Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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June 25th, 2024
Image credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s just landed specimens from the far side of the moon signals not only technological achievement and plows new territory for the country’s space exploration capacity, it is also sparking a chain-reaction in scientific, policy, and diplomatic circles within the U.S.
Wrapping up a 53-day undertaking from Earth departure on May 3 to back on terra firma, China’s Chang’e-6 return capsule stuffed with its “ground breaking” cache of lunar collectibles parachuted into a pre-selected site within Siziwang Banner in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
This prize celestial catch of the day are samples from the southern mare plain of the Apollo basin interior, in the northeast interior of the far side South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin.
Go to my new Scientific American story at:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/china-returns-first-ever-samples-from-the-moons-far-side/
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Image credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Chang’e-6 lunar mission has ended, successfully bringing to Earth its celestial bounty – the world’s first sample from the Moon’s far side — after a 53-day journey in space.
The Chang’e-6 probe was launched on May 3 with the return capsule of onboard lunar specimens parachuting into Siziwang Banner, north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on June 25. The return capsule landed in a pre-selected spot at 2:07 p.m. (Beijing Time) on Tuesday.
Coming in hot! Image credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Chang’e-6 is one of the most complex and challenging missions in China’s space exploration efforts to date, reports China Central Television (CCTV), consisting of an orbiter, a returner, a lander and an ascender.
Image credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Image credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Mission stages
Following its Earth departure, the mission underwent various stages: Earth-moon transfer, near-moon braking, lunar orbiting, separation of the lander-ascender combination, landing on the Moon within the South Pole-Aitken Basin, collected its cache of lunar specimens over a two day period, then rocketed its grab and stash bits and pieces off the surface into orbit around the Moon.
Chang’e-6 scooping operation on Moon’s far side.
Image credit: CNSA/CLEP
All the lunar collectibles were then transferred into the orbiter-returner craft that spent 13 days in lunar orbit, awaiting the right alignment of Moon and Earth for the return trek.
The ascender segment separated from the combination and later landed on the Moon under the guidance of the ground control team, noted CCTV, to avoid the discarded craft becoming a piece of space junk.
Lunar evolution
Following two moon-Earth transfer maneuvers and one orbital correction, the returner separated from the orbiter and delivered the samples to Earth. Post-landing, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) declared the mission a complete success.
Image taken by mini-rover of Change’-6 lander/ascender spacecraft on the far side of the Moon.
Image credit: CNSA
A key player in the Chang’e-6 mission was support provided by China’s Queqiao-2 relay satellite. The Queqiao-2 relay satellite was put into position shortly before the mission to aid communication with far side operations.
“The Chang’e-6 mission represents a significant milestone in the history of human lunar exploration, and it will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of lunar evolution,” said Yang Wei, a researcher at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. “New samples will inevitably lead to new discoveries.”
Chinese scientists anticipate the returned samples will include 2.5 million-year-old volcanic rock and other material that scientists hope will answer questions about geographic differences between the Moon’s near and far sides.
Chang’e-6 lander/ascender image from the Moon’s far side.
Image credit: CNSA/CLEP
Beijing trajectory
Following the capsule’s touchdown, air and ground retrieving teams arrived at the landing site and carried out follow-up work, including returner checks, parachute-returner separation, and parachute retrieval. The team also put on a “coat” on the returner to prevent it from bumps and squeezing during its journey to Beijing. The capsule was then hoisted by crane for departure from the landing site.
Once the returner arrives in Beijing, the lunar samples are to be extracted from the returner for detailed analysis.
Less than four years ago, the Chang’e-5 mission brought to Earth 1.731 kilograms of lunar samples from the Moon’s near side. As of earlier this month, the Chang’e-5 lunar soil samples had been distributed to 114 scientific research teams, totaling 258 packs of samples that together weigh 77.7 grams.
Image credit: James Head
One step at a time
China is willing to continue to work with like-minded international partners to explore outer space, said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman on Tuesday.
Mao Ning made the remarks during a press conference in Beijing as the return capsule landed in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
“This year marks the 20th anniversary of China’s lunar exploration project,” Mao said. “From Chang’e-1 to Chang’e-6, China’s lunar exploration project has taken one step at a time and opened a new chapter in human lunar exploration.”
Mao added that China “is willing to continue to work with like-minded international partners to explore outer space, the common territory of mankind, to realize the common dream of people of all countries of reaching beyond the moon, and continue to strive for the peaceful use of outer space, a common cause of all mankind.”
Go to these videos that spotlight the landing and recovery of the Chang’e-6 return capsule at:
https://youtu.be/ky__Z0Z7oA0?si=dzso2xvyz6-J6NZ3
Release of returner capsule loaded with far side samples.
Image credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Chang’e-6 mission is coming to full stop within a planned landing area at Siziwang Banner in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
The multi-tasking Earth-to-Moon and return mission is hauling a stash of lunar samples collected in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin.
Parachuting to Earth, the Chang’e-6 capsule toting its lunar collection.
Image credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
53-day journey
Chang’e-6 is a spacecraft comprising an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a returner
Meanwhile, China recovery teams are gearing up for the parachuting capsule that signals the end of a 53-day journey that started with launch on May 3.
Recovery teams practice for the return of incoming Chang’e-6 lunar samples.
Image credit: GLOBALink
“In the vast grasslands of the Siziwang Banner in Inner Mongolia, northern China, anticipation permeates the air. The region is preparing for the historic return of the Chang’e-6 lunar probe,” notes a GLOBALink video at:
A cylindrical 220 pound (100 kilogram) launch package is shown after emerging from the end of a lunar electromagnetic launcher.
Image credit: General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems
In 1974, Princeton University professor and space visionary, the late Gerard O’Neill, proposed use of an electromagnetic rail gun to lob payloads from the moon.
“Mass drivers” based on a coil gun design were adapted to accelerate a non-magnetic object. One application for mass drivers was tossing into space lunar-derived materials for building space colonies, as well as solar power satellites.
O’Neill also worked at MIT on mass drivers, along with colleague Henry H. Kolm, and a group of farsighted student volunteers, to fabricate their first mass driver prototype. Backed by grants from the Space Studies Institute, later prototypes improved on the mass driver concept.
An F/A-18F Super Hornet flies over USS Gerald R. Ford.
Image credit: US Navy/Erik Hildebrandt
That was five decades ago.
Now catapult yourself to the then and now and ask this question: what’s the U.S. Navy’s Gerald R. Ford nuclear aircraft carrier got to do with the Moon?
To find out, go to my new Space.com story — Could we launch resources from the moon with electromagnetic railguns?” – at:
https://www.space.com/electromagnetic-launch-moon-mass-drive
Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques performs an ultrasound for Vascular Echo, one of three Canadian experiments in the Vascular series, which study the effects of weightlessness on astronauts’ blood vessels and hearts aboard the International Space Station.
Credits: Canadian Space Agency/NASA
Heart failure in space is the focus of new research that could influence the future of space tourists on their microgravity journeys.
This work involves a mathematical model of the heart and lung system to simulate how microgravity could affect an individual, particularly those not well-groomed for the experience.
Non-professional astronauts
The research paper – “Computational modeling of heart failure in microgravity transitions” – appears in the Frontiers in Physiology journal.
“The space tourism industry is growing due to advances in rocket technology. Privatized space travel exposes non-professional astronauts with health profiles comprising underlying conditions to microgravity,” the research paper points out, led by Stefan L. Wilson.
“Prior research has typically focused on the effects of microgravity on human physiology in healthy astronauts, and little is known how the effects of microgravity may play out in the pathophysiology of underlying medical conditions, such as heart failure,” the paper adds.
Schematic overview of the 21-compartment cardiovascular model. Reproduced from van Loon et al., 2022
Area of study
According to co-author, Lex van Loon, an assistant professor at the Australian National University and the University of Twente in the Netherlands, the unique cardiovascular challenges posed by space travel could significantly affect heart failure patients, making this an essential area of study.
“As commercial space travel becomes more accessible, individuals with various underlying health conditions—including heart failure—may soon be among those venturing beyond Earth’s atmosphere,” van Loon explains. “This raises critical questions about the impact of space travel on humans with potential underlying health problems,” he adds, with new findings “offering insights that could shape the future of space travel.”
Image credit: NASA
Notable effects
As has been noted since the dawn of human space travel, the human body undergoes significant changes when encountering microgravity.
“One of the most notable effects is the redistribution of bodily fluids, causing what is commonly known as ‘puffy face bird leg’ syndrome,” van Loon points out.
This fluid shift results in reduced venous pooling in the legs and increased venous pressure in the upper body.
On one hand, for healthy individuals, the cardiovascular system can adapt to these changes, “but for heart failure patients, the risks are substantially higher,” van Loon says.
Van Loon and fellow research colleagues observe that the demographic of commercial space travelers is shifting. Increasingly, there are older, wealthy individuals who may not be in optimal health.
The New Shepard NS-21 astronauts at apogee. Left to right: Victor Vescovo (upper left), Victor Correa Hespanha (lower left), Katya Echazarreta, Hamish Harding, Jaison Robinson, and Evan Dick. (June 4, 2022).
Image credit: Blue Origin
“Unlike professional astronauts, these space tourists typically do not undergo rigorous health screenings or physical training,” Van Loon explains. “This shift necessitates a broader consideration of health conditions, such as heart failure, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses, in space mission planning.”
Cardiac pathologies
As underscored in the research paper, this study focused on elucidating safety concerns during space tourism, specifically during entry into microgravity.
“However, longer-term space travel, such as journeys to Mars, is associated with cardiac atrophy, alterations in pulmonary volumes and perfusion, electrical abnormalities, and other cardiovascular and hemodynamic changes,” the paper observes. “Future research should explore the potential effects of extended space flight on individuals with cardiac pathologies.”
To read the full paper — “Computational modeling of heart failure in microgravity transitions” — in the Frontiers in Physiology journal, go to:
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2024.1351985/full
Pioneering SpaceShipOne on display at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Credit: NASM/Eric Long
It was a one-of-a-kind memorable moment for a throng of well-wishers including this reporter, all in nose-up, sky squinting position at California’s Mojave Airport back on June 21, 2004.
Let loose from its White Knight mothership, the rocket engine propelling SpaceShipOne roared to life, skillfully controlled by test pilot Mike Melvill.
That pioneering flight lasted 24 minutes, gliding back to Mojave and sliding straight and true into the history books.
Burt Rutan, aerospace imagineer. Image credit: Scaled Composites
Now two decades later, Burt Rutan, chief designer of the craft that led his stellar Scaled Composites team, reflects on that epic day in an exclusive interview with Space.com.
“It should get a party every 10 years. And it certainly should get a big party on the 50th and the 100th anniversary,” Rutan says.
To access the story, go to my new Space.com reflection – “How SpaceShipOne’s historic launch 20 years ago paved the way for a new space tourism era” — at
https://www.space.com/spaceshipone-first-private-spaceflight-20-year-anniversary
Phobos, the larger of Mars’ two moons as seen by the High-Resolution Imaging Sciences Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona.
Planting a telescope on Phobos – one of the two moons circling Mars – is seen as providing significant support for eventual human exploration of the Red Planet.
A powerful space telescope situated on Phobos offer unique advantages for observing Mars and other solar system objects.
Such a spot-landed facility – roughly a 10-meter-class telescope — along with an attendant rover, would support human exploration of Mars by facilitating high-capacity optical communication links, offering a backup for data transmission during raging martian dust storms, and churn out high-resolution surface imaging in support of humans living, working, and exploring the surface of that distant world.
Rolling out the idea
In an upcoming American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’s ASCEND meeting the idea is being introduced, explains Jim Green, a NASA science leader for over 40 years before retiring from the agency in late 2022.
Image credit: Boeing/Benjamin Donahue, et al.
The Phobos telescope concept stems from work exploring the capability of the NASA Space Launch System (SLS) to deliver a lander with a space telescope to the north pole of Phobos.
Along with Green, Boeing’s Benjamin Donahue, principal investigator of SLS internal research and development, and other advocates, will roll out the idea.
Family of launch vehicles
Underscored in the paper is that the SLS is a “family of launch vehicles that evolve in capability.” The Block 1 SLS configuration that was launched in November of 2022 used the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) as its upper stage.
“The SLS will evolve to a higher performing configuration in 2026 with the new Exploration Upper Stage (EUS),” the paper explains.
Image credit: Boeing
The Phobos lander and its telescope payload would together mass more than 20 metric tons, making a heavy lift SLS “the preferred candidate for launch.” A feasible time period for this mission is 2030-2035, the study participants are suggesting.
High-rez imaging
While high-resolution imagery from super-powerful camera gear onboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been a key capability, due to the exhaustion of that spacecraft’s fuel supply it is near the end of its life.
Furthermore, Mars is such a large planet that even after 18 years of operations by MRO’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, long-hand for HiRISE, less than 6 percent of the Red Planet’s surface has been given the once-over at the highest resolution.
Image credit: Boeing/Benjamin Donahue, et al.
Enter the Phobos-mounted camera.
Action agenda
A Phobos telescope, which sits on the north pole of the Mars moon, must be able to replace HiRISE and perform the following functions, according to the study paper:
— Detailed Surface Reconnaissance: Allow for the continued study of the planet’s geology and the identification of landforms that are indicative of past and present geological processes. In addition, the Phobos telescope can monitor those eye-catching, still perplexing recurring slope lineae (RSLs) that suggest the presence of liquid water on Mars during the summer seasons.
Artist’s concept depicts astronauts and human habitats on Mars. NASA’s Mars Perseverance robot carries an oxygen-generating unit, viewed as a precursor for technologies that could make Mars safer and easier to explore for humans.
Image credit: NASA
— Identification of Landing Sites: High-resolution images can be obtained for the selection of landing sites for future Mars missions, including robotic and human landers. The camera can reveal potential hazards, such as boulders, steep slopes, and deep dust deposits, which could jeopardize a safe landing.
— Monitoring of Martian Weather: The Phobos telescope monitors seasonal changes and weather phenomena such as dust storms, avalanches, and the sublimation of carbon dioxide from the polar ice caps. This helps scientists understand the Martian climate and how it changes over time.
— Other Mission Support Work: The Phobos telescope provides contextual information for findings from other instruments orbiting, as well as data to support missions on the ground, such as the various Mars rovers, by monitoring their landing, progress, and context within the larger landscape.
— Geological Record of Mars: The Phobos telescope helps build a detailed geophysical record of Mars by revealing surface features such as layering in ice deposits and ancient river channels. These observations can reveal the history of water on Mars, which is essential for understanding its past habitability and for finding important current on-the-spot resources for supporting a human presence.
— Monitoring Mars Space Weather: The Martian aurora is a global indicator of solar wind conditions around Mars, auroral events that likely occur nightly and last for hours under certain solar wind conditions.
Mars beckons. Human explorers can maximize the science output for unraveling the complex nature of the Red Planet.
Image credit: NASA/Pat Rawlings
Phobos: a staging node
As explained in the study paper — “Deep Space Telescope: An SLS Launched Space Telescope
Landed on The North Pole of Phobos” –the Mars-circling installation would be one busy beast. It would also routinely observe, within the framework of long-term monitoring, solar system objects such as volcanically active bodies, the giant planets, and their satellites.
“Moreover, the emplacement and operation of this asset will begin the process of establishing Phobos as a staging node, and logistic base for, other future Mars missions,” the paper concludes.
Image credit: United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs
The Moon is coming into sharp focus given this week’s first United Nations Conference on Sustainable Lunar Activities in Vienna, Austria.
Taking part are astronauts, heads of space agencies, the scientific and legal communities, and industry to address common approaches, priorities, and expectations for the peaceful, sustainable, and cooperative exploration of the Moon.
The conference underscored the significant number of lunar missions that are planned in the coming decade, ranging from potential permanent settlements to expanding commercial interests.
According to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), since the start of the space age in the 1950s, there have been more than 77 successful lunar missions. “This number is expected to increase tremendously over the next few years with more crewed landings, soft landings, and sample return missions, amongst others, planned for the future by both public and private entities.”
Image credit: United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs
Key takeaways
Invited State signatories to the U.S. Artemis Accords, as well as China’s International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), are on tap to exchange views on the origins, goals, and ambitions of future Moon exploration projects.
An interactive workshop has been staged to spur possible common priorities and expectations for peaceful, safe, and sustainable lunar activities.
Key takeaways from the conference include:
- the importance of transparency
- the role of interoperability
- the usefulness of dedicated international platforms for consultations among stakeholders
- the significance of predictability and “proactiveness”
- the driving and unifying value of science
- and the benefits that exploring and using the Moon can deliver to all humanity.
International consensus
The conference was held ahead of the 67th Session of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).
Earth’s Moon as viewed from the International Space Station.
Image credit: NASA
One outcome is the potential establishment of an Action Team on Lunar Activities Consultations (ATLAC).
“This first UN Conference on Sustainable Lunar Activities has shown that there is a growing international consensus of the need for consultation and coordination on lunar exploration rather than a ‘space race’ or division of space policy,” said Aarti Holla-Maini, Director of UNOOSA in a statement.
“As was the case when countries came together to negotiate the 2019 Guidelines on the long-term sustainability of outer space,” Holla-Maini added, “I am confident the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space will also advance on these much-needed activities and on topics such as space resources, leveraging expert-driven consultations as a mechanism to do so. Watch this space.”
Taking the heat as it maneuvers ever-deeper into Earth’s atmosphere before parachute touchdown.
Image credit: CNSA/CCTV
China’s Chang’e-6 far side sampling mission is near departure time as it circles the Moon awaiting the proper Moon-to-Earth alignment.
Launched on May 3, the mission’s sample toting returner/capsule hardware is projected to parachute to Earth on June 25, wrapping up a 53-day undertaking. Touchdown of the lunar collectibles is scheduled for a landing area within Siziwang Banner in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Chang’e-6 is a multi-tasking spacecraft: an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a returner, similar in scope as its near-side sampling predecessor Chang’e-5.
Image courtesy U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in its “2022 Challenges to Security in Space” report.
Lunar research station
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a plan last week to jointly build with China the International Lunar Research Station, or ILRS.
While specifics are sparse, a two-phase ILRS blueprint appears to consist of sections on the lunar surface, sections in lunar orbit and sections on Earth.
The initial phase involves a basic station built by 2035 in the lunar south pole region. A second phase expands the ILRS, with its completion reportedly to be done by 2045.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Powerhouse rocket
China’s intention to plant boots on the Moon is picking up speed.
Work is underway to shape various elements of China’s human program for lunar exploration, including its Long March-10 powerhouse rocket.
Shades of SpaceX. China Long March-10 stage heads for ocean landing in this artwork.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“The development of new-generation manned rockets can greatly enhance our country’s ability to enter space and help the Chinese land on the Moon,” Xu Hongping, an engineer with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) in Beijing recently told China Central Television (CCTV).
China’s piloted lunar mission rocket is touted as featuring reusable engines and think-for-itself intelligent flight attributes.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Xu added that some of the Moon rocket’s technological breakthroughs can drive the development of the country’s aerospace industry, “and will be a considerable boost to the country’s advanced manufacturing sector.”
For informative videos on China’s Long March-10 development, go to:
Image taken by mini-rover of Change’-6 lander/ascender spacecraft on the far side of the Moon.
Image credit: CNSA
China’s new set of lunar collectibles, scooped up by the country’s Chang’e-6 Moon sample mission, owes a tip of the space helmet visor to a research team at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU).
In collaboration with the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), a “Surface Sampling and Packing System” for the task was set in stone – or set in lunar regolith that is!
Chang’e-6 scooping operation on Moon’s far side.
Image credit: CNSA/CLEP
On June 3, following the soft landing of the Chang’e-6 probe on the Moon’s far side, the PolyU-developed system accomplished the tasks of automatic sample collection and packaging on the lunar surface.
If all goes according to plan, samples from the first-ever lunar far side mission are returning to Earth on June 25.
Artwork depicts the parachuting to Earth of the Chang’e-6 capsule toting its lunar collection.
Image credit: CNSA/CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Sealing and packaging
PolyU was involved in the design and manufacturing of Samplers A and B, together with two accompanying high temperature near-field cameras for multiple-point surface sample collections, and automatic vision guidance of the lunar topside sampling.
The sampling process started with the near-field cameras mounted on the lander/ascender’s robotic arm next to Samplers A and B.
Yung Kai-leung introduces PolyU-developed “Surface Sampling and Packing System” for the Chang’e-6 mission. Image credit: PolyU
These cameras guided the sampling and sample deposition into the sample container, part of the primary sealing and packaging system.
Upon the completion of the sampling process, the tightly-sealed container was then vision-guided by the near-field cameras for automatic and precise insertion into the Chang’e-6’s ascender. That spacecraft segment subsequently rocketed off the Moon with its cache of lunar collectibles.
Group photo of Yung Kai-leung (center) and his research team at PolyU’s Industrial Center.
Image credit: PolyU
Lunar soil storage
PolyU researchers have also used advanced topographic mapping technologies to evaluate and identify the best landing sites for spacecraft.
That work has supported China’s lunar exploration missions, including Chang’e-3, Chang’e-4 and Chang’e-5, as well as the Mars exploration mission, Tianwen-1.
PolyU-developed a “Surface Sampling and Packing System.”
Image credit: PolyU
In 2021, PolyU established the Research Center for Deep Space Explorations and in the following year established the Joint Research Center of Advanced Aerospace Propulsion Technology in collaboration with the Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology.
The Space Resources Laboratory of the PolyU Deep Space Exploration Research Center has set up a lunar soil storage and sample analyzer capability to properly store and study lunar soil in depth.
“The far side of the Moon lacks any protection like magnetic fields or atmosphere at all, and features lots more impacts from meteors. The basin that was visited this time is a huge crash crater on the far side of the Moon, which is very old, possibly capable of ejecting substances from the deep lunar crust, or even from the lunar mantle,” Yung told CCTV.
Image credit: PolyU
“For this reason, I hope that with the retrieval of lunar mantle material, we will have some clues as to what exactly is inside the moon,” Yung commented.
Express mail cargo
Launched from south China’s Hainan Province on May 3, the Chang’e-6 mission’s lander-ascender combination later touched down in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin on the Moon.
After completing its collection of lunar specimens, the ascender blasted off from the lunar surface with its express mail cargo.
Artwork depicts ascender reaching orbiter to enable return of lunar samples.
Image credit: CGTN/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The ascender then re-united with the Chang’e-6 orbiter for the sample transfer. The mission’s returner segment is awaiting the optimal time to start its journey back to the Earth.
Drilling process
The far side grab-bag of Moon bits and pieces was completed within two days, done by two methods of sampling: use of a drill to collect subsurface specimens and the grab of samples on the surface with a robotic arm.
According to China Central Television (CCTV), the drilling process used a set of sampling equipment consisting of three layers, with a designed length of 8 feet (2.5 meters). The outer layer is the drilling rod, closely followed by the core tube, and the core tube is wrapped with a core bag.
As the drill bit was drilling downward, the core bag was also moving downward along with the core tube, and the sample was pushed into the bag. Once the sampling was completed, the core bag was wrapped and positioned onto the primary sealing device.
Chang’e-6 drilling gear.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Plasticity and toughness
“During the drilling process, the drilling rod must be wear-resistant and difficult to deform. Excessive deformation would hinder the retrieval of lunar soil. The drilling rod must possess sufficient plasticity and toughness to prevent any cracking throughout the entire drilling operation,” said Ma Zongyi, a researcher with the Institute of Metal Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In order to ensure capability and stability of the drilling rod while further reducing its weight, the researchers developed tough aluminum-based composite materials. The wear resistance and strength of the drilling rod made from these materials can rival that of steel, while reducing the weight by 65 percent, reported CCTV.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
53-day journey
Researcher, Jiang Haichang, also with the Institute of Metal Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told CCTV:
“The tube is integrally molded. And it is very long. In order to reduce weight during the lunar landing process, the wall of the tube needs to be very thin, which poses significant challenges in the manufacturing process. We have to update the molds and fixtures accordingly,” said Jiang.
The Chang’e-6 returner capsule, toting lunar samples collected in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the Moon, is slated for touch down at a landing area within Siziwang Banner in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
That parachute landing will signify the end of Chang’e-6’s 53-day journey of flying to the Moon and back.
