therefore, they think that perhaps, India's lunar rover can also be so "brought back to life"!
Clearly, however, the ideas of these optimistic Indian experts will never come to fruition. The aerospace technology of India and China is a qualitative gap!
In fact, as the Indian science writer Pallava Bagra said, the Indian lunar rover cannot survive the moonlit night, and the key gap between India's lunar rover and China's lunar rover is on the battery!
An ISRO expert once made a vivid analogy: the lunar rover's sleep on a moonlit night is like turning on the power saving mode for the phone before finding the charging cable, and the arrival of the moon is the charging cable.
Obviously, the Chandrayaan-3's battery was exhausted long before the "charging cable" was plugged in. Without batteries to provide insulating energy, it is not surprising that the rover's equipment will freeze out.
And the reason why China's "Chang'e-4" and "Jade Rabbit II" can survive the long night of severe cold is because they are equipped with "nuclear batteries"!
Some people say that it was developed by Russia, and some people say that it was jointly developed by China and Russia, in short, the radioactive isotope plutonium-238 nuclear battery, the power supply time is extremely long, only a coin size, can be used for 5,000 years.
Only such a powerful battery has the ability to supply and keep the lunar rover warm for a long time, and the lunar rover can have the ability to resist the low temperature of the moonlit night. This technology also makes the mainland the third country in the world after the United States and Russia to apply nuclear power to space exploration.
In addition, in order to ensure the safe and stable operation of the lunar rover, Chinese scientists have also formulated a fairly detailed work plan for our lunar rover. The first is "sunrise and sunset", 14 days of work during the day and 14 days of sleep at night.
And not only does the lunar rover "sleep" when the temperature is low, but there is also a "lunch break" when the temperature is too high - during the day, the solar cell sail panel of the lunar rover will constantly adjust the angle to avoid being too hot by direct sunlight.
It is precisely because of such a thorough and foolproof guarantee that the continent's lunar rover can work stably and transmit a large amount of valuable data to the mainland's scientific research missions.
However, nuclear batteries are still quite precious, and the mainland's Mars rover Zhurong has not woken up since it went dormant in May last year, and may be short of a nuclear battery.
Li Benzheng, deputy commander of the lunar exploration project and director of the lunar exploration and aerospace engineering center, once said frankly when the "Jade Rabbit" was launched: "The ancients called the moon Guanghan Palace, which is not false at all. The minimum nighttime temperature on the lunar surface can drop to minus 180 degrees Celsius, and electronic devices simply cannot work. "Indeed, the experience of the Indian lunar rover has taught us a lesson.
However, it is really emotional: from the image of "Guanghan Palace" and "Chang'e Rushing to the Moon" to the land of the moon actually touched by "Chang'e", human civilization has developed so far!
India's failure is really the result of insufficient hard power. However, as nuclear technology is increasingly used in the field of aerospace and scientists become more and more proficient in the use of nuclear technology, it is believed that the application of nuclear batteries in lunar rovers will become more and more extensive. Let's look forward to what surprises China's future lunar rover, lunar exploration, and even Mars exploration and space exploration will bring!
Perhaps, the imagination in those science fiction works will soon become a reality...