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Probe sends data from distant point
Source: Xinhua |
September 22, 2011, Thursday
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Print Edition
CHINA'S second moon orbiter, Chang'e-2, has sent its first batch of data from a position about 1.7 million kilometers from Earth.
The probe is at the relatively stable Lagrange 2 point - where the combined gravitational forces of the Earth and the sun enable it to keep the Earth between itself and the sun.
This keeps the probe shielded from solar excesses while it takes measurements.
It is scheduled to stay in this position until the end of next year, according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence.
The data the orbiter has sent back was obtained by its gamma-ray spectrometer, high-energy solar particle detector and solar wind ion detector while it travelled from moon orbit, about 400,000km from Earth, to its current position.
Chang'e-2 will remain in this position to monitor high energy particles and solar wind.
Li Chunlai, one of designers of the project, said Chang'e-2 is the first moon orbiter to monitor solar wind for an extended period at the Lagrange 2 position.
It arrived there late last month and has been operating stably for 26 days.
Liu Dongkui, deputy chief commander of China's lunar probe project, said Chang'e-2 is the first Chinese spacecraft to travel so far from Earth, the first to undertake multiple tasks in a single mission, and the world's first to leave moon orbit for the Langrange 2 position.
There are five Earth-sun Lagrange points where a spacecraft can maintain a fixed position relative to the Earth and the sun with minimal course correction.
The orbiter has completed all its assigned tasks after blasting off in October last year. It was originally meant to remain in space for six months but was assigned additional work as it still had fuel in its reserve tanks.
Before arriving at its current position, Chang'e-2 took photographs of the northern and southern poles of the moon, then descended to a height of 15km, where it captured high-resolution images of the Sinus Iridum (Latin for Bay of Rainbows), an area where China's future moon probes may land.
China's ambitious three-stage moon mission will include a moon landing during the second stage, scheduled for 2013. During the third phase, another rover will land and return to Earth with lunar soil and rock samples around 2017.
China currently has no timetable for a manned moon landing. It launched its first lunar probe, Chang'e-1, in October 2007.
The Chang'e probes are named after the Chinese goddess of the moon.
The probe is at the relatively stable Lagrange 2 point - where the combined gravitational forces of the Earth and the sun enable it to keep the Earth between itself and the sun.
This keeps the probe shielded from solar excesses while it takes measurements.
It is scheduled to stay in this position until the end of next year, according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence.
The data the orbiter has sent back was obtained by its gamma-ray spectrometer, high-energy solar particle detector and solar wind ion detector while it travelled from moon orbit, about 400,000km from Earth, to its current position.
Chang'e-2 will remain in this position to monitor high energy particles and solar wind.
Li Chunlai, one of designers of the project, said Chang'e-2 is the first moon orbiter to monitor solar wind for an extended period at the Lagrange 2 position.
It arrived there late last month and has been operating stably for 26 days.
Liu Dongkui, deputy chief commander of China's lunar probe project, said Chang'e-2 is the first Chinese spacecraft to travel so far from Earth, the first to undertake multiple tasks in a single mission, and the world's first to leave moon orbit for the Langrange 2 position.
There are five Earth-sun Lagrange points where a spacecraft can maintain a fixed position relative to the Earth and the sun with minimal course correction.
The orbiter has completed all its assigned tasks after blasting off in October last year. It was originally meant to remain in space for six months but was assigned additional work as it still had fuel in its reserve tanks.
Before arriving at its current position, Chang'e-2 took photographs of the northern and southern poles of the moon, then descended to a height of 15km, where it captured high-resolution images of the Sinus Iridum (Latin for Bay of Rainbows), an area where China's future moon probes may land.
China's ambitious three-stage moon mission will include a moon landing during the second stage, scheduled for 2013. During the third phase, another rover will land and return to Earth with lunar soil and rock samples around 2017.
China currently has no timetable for a manned moon landing. It launched its first lunar probe, Chang'e-1, in October 2007.
The Chang'e probes are named after the Chinese goddess of the moon.
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