Episode 75: China -back to the Moon with Chang E 4
One mission two spacecraft, China is going back to the Moon with Chang'E 4 mission that I think is the most exciting lunar mission since the 1970s. By the end of 2018, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) will launch\xa0Chang'E 4 that will explore the far side of the Moon with a lander and a rover. Since it is on the other side of the Moon, it will be totally out of sight from the Earth. To facilitate\xa0communication, a relay satellite will be launched in advance of the lander/rover's arrival at the Moon.\n\nIn addition to engaging private sector companies in China, Chang\u2019E 4 will include a significant level of international collaboration in this mission with payloads from Germany, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and Sweden.\n\nYe Quan-Zhi is a postdoc\xa0astronomer who specialises in small bodies in the solar system. Like me, he started off as an amateur astronomer but now uses telescopes with apertures measured in meters rather than inches!\xa0 In addition to his research, he writes about space in the Planetary Society's blog.\xa0 \xa0As a Chinese national, Quan-Zhi has an interest and an insight into the Chinese Space Programme and in this episode, we spoke about the upcoming Chang' E 4 mission and the prospects of collaboration between India and China in space.\n\n\nChange' E 4 Mission - An overview\nRelay Satellite\nNamed as "Queqiao" or magpie bridge will be launched in May 2018 and placed in the Earth/Moon L2 orbit (also known as a halo orbit) about 60,000km from the Moon (450,000 km from the Earth) in the opposite direction of the Earth. From there it will always have a line of sight of the far side of the Moon and Earth at the same time. Its primary purpose is to act as a relay providing all the communications from the Lander/Rover that will land on the Moon in late 2018 or early 2019.\n\nThe two microsatellites from the Netherlands are called \u201cLongjiang-1" and "Longjiang-2\u201d. The will enter an elliptical lunar orbit and conduct low-frequency radio astronomy experiments.\n\nLander & Rover\nDue for launch in December 2018 or early 2019\n\nThe lander and rover are the backup lander and rover to the highly successful 2013 Chang\u2019E 3 mission. Whilst identical in most respects, lessons learnt from Chang\u2019E 3 have been incorporated in modifications to Chang\u2019E 4.\n\nLander\n\u2022 Landing Camera (LCAM)\n\u2022 Terrain Camera (TCAM)\n\u2022 Low-Frequency Spectrometer (LFS) to investigate radiation burst from the sun and cosmos.\n\u2022 Lunar Lander Neutrons and Dosimetry (LND), a neutron detector from the University of Kiel University in Germany\n\u2022 A mini "lunar biosphere" experiment designed by 28 Chinese universities consisting of a 0.8 litre capacity enclosure weighing 3 kilograms. The biosphere contains silkworm eggs, and seeds fro cress and potatoes. Once on the lunar surface, this mini biosphere will maintain a humidity and temperature (1 to 30 degrees centigrade) whilst the lunar surface temperature varies from +100 to -100 degrees centigrade. A HD camera will live stream from the lunar surface the hatching eggs and sprouting seeds during the first two weeks of the mission.\n\nRover\n\u2022 Panoramic Camera (PCAM)\n\u2022 Ground penetrating radar (LPR) to investigate the lunar crust and mantle\n\u2022 Visible and Near-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (VNIS), for\xa0imaging spectroscopy\n\u2022 Advanced Small Analyser for Neutrals (ASAN), to investigate how solar particles interacts with the lunar surface.