A big country of aerospace with black technology

“It’s a pity that the heavy-lift launch vehicle has not fully passed the test.

Otherwise, we don’t know how much stuff we can bring to the moon this time! "

Zhang Xingyang said with some regret.

Chang'e-2 is about to be launched.

The mission goal is to launch a lunar lander and a lunar rover.

"Even if the heavy-lift launch vehicle passes the test, it will not be used yet."

Geng Bo poured cold water on the side:

“Whether it is a lunar orbiting communication satellite or a large lunar rover, their development speed is too slow.

There is no way we can keep up with our progress. "

Geng Bo complained that the research and development progress at the Deep Space Research Institute was too slow.

However, whether it is a cis-lunar communication satellite or a large-scale lunar rover, they are all research and development projects that have not been touched before in China.

So their research and development speed is relatively slow.

It is also excusable.

Zhang Xingyang’s view is more objective: “Their speed is already fast enough.

It took only three years to develop a reliable lunar rover.

I don’t know how many people have passed! "

Geng Bo just complained a little. He also knew that the research and development unit of the lunar rover was already developing almost day and night.

The smooth development of their heavy-lift launch vehicle is mainly due to the sufficient technical reserves they have accumulated over the years.

In the past ten years, the Rocket Academy has spent billions on research and development every year.

Most of the proceeds are invested in research and development.

That’s why we were able to complete the research and development of heavy-lift launch vehicles so smoothly and quickly.

Other units do not have large R\u0026D funds and technical reserves like them.

So there will definitely be a decrease in speed.

“But it’s interesting to get the name through public voting.”

After Geng Bo complained for a while, he turned around and talked about the lunar rover online voting with great interest.

It is different from previous naming, which is basically determined internally by the aerospace system.

The naming of the lunar rover opened channels for online voting and SMS voting.

Before the vote, everyone was shocked just by the number of name proposals received.

Even because the Internet is not too popular these days.

But the aerospace department still received 120,000 online proposals.

And nearly 40,000 offline mailing plans!

Just reviewing these proposals took everyone several weeks.

Ten names were ultimately selected.

They are Yutu, Discovery, Lan Yue, Qian Xuesen, Dream Chaser, Xun Meng, Chasing Moon, Dream, Mission, and Advance.

Voting takes place online and via text message.

Taking into account possible online vote brushing behavior.

Each network IP can only cast one vote.

But even so, it still received a total of more than 12 million votes.

This number of votes even exceeded the previous lunar rover voting event.

The main reason is that we previously promoted the naming of the lunar rover on the Spring Festival Gala.

Not too much time has passed yet.

After everyone hears the news, they will basically vote.

Among the 12 million votes, the two names that received the most votes were Yutu and Qian Xuesen.

Jade Rabbit has nearly 2.5 million votes.

Qian Xuesen's number exceeded 1.9 million votes.

Yutu won the voting event with a large advantage.

The Jade Rabbit is still more familiar to most ordinary Chinese people.

In the end, the lunar rover launched this time was named Yutu!

"Chang'e hugged the rabbit and ran to the Toad Palace."

Zhang Xingyang read a poem and said:

"For Chinese people, the Jade Rabbit has a deeper connection with the moon."

"It's normal for everyone to have higher recognition."

As soon as Geng Bo opened his mouth, Zhang Xingyang roughly knew what he was thinking.

You know, when it comes to voting.

Geng Bo mobilized many people to vote for Mr. Qian.

Mr. Qian can be regarded as the originator of the domestic rocket industry.

Everyone hopes that he can leave his name in this aerospace activity that will go down in history.

But Qian Lao himself didn't take it seriously.

I voted for Jade Rabbit.

Although the old man was not in good health at this time, he was concerned about the development of the domestic aerospace industry.

Zhang Xingyang's words just now can be regarded as a little bit of persuasion.

Don't take this matter too seriously.

According to Zhang Xingyang's idea, what does it mean to name a lunar rover?

I’ll make a big one later!

Just name a moon or Mars base for the old man!

But now there are countries that can achieve a soft landing on the moon.

There are only a few in total.

There are only Mao Xiong and Eagle Sauce.

If the soft landing on the moon is successful this time.

Then Longguo will become the third country to successfully land soft landing.

This honor is considered very resounding internationally.

That's why Geng Bo and the others were so concerned.

"I hope this name can bring us a little good luck!"

Geng Bo also smiled and said.

Apparently he has looked away.

"I hope the lander's soft landing will be successful!"

The launch vehicle carrying Chang'e-2 is a modified Hongyan-A rocket.

A number of technical improvements have been made.

By replacing the high-precision gyroscope, the rocket's orbit entry accuracy was improved.

Someone once used the phrase "from golfing in Paris to hole-in-the-wall in Shanghai" to describe Luoyue's accuracy.

The reliability of the modified rocket increased to 97.82%.

In the past three years, the Hongyan series rockets have conducted more than 300 launches and have never failed.

Looking at the whole world, it is also an unimaginable miracle!

The second improvement is to expand the selection of launch window periods.

It is different from launching an Earth-orbiting satellite.

The launch of a lunar probe is greatly affected by the movement patterns of the earth, sun, and moon.

Different launch windows mean different rocket flight times.

The shortest flight time of the rocket is about 1100 seconds, and the longest time is more than 1400 seconds.

The extension of flight time not only means an increase in fuel consumption.

It also means that problems may arise in the middle.

There are a total of six launch windows this time.

During the three days pre-selected for launch.

Each day has two windows.

The first launch window is four minutes wide.

This is also the best launch window time.

The second launch window is only one minute wide!

“We made rigorous calculations for the six different orbits of the launch.

For different windows, our hardware and software have been debugged accordingly.

There won't be any surprises. "

Zhang Xingyang patted the other party's shoulder and said.

If one track fails, they have a second backup.

Even the third one.

Article 4.

All the way to Article Six.

There are five backup plans in total.

From the perspective of planning for a rainy day, this is already the limit.

Fault tolerance is extended to an unprecedented degree.

"Although this is true, sometimes aerospace engineering seems to depend on luck."

Geng Bo retorted slightly and said.

Zhang Xingyang actually knows more about this.

Luck is actually made up of many small events.

However, Zhang Xingyang did not dwell too much on this point.

"Luck must be on our side this time."

"Let's go and see our lunar rover."

After Zhang Xingyang finished speaking, he walked to the assembly workshop.

In the workshop, the lunar rover, which had been transported by special plane in advance, had not yet begun to be loaded into the lander.

The surface of the lunar rover is covered with a layer of gold foil.

Almost every exposed surface has a layer of gold foil.

Only the flag was not wrapped in gold foil.

However, surface treatment has also been carried out to prevent damage caused by strong light and high-energy particle radiation on the lunar surface.

Because there is no atmosphere on the moon's surface, when sunlight shines on it, the light is much stronger than on the earth.

Moreover, moon rocks reflect light very strongly.

This is why everything, even the underside of the lunar rover chassis, is wrapped in gold foil.

Gold doesn't just reflect bright light.

More importantly, it can prevent high-energy particle radiation.

"It still looks pretty good."

Geng Bo said after seeing the lunar rover.

"But it's much smaller than I expected."

The lunar rover really isn't that big.

2 meters long, 1.5 meters wide and 1.4 meters high.

Weighs 245kg.

It is called a "car", but it is actually much smaller than a car.

Maybe barely equivalent to a mini car?

This is also the first reaction of most people after seeing it.

Of course, this size does not include the size of the solar panel after it is unfolded.

If the solar panel is unfolded, it may be even larger.

"This is already quite big."

Zhou Xuan looked at Geng Bo next to the lunar rover and said.

"Except for those manned lunar rovers, our lunar rover is already among the largest in size."

Geng Bo didn't say much when it came to his own knowledge blind spots.

"Did the lander detect any problems?"

Zhang Xingyang approached Zhou Xuan and asked:

"Why did you take out the lunar rover?"

If Zhang Xingyang remembers correctly, the lander and lunar rover were installed when they were shipped here.

At the final assembly center, all it takes is to install the integrated lander into the rocket.

"No problem, it's just a final check to prevent problems during transportation."

Zhou Xuan explained why the lander and rover should be separated.

Zhang Xingyang nodded after listening and said:

"Our first launch window is on the night of the 8th, don't forget it."

Of course Zhou Xuan will not forget such an important time.

But he still nodded to show that he understood.

April 8th, an extremely clear night.

The carrier rocket carrying the Chang'e-2 probe has already arrived at the No. 3 launch site of the Wenchang launch base through a dedicated transport vehicle.

The inspection work before the rocket launch has also been completed long ago.

Everyone is waiting for the launch window to arrive.

This is the first time China has launched a lander to an alien planet.

Except for Zhang Xingyang, most people have no bottom.

Whether it is Geng Bo, who is in charge of the rocket part, or Zhou Xuan, who is in charge of the lander.

This is true.

The window period for Chang'e-2 tonight is from 1:30 to 1:34.

Four minutes in total.

During this period, God was very generous and there were no dark clouds at all.

The launch conditions are unprecedentedly good!

As inside the launch center, the blood-red countdown reaches zero.

After 340 milliseconds.

The electrical signal is passed to the rocket launch pad.

The launch vehicle takes off!

Prepare to transport the Chang'e-2 probe to the moon 380,000 kilometers away.

Rocket launch process, for launch center staff.

It can be said that it is familiar to the heart.

The launch process of the Hongyan rocket has evolved over the years.

They've done it nearly a thousand times.

All aspects cannot be described as proficient.

Basically you can perform every step of the operation with your eyes closed.

At which second the rocket flew to where.

Everyone knows it.

At 140 seconds, the Chang'e-2 launch vehicle booster separated.

At 150 seconds, the first and second stages of the Chang'e-2 carrier rocket separated.

At 230 seconds, the Chang'e-2 launch vehicle fairing separated.

At 340 seconds, the second and third stages of the Chang'e-2 launch vehicle separated.

At 590 seconds, the third stage of the Chang'e-2 launch vehicle shut down once.

At 830 seconds, the third stage of the Chang'e-2 launch vehicle ignited for the second time.

At 1140 seconds, the Chang'e-2 probe and the rocket separated.

Subsequently, Chang'e 2 began its solo voyage across hundreds of thousands of miles between the Earth and the Moon.

After 28 minutes, Chang'e-2's solar panels unfolded and began to receive energy from the sun.

The launch of Chang'e-2 was a complete success.

But for the lunar lander, this is just the first step.

Four days later.

After a long flight.

Chang'e 2 is only a few hundred kilometers away from the moon.

The Space Flight Control Center began to conduct precise control of Chang'e-2.

In order to allow him to successfully enter the 100-kilometer orbit around the moon.

Orbital entry was smooth.

So, four days later, the second orbit change operation continued.

The flight control center injects attitude adjustment and orbit change parameters into Chang'e-2.

Two and a half hours later, Chang'e-2 successfully entered an elliptical orbit with a peri-lunar altitude of 15 kilometers and a far-lunar altitude of 100 kilometers.

After completing the orbit change.

Chang'e-2 began to choose its own landing area.

There are five alternative landing areas.

They are Rainbow Bay, Sea of ​​Wine, Sea of ​​Humidity, Kepler and Aliski craters.

Among them, the terrain of Hongwan is relatively flat.

Moreover, this area has never been scientifically investigated and is of high value.

Therefore, Chang'e-2 chose Hongwan as its landing area.

Landing procedures began three days later.

After the variable thrust engine was started, the power of Chang'e-2 began to decrease.

The whole thing fell towards the moon at a speed of 1.7 kilometers per second.

After a series of deceleration operations, the speed of Chang'e-2 dropped to 600 meters per second.

And start observing the ground by landing a camera.

Fine-tune the landing location through autonomous control systems.

Mainly to avoid some gravel and small circular pits on the ground.

Twenty minutes later, when it was 3.5 meters away from the moon, Chang'e-2's speed dropped to zero and it descended in free fall.

Successfully landed in the eastern area of ​​Moon Rainbow Bay!

Dragon Kingdom became the third country in the world to master a soft landing on the moon!

An hour later, the Earth Command Center issued a command to separate the lander and the rover.

After nearly two hours of internal testing.

Yutu slowly drove out from the lander and successfully set foot on the lunar surface.

And a few hours later, he sent back his first selfie!