On May 8, after a week of high-speed flight, Chang'e-6 successfully entered a large elliptical orbit around the moon, achieving China's first successful landing on lunar exploration. This marks an important step in the continent's lunar exploration.
At the same time, one can't help but wonder why it took 53 days for Chang'e-6 to land on the moon, while the American Apollo-era manned spacecraft could complete the round-trip mission in only 8 days. The reason behind this is not only related to scientific and technological differences, but also reflects the different understandings and purposes of lunar exploration missions in different countries.
Loading...
In fact, Chang'e-6's mission to the moon is not just to collect lunar soil samples. As described in the article, Chang'e-6 is much more complex than Apollo's, requiring not only scientific research tasks such as communication tests and lunar surface observations, but also cooperation with the Queqiao satellite to achieve the first exploration of the far region of the moon.
This requires more time for upfront preparation and mission validation to ensure that the probing process runs smoothly. At the same time, the scientific research payload carried by Chang'e-6 is far greater than that of Apollo, and its stay and work on the surface of the moon is naturally longer than that of the Apollo spacecraft.
Chang'e-5 completed its round-trip lunar exploration mission in just 23 days. This is mainly due to the fact that the orbit and mission adopted by it are simpler than those of Apollo, and there is no need to carry out scientific research work such as linkage and communication testing with the Queqiao satellite.
This further shows that there are obvious differences in the setting of lunar exploration missions between different spacecraft, and the time required for them will also be different. We should not only make direct comparisons from the time node, but also need to consider the scientific objectives and stage differences behind their respective tasks.
The important mission arrangements of Chang'e-6 during its 53-day stay on the lunar surface were interpreted in detail. The first communication test on the far side of the moon was carried out with the Queqiao-2 satellite to verify the key tools for subsequent lunar surface work.
Careful observation of the landing site area and the selection of a safe and accessible landing site are top priorities for any mission to the moon. A number of cutting-edge scientific experiments, including the chemical analysis of lunar rocks, have been carried out, which will lay an important foundation for the establishment of a long-term lunar surface base in the future.
The high standards of these missions and the principle of safety first determine that Chang'e-6 cannot achieve the Apollo-style "fast in and fast out". In contrast, it focuses more on establishing a long-term, systematic lunar exploration capability, laying the foundation for the future manned landing on the moon and the establishment of a lunar base. This difference in philosophy also explains the apparent difference in time requirements between the two programs.
Chang'e-6 has successfully achieved lunar exploration and landing, which not only enriches the mainland's strength in this field, but also reflects our mature development in the concept and capability of deep space exploration.
With the continuous improvement of science and technology, the first manned landing on the moon in 2030 may take less time. But the key is that all work is carried out safely and efficiently, laying a solid foundation for the establishment of a long-term lunar scientific research base and deep space development. This is the purpose and pursuit of the Chang'e series of spacecraft.