found on a French forum, a reportage on the Mars lander + rover on show at the Zhuhai airshownote the CG rendering starting at 1:47. I wonder why would the Chinese go for such a complex lander to land a MER-sized rover, while they could use airbags. Is the lander itself instrumented somehow? would they use it as a EDL demonstrator for a bigger lander?
I mean, why use a Viking to lend a MER-sized rover?
Quote from: Phillip Clark on 11/16/2014 02:47 pmLooking at the video it would appear that the lander separates from the orbiter/fly-by probe during the approach to Mars like the Soviet-era Mars 2/3/6/7, while the Viking landers did their descents from Mars orbit. Of course, the US rovers also completed direct descents to Mars. This could cause problems if there is only a limited ability to change the landing site in the case of a dust storm being in progress.Lander separates from the orbiter/fly-by probe during the approach to Mars...It's only a mistake, while the rover using wheels like the luna rover Yutu, it's also a mistakeaccording to some news about the mission, lander descents from Mars orbit
Looking at the video it would appear that the lander separates from the orbiter/fly-by probe during the approach to Mars like the Soviet-era Mars 2/3/6/7, while the Viking landers did their descents from Mars orbit. Of course, the US rovers also completed direct descents to Mars. This could cause problems if there is only a limited ability to change the landing site in the case of a dust storm being in progress.
Do you have a source for the descent from Mars orbit?
Elektra is just a UHF radio. If the Chinese wanted to listen in on Elektra communications they would be doing so.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-01/29/c_136019570.htmChina unveils top names for Mars spacecraftSource: Xinhua 2017-01-29 17:26:03BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- China has released a short list of eight names for the country's first Mars spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch by 2020.The eight names-- "Fenghuang" (phoenix), "Tianwen" (questions for heaven), "Huoxing" (Mars), "Tenglong" (soaring dragon), "Qilin" (Kylin), "Zhuque" (rose finch), "Zhuimeng" (chasing dreams) and "Fengxiang" (flying phoenix), were the top names chosen from over 14,500 choices submitted through more than 35,900 proposals entered by people worldwide.
If I had to choose one of the top eight, I would go with "Huoxing" because since it's China's first Mars mission
The first Chinese Mars exploration will fulfill the goals of “orbiting, landing and roving” in one mission. This paper briefly describes the process of international Mars exploration and analyzes the development of Chinese Mars exploration. It focuses on introducing the scientific significance and engineering difficulties of Mars exploration, and provides an overview of the system design of the probe, including the flight profile, the preliminary selection of the landing site, the entry, descent and landing (also known as EDL) process. Four types of key technologies, including telecommunications, autonomous control, the EDL process, and its structure and mechanism, are detailed in this paper. Finally, the paper highlights the expected scientific and engineering results of the mission.
Preliminary payloads being carried. Rover life is planned for 90 days.Orbiter--------High-Resolution Camera (0.1 m)