Chang'e program

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This article is about a space program, for other meanings, see Chang'e

Image:Exploration of the Moon, People's Republic of China.jpg

Chang'e (Chinese: 嫦娥工程; pinyin: Cháng'é Gōngchéng) is a program of unmanned and manned missions to the Moon by China announced in 2003, named for the Chinese moon goddess Chang'e. The first spacecraft, Chang'e 1 (嫦娥一号; Cháng'é Yīhào), a lunar orbiter is currently scheduled to be launched between April 17 and April 19, 2007 [1], with further launches in 2008 or 2009 according to academician and Chief Designer of Chinese rockets Long Lehao <ref>http://news.tom.com/2006-04-17/000N/30701688.html</ref>. The second phase should include at least two lunar rovers <ref>http://www.cast.ac.cn/CastCn/Show.asp?ArticleID=15124</ref>. The full program consists of lunar orbiters, lunar rovers and a soil return spacecraft, as well as a Deep Space Tracking Network, with radio antennas of 50m in Beijing, 40m in Kunming, Shanghai and Ürümqi, forming a 3000 Km VLBI antenna <ref>http://www.yndaily.com/html/20060317/news_88_1052407.html</ref><ref>http://tech.enorth.com.cn/system/2006/08/19/001388423.shtml</ref>. The fourth phase will be a manned mission, as suggested by the official Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (Chinese: 中国探月; pinyin: Zhōngguó Tànyuè) insignia, a Chinese calligraphy of the word 月 (pinyin: yuè) meaning "Moon" with a crescent Moon shape, that clearly shows two footprints at the center.

Ouyang Ziyuan, one of the most prominent Chinese experts in geological research on underground nuclear testing and extraterrestrial materials, was naturally the first to advocate not only the exploitation of the known huge lunar reserves of metals such as iron, but also the mining of lunar helium-3 as an ideal fuel for nuclear fusion power plants. He is now in charge of the Chang'e program. He is known to be one of the strongest supporters of the Chinese manned lunar exploration program.

Image:Chang e 1.jpg

1 Overview
2 Objectives
3 Payload
4 Russian cooperation
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Overview

The spacecraft will be 2350 kilograms in weight.

According to the plan, the program will go through four phases.

Send a satellite to orbit the Moon
Conduct exploration on the surface of the moon through the soft landing of a detector.
Collect Moon surface samples using a robot, which will then return to the Earth.
Manned missions.

According to the schedule, detailed program design of the first step will be completed by September 2004. Research and development of a prototype probe and relevant testing of the probe will be finished before the end of 2005. Design, manufacture, general assembly, test and ground experiments of the lunar probe satellite will be finished before December 2006. In 2007 the Chang'e 1 will blast off.

The Chang'e 1 satellite will carry 24 pieces of lunar probe equipment, including CCD three-dimensional cameras, microprobe instruments and a high-energy sun particle detector. According to the design, the satellite will weigh 2,350 kg, with 130 kg of payload, and will orbit the moon for one year.

The rocket used to launch the spacecraft will be China's Long March 3A, which will launch Chang'e 1 from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province. As for August 2006, the launch pad number 3 is being upgraded in preparation for the Chang'e lunar exploration program, scheduled for April 2007 <ref>http://scitech.people.com.cn/GB/4720530.html</ref>.

Currently, the second and third phases of the program are being planned. Both will require the availability of the heavy-lift CZ-5 booster. It is said that the second phase of the program would include the launch of at least two landers in 2008 or 2009 <ref>Chinese scientists prepare for mission to the moon. XINHUA Online (July 26, 2006). Retrieved on September 14, 2006.</ref>, that will carry small remote-controlled Moon rovers to conduct an inspection of the moon's surface and probe the moon's resources. It would also provide data to determine the selection of a moon base.

On December 14, 2005, many aspects of the above information were confirmed, when it was reported "an effort to launch lunar orbiting satellites will be supplanted in 2007 by a program aimed at accomplishing an unmanned lunar landing. A program to return unmanned space vehicles from the moon will begin in 2012 and last for five years, until the manned program gets underway" in 2017. [2]

It is highly expected that the fourth manned phase will start with a circumlunar Shenzhou flight, since the Shenzhou spacecraft has been designed with a lunar capable aerodynamics, as demontrated by the similar Soyuz spacecraft during the L1 manned lunar program of the 1960s <ref>http://www.astronautix.com/craft/shelunar.htm</ref>.

[edit] Objectives

The first phase of the program has four major goals. They are as follows:

Drawing "pictures" of the moon and obtaining three-dimensional images of the lunar surface. Dividing the basic landforms and structures of the lunar surface and initially making outline graphs of lunar geology and structures, so as to provide a reference and basis for later soft landings. The orbit of the Chang'e 1 around the moon will not only completely cover the entire moon, but also include parts of areas in the north and south poles, which have never been covered.
Probing useful elements on the moon surface and analyzing the elements and materials, primarily making maps of the distribution of various elements on the moon's surface. China hopes to expand the number of the useful elements to 14, compared with the five kinds previously probed by the United States, and will conduct an overall prospect evaluation on some useful resources on the moon's surface.
Probing the features of lunar soil and evaluating its depth, as well as the amount of helium-3 resources.
Probing the space environment between 40,000 km and 400,000 km from the earth, recording data on the primitive solar wind and studying the impact of solar activity on the earth and the moon.

The first three of the four objectives are aimed at the moon itself, while the last one is focused on the process of sending the Chang'e probe to the moon, which means exploring the physical environment between the Earth and the moon.

In addition, the lunar probe engineering system, composed of five major systems - the satellite system, the launch vehicle system, the launch site system, the monitoring and control system and the ground application system - will accomplish the following five goals:

Researching, developing and launching China's first lunar probe satellite
Initially mastering the basic probe technology of satellites in orbit
Conducting first lunar scientific exploration
Initially forming a lunar probe space engineering system
Accumulating experience for the later phases of the lunar probe project

[edit] Payload

Stereo camera with a resolution of 160 m and spectrometer imager from 0.48 µm to 0.96 µm wave length.
Laser altimeter with 1064 nm, 150 µJ laser and a resolution of 1 m.
Gamma and X-ray spectrometer for a energy range from 0.5 eV to 50keV for X-rays and 300 keV to 9 MeV for Gamma rays.
Microwave radiometer detecting 3, 7.8, 19.35 and 37 Ghz with a maximal penetration depth of 30, 20, 10, 1 m and a thermal resolution of 0.5 K.
high energy particle detector and two solar wind detectors capable of the detection of electrons and heavy ions upto 730 MeV.

[edit] Russian cooperation

Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian Space Agency has revealed in September 2006 in RIA Novosti that the two countries were indeed working on the Moon as partners, and that the Russian-Chinese space sub-commission's priority was to conclude a joint Moon exploration agreement by the end of that year <ref>Russia, China could sign Moon exploration pact in 2006. RIA Novosti (September 11, 2006). Retrieved on September 14, 2006.</ref>.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

<references/> Sun Huixian, Dai Shuwu1, Yang Jianfeng, Wu Ji1 and Jiang Jingshan (2005). "Scientific objectives and payloads of Chang’E-1 lunar satellite". Journal of Earth System Science 114: 789–794.