2024-04-23
Author: Yang Shirui
China Aerospace News
Chinese female astronaut Wang Yaping once said that she hopes to have the opportunity to walk on the moon and strive to carry out "Moon Palace Teaching". At the same time, female astronauts have also joined a new round of manned lunar landing programs abroad. What challenges do astronauts need to overcome in the manned lunar exploration mission in the new era? What additional difficulties do female astronauts need to overcome? Looking to the future, what scientific and technological achievements are expected to help Chang'e in lunar exploration?
Astronauts go to the moon and overcome difficulties
In the late 20th century, aerospace researchers have realized that compared with the low-Earth orbit space station, the surface environment of the moon is more complex and the mission is more difficult, so astronauts face greater risks and challenges, and the requirements for ability and quality are also higher.
The continental manned lunar lander was named "Lanyue"
For example, the gravitational environment on the lunar surface is very different from that of a space station in low Earth orbit. On a space station in low Earth orbit, where gravity is approximately zero, and the gravity of the moon is about 1/6 of that of the Earth, astronauts will be subjected to greater loads when they are working outside in heavy extravehicular spacesuits. During the process of spaceflight and lunar surface exploration, the gravitational environment will continue to undergo complex changes, which will inevitably cause potential harm to the astronauts' cardiovascular system, immune system, nervous system, skeletal muscles, etc.
In addition, the radiation environment on the lunar surface is more complex and dangerous. At least more than 300 kilometers above the ground, the low-Earth orbit space station is still protected by the Earth's magnetic field, shielding most of the radiation threats from the sun and even the universe. In contrast, the magnetic field of the moon is negligible, and the radiation dose directly faced by astronauts is larger, and the slightest carelessness may trigger acute radiation reactions, including skin, blood, visual abnormalities, and can also induce symptoms such as nausea and vomiting.
In the new era, lunar exploration missions continue to put forward higher goals, resulting in the increasing complexity of the mission. From the perspective of piloting alone, a manned lunar landing involves a variety of flight operations and maneuver modes, covering space flight, spacecraft docking and disengagement, lunar landing, lunar take-off and other links. This means that astronauts must have solid knowledge of planetary navigation, be able to select a suitable landing site on the lunar surface without obvious markers, pilot the spacecraft to land in the absence of atmospheric conditions, and pay attention to the lunar dust conditions to avoid the formation of potentially threatening dust clouds.
After the astronauts safely land on the moon, they are in a lunar environment with a long alternation of day and night, a temperature difference of up to 300 degrees Celsius, and a dead desert, which will adversely affect their biological clock and physical and mental state, easily lead to behavioral and cognitive decline, and damage work efficiency and health. Therefore, the initial stage of lunar presence is the most critical in the manned lunar landing mission, and astronauts must adjust to an active state of activity as soon as possible and make full use of the limited adaptation and recuperation time.
It takes at least two and a half days for astronauts to fly back from the moon to Earth, and communication between the Earth and the Moon on the way is often unstable, and information delays are unavoidable. In the event of an unexpected situation such as a manned spacecraft or system failure or astronauts' physical discomfort, the Earth support force will basically not be able to arrive in time, so the lunar mission puts forward higher requirements for the reliability of system engineering and the independent emergency response capability of astronauts.
To put it simply, astronauts landing on the moon must have superb professional qualities, fully grasp all kinds of comprehensive knowledge, have skilled operational skills, and put more emphasis on independent work and decision-making ability to ensure that they can safely respond to various emergencies and complete various tasks with little or no support from the earth.
In addition to professional skills, astronauts on the moon should also have a strong psychological quality and be ready to deal with emergencies such as failures, injuries and illnesses, including many abnormal situations that have never been considered before. Since human knowledge of the lunar environment is still limited, astronauts have to work creatively when necessary.
Female astronauts face new challenges
It is worth noting that although manned lunar missions in the new era strive to achieve long-term human activities outside near-earth space, long-term residence and work on the lunar surface, and also put forward more and more stringent requirements for astronaut selection and training, the lunar landing mission does not set a "threshold" for the gender of astronauts. In other words, the harsh environment of the Earth-Moon space does not discriminate between astronauts based on their gender, and countries do not set "special standards" for women when selecting and training astronauts to land on the moon.
Female astronauts on space missions offer many advantages
In fact, in the more than 60 years of development of manned spaceflight, the outstanding achievements and contributions of female astronauts have long been proven: women are competent enough for space missions.
At present, nearly 600 people from around the world have visited space, including about 70 female astronauts. In terms of performance, the individual differences in astronauts are far more significant than the gender differences. When female astronauts adapt to the space environment and carry out space missions, they have unique advantages in some aspects.
For example, in terms of physiological structure, women have lower blood pressure and peripheral vascular resistance, faster heart rate, and are more adapted to the microgravity environment of space; after returning to Earth, it is easier for female astronauts to recover their ability to walk in gravity environment; and it is easier for women to recover in the face of hidden dangers such as motion sickness.
With often greater endurance and confidence, female astronauts are well suited to carry out some particularly detailed space science experiments, and their ingenuity is even more advantageous in delicate operations. When performing boring and monotonous space missions for a long time, female astronauts tend to be more sensitive and delicate, more thoughtful in their problems, stronger in language expression and communication, and better at solving problems.
Needless to say, female astronauts may face greater physical challenges during lunar missions. According to medical statistics, the average physical strength of women is only 2/3 of that of men, and their aerobic metabolism and leg muscle strength are relatively weak. Although the weightlessness in space has narrowed the relevant differences to a certain extent, physically demanding tasks are still disadvantageous to female astronauts. In a weightless environment that lacks attachment fulcrum and friction, the physical disadvantage of female astronauts will be magnified, so less than 1% of female astronauts participate in low-earth orbit missions.
This gap is further magnified by the more complex Earth-Moon space and lunar gravity environments. NASA once conducted an emergency exit suit wearing simulation experiment, when 12 men moved on the ground wearing a special clothing of 26 kg for 5 minutes, and 4 of them were unable to persevere, mainly due to fatigue of leg muscles. If female astronauts go out of the capsule on the surface of the moon, it is difficult to avoid fatigue and muscle damage, and more efforts must be made to meet the physical fitness standards.
Science and technology lift "Chang'e" to the moon
At present, mankind is entering a new era of lunar exploration and development, and the rapid development of aerospace technology has also provided strong support for lunar exploration missions. The new generation of lunar exploration equipment and facilities, such as lunar communication and navigation constellations, lunar spacesuits, and lunar exploration robots, will become the astronauts' right-hand men, helping them complete various tasks more easily and efficiently.
New moon spacesuits abroad will help reduce the burden on women
In terms of lunar navigation, the mainland is demonstrating the construction of a lunar communication and navigation constellation and creating a "lunar version of Beidou", so as to provide relay communication, navigation and other services for future lunar operations. With the gradual progress of the construction of the lunar communication and navigation constellation, the complexity of the lunar exploration mission will be significantly reduced, and more manned and unmanned probes will be supported to carry out various tasks, so as to ensure that astronauts can communicate with the earth at any location on the moon and expand the range of activities more safely and efficiently.
In terms of spacesuits for the moon landing, the new generation of foreign prototypes has significantly reduced weight compared with the "predecessors", and the tests have tested women's stable walking in the earth's gravity environment, large rotation of upper limbs, squatting, picking up rocks and fine finger movements, etc., which will help astronauts move flexibly on the lunar surface in the future, especially helping female astronauts to alleviate their physical strength. Furthermore, the new generation of lunar spacesuits are designed to support astronauts' continuous extravehicular activities for 8 hours, and have a self-cleaning function to avoid potential risks such as lunar dust accumulation, and ensure that astronauts continue to carry out complex work on the lunar surface.
In terms of lunar surface transportation, manned lunar rovers can complete tasks such as exploration, investigation, collection and analysis of samples. In October last year, the results of the preliminary selection of the mainland manned lunar rover development program were announced, and the selected program adopted human-machine intelligent hybrid enhanced driving technology, adjustable body inclination design, and continuous creeping driving and other functions, which will help astronauts move more easily, safely and quickly on the lunar surface with complex terrain, and significantly expand the range of activities. It is expected that the seats and transmission devices of the manned lunar rover will help astronauts reduce physical exertion and broaden their observation horizons, and the new design will solve the problems of power supply, temperature control, and space as a whole.
In terms of survival on the lunar surface, the continental environmental control and health protection system has been developed to the third generation, and the Tiangong space station has achieved 100% regeneration of oxygen resources and more than 95% of water resources. In the future, the environmental control and health protection system will incorporate the plant ecological environment, try to use the in-situ resources of the moon, build a "space farm", realize the continuous regeneration of food, water and air, and provide a reliable guarantee for astronauts to stay on the moon for the medium and long term.
With the development of automation and artificial intelligence technology, lunar exploration will be more efficient in the future. It is expected that many robots will carry out moving, operating, and scientific operations autonomously or with astronauts, effectively reducing the intensity of human work, protecting personal safety, and replacing the exploration of harsh environments.
In short, the myth and legend of Chang'e going to the moon embodies the beautiful vision of the Chinese nation and the infinite reverie of space, and with the full launch of China's manned lunar exploration mission, this myth will surely come into reality.
Editor in charge: Wei Min
Forward: Sun Yan
Review: Hao Lin