Author Topic: LIVE: Chang'e-2 (China's second lunar probe) - Long March 3C - October 1, 2010  (Read 265155 times)

Offline Hungry4info3

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... eager to show off first images and data...

If I recall correctly, it was some time after Chang'e 1 entered Lunar orbit that we got to see some images.

Offline Satori

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Offline Apollo-phill

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As a matter of interest the Sinus Iridum (Iridium - Bay of Rainbows) will enter into 'full shadow' on the 1st November 2010.



Offline Apollo-phill

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Whilst the Chang'e-2 spacecraft hopefully begins imaging the SInus Iridum (Bay of Rainbows) as a possible target for the Chinese Chang'e-3 unmanned lunar lander, we must recall that the Soviet Union sent their Luna-17 lunar lander spacecraft to Sinus Iridum landing about 60 km southwest of Promontorium Heraclides at the southern end of the Montes Jura surrounding Sinus Iridum.  Luna-17 carried the Lunokhod-1 unmanned lunar rover which was very succesful in traversing a wide area about its landing site in the 1970s.

So, besides orbital imagery from their own craft and  several Russian,American,European and Japanese lunar orbiter spacecraft, there is also the Lunokhod-1 imagery to help them determine the type of terrain their Chang'e-3 rover will encounter.


Apollo-phill

Offline savuporo

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Im wondering if they have plans for a polar lander/rover as a followup to Chang'e3 already, to look into the cold trap.s
It would be quite a bit more challenging and would give them a nice "first" in space.
Orion - the first and only manned not-too-deep-space craft

Offline Satori

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Offline Liss

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First detailed images of the Rainbow Bay from Chang'e-2:



Imaged on Oct 28 at 10:25 UTC. 43°04'N, 31°03'W. Strip width is 8 km, length is 15.9 km. Resolution is 1.3 м from 18.7 km. Context:
« Last Edit: 09/11/2011 08:56 pm by Ronsmytheiii »
This message reflects my personal opinion based on open sources of information.

Offline Liss

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Daniell (29 km in diameter, 35°18'N, 31°06'E), imaged on Oct 23 from 100 km:

« Last Edit: 09/11/2011 08:54 pm by Ronsmytheiii »
This message reflects my personal opinion based on open sources of information.

Offline Liss

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3D model:



Details:

« Last Edit: 09/11/2011 08:53 pm by Ronsmytheiii »
This message reflects my personal opinion based on open sources of information.

Offline Satori

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Offline Apollo-phill

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Nice see those images from Chang'e-2 of Bay of Rainbows or Sinus Iridum taken on 23rd October 2010.



Offline FabulousNASA

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Offline Liss

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Nice see those images from Chang'e-2 of Bay of Rainbows or Sinus Iridum taken on 23rd October 2010.

In fact on October 27 and 28.

As far as I understand, in 15x100 km orbit Chang'e-2 orbits are spaced at 1.04°, or 23 km at the latitude of the Bay of Rainbow. Also, the bay itself is 12° wide. So we can suppose that Chang'e-2 imaged 11 or 12 strips 110 km long (N-S) and 8 km wide on October 27-28, with 4-5 more strips outside the bay.

I understand that Chang'e-3 landing ellipse is oriented W-E with length of 300 km and width of 100 km centered at 31W, 43N. If so, Chang'e-2 has already imaged 1/3 of it in strips.

I expect at least two more imaging sessions from 15x100 km orbit are needed to fill the gaps. Of course, the six month primary mission of Chang'e-2 provides for six or seven such possibilities.
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Offline Liss

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This message reflects my personal opinion based on open sources of information.

Offline jcm

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Gareth Williams of the IAU Minor Planet Center reports that one of the NEO surveys has picked up an object consistent with the Chang'e-2 third stage rocket. According to the data he's supplied me, it is in a 244195 x 434042 km x 78.4 deg orbit and passed close to the Moon in the Oct 5 to 9 timeframe.
-----------------------------

Jonathan McDowell
http://planet4589.org

Offline Liss

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Another 7-min video with actual CMOS cameras footage of solar panel and HGA deployment, maneuvers and (probably) UV sensor data:

http://i2.chinanews.com/shipin/flv/videoV1.2.swf?vInfo=2010/other/30changeerhao_1&amp
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Offline darklighter

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Videos taken with CE-2's onboard cameras (provided by SASTIND, produced by BISSTI):

-----Video #1
http://tv.people.com.cn/GB/144357/150722/13159712.html
Part 1: Solar panel deployment, shortly after spacecraft seperation.
Part 2 (after 01:00): A glance back at earth at about 100,000 km, 9 hours into the mission.

Translation of on-screen annotation:
00:00: CG preview of CE-2 solar array deployment.
00:10(upper): Solar Array Monitoring Camera.
00:18: Oct 1, 2010 11:52 UTC, deployment of CE-2's solar array. (Note: This is only true for the first part of the video.)
00:24: Live images of Solar Array Monitoring Camera.
00:53(lower): Probe is about 100,000 km away from earth. (Note: This is only true for the second part of the video.)
01:33(from top to bottom): North America, South America, Pacific Ocean, Antarctic, Equator (Note: This is only roughly correct if rotated by about 60 degree clockwise. North America is recognizable at the upper-right part of the imaged earth.)


-----Video #2
http://tv.people.com.cn/GB/144357/150722/13159711.html
Part 1: High Gain Antenna deployment, shortly after spacecraft seperation.
Part 2 (after 00:37): HGA steers, while the probe rotating, allowing the **moon** (yes, it has to be the moon, judging by possible probe trajectory and the shape of the solar terminator) slowly entering the field of view from left. Apparently these 2 events were coordinated for the "shot design".

Translation of on-screen annotation:
00:00(upper): HGA Monitoring Camera.
00:00(lower): CG preview of CE-2 HGA deployment.
00:18: Oct 1 2010, 11:59 UTC, deployment of CE-2's HGA.
00:24: Live images of HGA Monitoring Camera. Oct 1, 2010 11:59 UTC, deployment of HGA. (Note: Only true for the first part of the video.)


-----Video #3
http://tv.people.com.cn/GB/144357/150722/13159708.html
LOI burn #1. The burn lasted 32 minutes in real-time, 77 seconds in the video (as the engine throat glows). The "time-compression" rate of LOI burn #2 and #3 video is roughly the same. If the video has a framerate of 30 fps and is made frame-by-frame from the original images, we may estimate the monitoring cameras took an image every 1.2 seconds.

Translation of on-screen annotation:
00:00: CG preview of CE-2 LOI burn #1.
00:09(upper): 490N Engine Monitoring Camera.
00:16: Oct 6, 2010 03:06 UTC, CE-2's first LOI burn, about 100 km above lunar surface. (Note: The burn lasted a fairly long arc. Only at periselene the altitude is about 100 km.)
00:21: Live images of 490N Engine Monitoring Camera, 100 km above lunar surface.


-----Video #4
http://tv.people.com.cn/GB/144357/150722/13159709.html
LOI burn #2.

Translation of on-screen annotation:
00:00: Oct 8, 2010 02:25 UTC, CE-2's second LOI burn.
00:06: Live images of 490N Engine Monitoring Camera, 100 km above lunar surface. (Note: Only true at periselene.)


-----Video #5
http://tv.people.com.cn/GB/144357/150722/13159710.html
LOI burn #3, including attitude setup prior to the burn.

Translation of on-screen annotation:
00:00: Oct 9, 2010 02:50 UTC, CE-2's third LOI burn.
00:07: Live images of 490N Engine Monitoring Camera, 100 km above lunar surface. (Note: Only true at periselene.)


-----Video #6
http://tv.people.com.cn/GB/144357/150722/13159706.html
Surface of Sinus Iridium imaged at an altitude about 15 km, by a test article of the "Descent Camera". CE-3 is likely to carry such a camera for precise descending guidance, utilizing hi-res reference images acquired by CE-2.

Translation of on-screen annotation:
00:00: Oct 28, 2010, 4th imaging pass of lunar surface by CE-2's Descent Camera. Imaging time: 20:34:22 ~ 21:08:22 UTC.
00:03: Images of Descent Camera, 15 km away from lunar surface.
« Last Edit: 11/18/2010 01:38 pm by darklighter »
"See you tomorrow, curator."

Offline Satori

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Offline Satori

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« Last Edit: 12/20/2010 09:44 pm by Satori »

Offline Satori

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