Mankind's exploration of space is a magnificent epic, with both successes and failures! If you look at the course of lunar exploration in various countries over the past 20 years, you will be surprised to find that the lunar probes of various countries have shown various symptoms, such as oil leakage in the United States, power outages in Japan, and freezing to death in India.
In the past 20 years, the former space power has suffered repeated setbacks in the process of lunar exploration, and there was an oil spill accident after the launch of a US probe. As for Japan, India and other space field catch-ups, in recent years, the lunar exploration project has also been in constant condition. The only one with excellent performance is China, and the lunar exploration project has been successful time and time again. Why do continents succeed in exploring the same moon and other countries can't?
The U.S. probe leaked oil, and he died before he could get out of the country
At that time, the United States manned the moon landed on the world, and after 52 years, the United States wanted to return to the moon, but the probe had an accident on the way to the moon, and the lunar exploration program was likely to fail.
The U.S. lunar probe launched this time is called Peregrine Falcon, which comes from the U.S. private sector and is not led by NASA, but is also deeply involved.
The probe is 2.5 meters wide and 1.9 meters high, weighs about 1.2 tons, and carries six NASA scientific instruments to detect temperature, magnetic field, radiation and other data on the lunar surface.
In the early morning of January 8, 2024 local time in the United States, the "Vulcan" carrier rocket carrying the "Peregrine" lunar lander was successfully launched and embarked on the road to the moon.
If all goes well, the Peregrine Falcon will land on the moon on February 23 of this year. Once the landing is successful, it means that the world's first commercial spacecraft has successfully landed on the moon.
The resumption of the mission to the moon after more than 50 years, and with such great significance, NASA also wanted to take this opportunity to show its face. However, it may not be a good year, and the projects that NASA has been involved in in recent years have always been problematic.
NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have been working together on the moon landing program, and there have always been various problems with the rockets. This time, the rocket was successfully launched, but the lunar probe had an unexpected situation.
After the successful release of the lunar probe in space, its solar panels cannot be aimed at the sun and cannot generate energy to maintain operation, which will inevitably cause the orbit of the probe to shift.
Seven hours after liftoff, the probe was unable to stabilize the lander's attitude due to a problem with the propulsion system. The cause of the propulsion system problem is a serious fuel leak.
The inability to obtain energy, deviate from orbit, and maintain a stable attitude are undoubtedly major disasters for spacecraft. On January 18 (U.S. time), the Peregrine Falcon crashed into the atmosphere and burned up, and the U.S. plan to return to the moon was a complete failure.
As a "pathfinder," the Peregrine Falcon was originally intended to be a precursor for the United States' manned landing on the moon, but now that the road has not been explored, it seems that the United States' manned lunar landing program will be postponed again.
The Japanese probe is out of power, so I can only say that I really came
Japan has also been actively exploring space in recent years, and from November 2022 to early 2024, Japan made three lunar exploration attempts, the first two failed and the third was barely successful, as the probe, although it landed on the moon, only worked for a few hours.
In November 2022, Japan launched its first lunar probe, "Hospitality", but space didn't seem to like this guest very much, and the probe disappeared completely not long after liftoff, and it disappeared without a trace.
In April 2023, the Japanese private enterprise "i Space Company" carried out the "White Rabbit-R" 1 lunar exploration mission. It took a lot of effort to finally send the probe to lunar orbit, but when the lander landed on the moon, it not only deviated badly from the intended landing site, but also crashed at the last minute of landing.
On September 7, 2023, Japan launched another lunar probe, and after a long journey of 4 months and 13 days, it finally reached the surface of the moon.
Because of this lunar exploration, Japan became the fifth country in the world to successfully soft land on the surface of the moon. Like Japan, the lunar probe's landing on the moon is unusual.
Under normal circumstances, during the landing, the probe will provide reverse thrust through the ignition of the main thruster, slow down the landing speed of the lunar probe and maintain an upright attitude, and when it is lowered to a certain altitude, it will land on the moon through the landing legs.
The Japanese lunar probe used a similar method to generate thrust reversal in the early stages of the descent, but at a distance of 3 meters from the lunar surface, the attitude control engine on the probe starts, then tilts the probe, and then provides power through the engine on the side, allowing the probe to slowly lie on the moon.
The solar panels of the probe, located on the upward side, because the lunar probe landed on the lunar equator, the solar panels facing upwards can receive solar irradiation and provide energy for the probe.
Perhaps the attitude was not adjusted during the process of lying on the side, or the landing site was not selected correctly, and the lunar probe did not receive energy from the solar panels after landing.
Although some data is sent back after landing, this is all achieved by relying on the power supply that comes with the probe. The built-in power supply can only last a few hours, and when it is used up, it will shut down completely.
After four months of traveling and working for a few hours, Japan's lunar exploration program, both successful and unsuccessful, is always full of contradictions, just like Japan as a country and nation.
India pride, died in the long dark night of the moon
No matter what aspect it is, India always wants to compete with the mainland for a long time, and even wants to overpower the mainland, and India is no exception in terms of lunar exploration. But it is a pity that the pride of India died in the long dark night of the moon along with the lunar probe.
At the end of August 2023, India's lunar probe successfully reached the surface of the moon, which sparked a carnival among Indians. However, what happened later confirmed that the Indians were reveling a little too early.
After the successful landing of the lunar probe, the lunar rover carried by it successfully exited the capsule and carried out an 11-day "exploration" mission, and then ushered in the dark night of the moon, and the lunar rover entered a dormant state as planned, waiting for the next lunar day to wake up again.
The moon's dark nights are long and cold, with temperatures usually ranging from minus 200 to 250 degrees Celsius. After experiencing a moonlit night, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced that the lunar rover, which was supposed to wake up according to the plan, has not been moved, and the Earth control center has not been able to contact it.
In this regard, some Indian experts came forward to explain that because the design and manufacturing technology is not up to standard, the lunar rover has not been able to withstand the cruel moonlit night environment. India's lunar exploration program ended 11 days after landing, and the lunar rover's exploration of the lunar surface was only superficial.
In the 11 days after landing on the moon, the Indian lunar rover covered a distance of more than 100 meters. This distance on the earth is nothing, but on the moon, running more than 100 meters in 11 days is not ordinary, compared to the speed of lunar rovers in other countries, this is already a "high-speed drag race".
Probes from other countries carry all kinds of instruments to collect and analyze various data on the lunar surface, while India's lunar rover may really only focus on the "car", and only run away on the moon and ignore the exploration.
China's lunar exploration has been successful time and time again
Compared with the United States and Russia, the mainland is a rising star in lunar exploration, but in the process of lunar exploration, the mainland is also really "showing". When other countries failed many times, the mainland was able to succeed in exploring the moon every time.
In October 2007, Chang'e-1 was successfully launched and began to carry out the mission around the moon. This is the mainland's first artificial satellite around the moon, and its main mission is to take images of the moon, obtain lunar surface data, and establish three-dimensional images.
After the successful completion of a series of observation missions, Chang'e-1 hit the surface of the moon in a controlled manner, and the beautiful legend of "Chang'e to the moon" has become a reality.
In October 2010, Chang'e-2 was successfully launched, and under the control of the ground control center, it was precisely parked in the space orbit at the L2 point of the Sun-Earth Lagrange. This is the world's first lunar probe to depart from the lunar orbit and arrive at this point, demonstrating the continent's powerful lunar exploration strength.
At the end of 2013, Chang'e-3 successfully landed on the moon, and the Yutu lunar rover left a mark on the surface of the moon that belongs to China. As a result, the continent became the third country in the world to achieve a soft landing on the moon.
At the end of 2018, Chang'e-4 made a soft landing on the far side of the moon, and the Yutu-2 lunar rover successfully launched its exploration mission. This feat made the continent the first country in the world to land on the far side of the moon.
In November 2020, Chang'e-5 successfully landed on the moon and finally successfully returned to Earth after collecting lunar soil samples. This is the most difficult task of the mainland's lunar exploration program so far, and the mainland's scientific researchers have overcome many difficulties and finally succeeded.
Starting on January 8, 2024, the Chang'e-6 probe will arrive at the Wenchang Cosmodrome by air and road transportation, and is scheduled to be launched in the first half of 2024, which is sure to be another successful launch.
The reason for the repeated victories of the mainland's lunar exploration
Not to mention Japan and India, whether it can succeed or not depends mainly on luck, and the United States, as a world power, has frequently reported the status of its lunar exploration program in recent years, which is a bit unexpected. Compared with these countries, what is the reason for the success of the continental lunar exploration?
The mainland has made plans for lunar exploration very early on and is steadily advancing, while the United States has seen the rapid progress of the mainland's aerospace industry and is about to launch a manned lunar landing.
In recent years, the "Artemis Program" for the US moon landing has been in constant condition with a single propulsion rocket, and the launch has been constantly delayed. On the other hand, the three-step strategy of "circumambulation and return" formulated by the mainland back then has been steadily realized through Chang'e 1-5, and now it has begun to make technical reserves for a manned lunar landing in 2030.
Second, it is inseparable from the country's attention and support for the aerospace industry, as well as the hard work of aerospace science and technology workers. In those years, under the strict blockade imposed by Europe and the United States, our scientific and technological personnel worked hard to promote the continuous development of the mainland's aerospace industry by relying on their own wisdom and talent.
From the carrier rocket to the Tiangong space station, from the exploration of the moon to the landing on Mars, the level of our aerospace science and technology is getting higher and higher, from the initial catch up to the later parallel to the current lead, which is inseparable from the efforts of scientific and technological personnel.