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China has completed construction of the country’s first deep space antenna array system at a ground station in Kashi, northwest China’s Xinjiang, which will be used directly for spacecraft tracking and monitoring missions, including the Mars probe Tianwen-1 and the upcoming Chang’e-5 The return mission of the lunar sample was announced Tuesday by the Xi’an Satellite Control Center, the operator of Kashi Station.
The Chang’e-5 lunar probe, along with its commissioned Long March-5 Y5 carrier rocket, were transported vertically to their launch site after their assembly and testing was completed at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province in southern China on Tuesday, the Global Times learned from the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
The Long March-5 Y5 is expected to launch Lunar Champion Chang’e-5’s return mission in late November, CNSA revealed.
Preparation work for the rocket was completed, including assembly and pre-launch testing, after it was transported in the specialized cargo ship Yuan Wang to the southeastern port of Wenchang in late September, and then delivered by road to the Wenchang Space Launch Center.
On Tuesday morning, the mobile launch pad moved the carrier rocket to the launch area after a regular launch from the vertical test facility, which took about two hours.
The propellant will be injected into the rocket after further functional checks and final inspections. The rocket will then be launched according to the schedule.
The mission marks the second launch of the Long March-5 application, after the first took China’s first Mars probe Tianwen-1 mission into space in late July.
The Chang’e-5 lunar probe is the sixth mission of the Chinese lunar exploration project. It is planned to carry out the collection of lunar samples and return from the lunar surface, collecting data for scientific research on the environment and evolution of the moon.
The spacecraft is one of the most complex and difficult missions in China’s aerospace industry to date, CNSA said.
The Chang’e-5 is expected to carry out four key missions in the country’s aerospace industry: China’s first return champion, the first takeoff from the lunar surface, the first unmanned rendezvous, and docking on the lunar orbit at approximately 380,000 kilometers. away, and the first high-speed re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
If the Chang’e-5 mission is successful, China will become the third country in the world to report lunar samples after the United States and Russia.
It took nearly two years to build the deep space antenna array system, which will be used directly for spacecraft tracking and monitoring missions, including the Chang’e-5, and a series of tests have been conducted before. that the system became operational recently, Xi ‘a center told the Global Times on Tuesday.
With the aim of improving the ground station’s space monitoring and control capabilities, the center of Xi’an built three 35-meter diameter antennas in addition to the original one at Kashi Station.
Working together, the four-antenna system will be equivalent to that of a 66-meter diameter antenna, greatly expanding the monitoring range of Kashi station and improving the station’s data reception sensitivity, laying the groundwork for projects of deep space exploration of the country.
Li Sihu, head of the Kashi Deep Space Station, told the Global Times: “The system can not only perform high-precision monitoring and control of single-target spacecraft, but also track multiple targets.”
The system can also join other observatories at home and abroad for joint space monitoring and observation missions, Li noted.
Global Times has learned from the Xi’an Satellite Control Center that strict closure measures have been put in place to help the Kashi center overcome the difficulties caused by the latest COVID-19 outbreak in the region in late October, so the project team was able to deliver the system on schedule.
As an integral part of China’s deep space monitoring and control system, Kashi Station has participated in and successfully completed its assignments in previous exploration projects, including the Chang’e-3 and Chang’e-4 lunar probes. .
Kashi Station will also work with Deep Space Stations located in Jiamusi, Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, as well as China’s first Deep Space Ground Station located in Argentina’s Patagonia region, for the monitoring mission. and space control of the Tianwen-1 Mars probe.
Sources in central Xi’an also told the Global Times that China’s deep space stations are ready to support Lunar Champion Chang’e-5’s imminent return mission, as they have carried out equipment maintenance and training work. specific for the new mission of the lunar probe. .
The Chang’e-5 mission is the third phase of China’s lunar exploration project, with the previous Chang’e-1 and Chang’e-2 orbiting missions and the Chang’e-3 and Chang’e-4 itinerant missions complete the first two phases.
China has also released plans for Chang’e-6, which will be commissioned for a sample return near the moon’s south pole according to the current probe’s progress.
The Chang’e-7 will conduct a comprehensive survey of the moon’s south pole, covering its topography, material composition and environment. In addition to extended survey missions, Chang’e-8 will also conduct lunar surface tests of some key technologies.
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