Author Topic: LIVE: Chang'e-3 lunar probe and rover Lunar Landing December 14, 2013 (Read 743995 times)

Chris Bergin · « **on:** 12/14/2013 04:09 am »

Second thread for landing coverage.

Previous thread (build up and launch):
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=26848.0

Launch article - by Rui C. Barbosa
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/12/china-change3-rover-to-the-moon/

Landing article - by Rui C. Barbosa
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/12/china-jade-rabbit-lunar-arrival/

CCTV Coverage set to begin at 11am UTC.

Landing scheduled for around 13:40 UTC

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #1 on:** 12/14/2013 04:12 am »

On top of Rui's articles, he's written out a lot of specifics on the instrumentation.

That information is as follows:

he Chang’e-3 mission couples a lander and the rover, advancing China’s exploration ambitions exponentially. The lander is equipped with a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) to power the lunar operations during the three-month mission. The energy will be used to power the scientific payload of seven instruments and cameras. The Chang’e-3 lander carries four instruments: the MastCam, the Descent Camera, the Lunar-based Ultraviolet Telescope (LUT) and the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUV).

The MastCam was developed by the Institute of Optics and Electronics (IOE) from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Positioned on the top of the mast of the lander, the MastCam will be used for acquisition of landing area optical photographs, for surveying the terrain and geological features of the landing zone. The camera will also monitor the movement of rover on the lunar surface having a multi-color imaging ability. It can shoot both photographs and videos, tweak the focusing automatically and has the ability to minimize scattered lights and image compression. Its major systems are a optical system and a mechanical system.

The Descent Camera was developed by the Beijing Institute of Space Machinery and Electricity (BISME) of the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST). Positioned on the bottom of the lander the Descent Camera will make the acquisition of landing area optical photographs for surveying the terrain and geological features of the landing zone at altitudes between 2 km and 4 km. It has a highly miniaturized design; light weight, small volume, low energy consumption and high performance. It can withstand high levels of radiation, temperature difference and violent vibrations at launch. The camera uses a CMOS sensor and also a high-speed static grey-scale image compression. It has an automatic focusing. Its main systems are an optical system and an imagery receiving and processing electric box.

The National Astronomy Observatory of China (NAOC) from CAS, developed the Lunar-based Ultraviolet Telescope (LUT). The LUT will make use of the absence of atmosphere and slow rotation of the Moon to observe selected variable celestial objects and sky areas in the near ultraviolet region. The telescope is positioned on the -Y side of the lander. Its major sub-systems are the telescope body and frame; the reflector lens and telescope mount, and the electric cable mount and control systems. This will be the first ever astronomical observation made from surface of other planetary objects for prolonged periods. The LUT is highly automated and can aim and point to various targets with the telescope mount automatically. Its light weight was achieved via using composite materials and structure optimization, and is highly adaptable to the lunar surface environment. It can operate between -20 and 40 degrees Celsius.

The Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP) from CAS developed the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUV). Located on the top side of the lander, the EUV will provide imagery of the Earth's ionosphere in the extreme ultraviolet region and will make investigations into space weather forecasting and ionosphere studies. It can track Earth automatically, performing long term imagery monitoring of scattered extreme ultraviolet radiation from the Earth's ionosphere. The operational wavelength is 30.4 nm (about 1/20 of visible light) and the field of view (FOV) is 15 degrees (region covers about 7.5 Earths). The EUV can operate between -25 and 75 degrees Celsius and has ability to survive and operate in the highly variable thermal environment of the lunar surface. This is the first extreme ultraviolet camera operating from the lunar surface. Its main sub-systems ate the extreme ultraviolet multi-membrane optical imagery system, the extreme ultraviolet photon counter sensor; a signal processing unit; the pointing control system and the main control unit.

The Yuti rover carries four instruments: the PanCam, developed by the Xian Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics (OPT) from CAS; the Ground Penetration Radar (GPM) developed by the Institute of Electronics (CAS); the VIS/NIR Imaging Spectrometer (VNIS) developed by the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics (SITP) (CAS); and the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS), developed by the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) also from CAS.

Located on the top mast of Yutu, the PanCam will acquire 3-D imagery of the lunar surface for surveying the terrain, geological features and structures, and craters inside the target region. It will also monitor the operational state of the lander.

PanCam uses simplified optical system and highly miniaturized design, making the cameras light-weight, small volume, low energy consuming and highly reliable. It can operate between -25 and 55 degrees Celsius and is able to survive between -40 and 75 degrees Celsius. The focusing of its optical system is operational between 3m and infinity and it has both automatic and manual focusing, being able to automatically adjust the field brightness. Its main sub-systems are twin PanCams (A & B), each with one optical system, mechanical system, electronics and thermal control parts.

Lying inside the rover, the Ground Penetration Radar will measure lunar soil depth and structural distribution of soil, magma, lava tubes and sub-surface rock layers. The GPM features two channels: Channel I operates at 60MHz - for probing sub-surface geological features down to meter-level resolution with a maximum depth >100 m; Channel II operates at 500MHz - for probing lunar soil depth with resolution better than 30 cm with maximum depth >30 m. The antennas can survive temperatures of -200 to 120 degrees Celsius. GPM has a miniaturized design, low energy consumption, high performance. Its major sub-systems are composed by a radar controller, channel I/II antennas and transmitter, electric cables.

The VIS/NIR Imaging Spectrometer will measure the composition and resources of the lunar surface via imaging and spectrometry in the visible and near-infrared wavelengths. Located beneath the rover's top deck, it uses a RF-driven tunable light & ultrasound spectrometry, using new design ultrasound generators. This spectrometer has an anti-dust accumulation and in-orbit calibration functions. It has a miniaturized design, light weight and high performance. The major sub-systems are the tunable light and ultrasound spectrometer optical system, ultrasound-driven target guiding, dust repelling and thermal control components, composite outer case, main control system and data processing module.

The Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer will measure the composition and distribution of various elements on the lunar surface via observing the scattered X-rays from the bombardment of alpha particles of rocks. Located on the rover’s robotic arm, is capable of active particle scattering, in-situ determination of lunar surface element, in-orbit calibration and distance measurement functions. The sensor can re-calibrate itself through the use of standard calibration targets and the rover's lunar night survival contains a radioisotope heater unit (RHU) for keeping the sensor warm. It has low energy consumption, light weight, high resolution and high sensitivity semi-conductor sensor are used.

The payload control systems on both the Chang’e-3 lander and Yutu rover are both built by the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization of CAS.

Yutu is equipped with a solar panel to power the vehicle during the lunar day on a three month mission. During this time, Yutu will explore a three square kilometer area, travelling a maximum distance of 10 km from the landing point.

The rover will be capable of real time video transmission, while it will be able to dig and perform simple analysis of soil samples. For the real time video transmissions Yutu will use the PanCam. These cameras will provide stereo images in high-resolution and will eventually give three-dimensional imaging for the scientists on Earth.

Borklund · « **Reply #2 on:** 12/14/2013 04:15 am »

Best of luck to China! I for one will be glued to the monitor as I've never been able to experience a lunar landing in real time

mr. mark · « **Reply #3 on:** 12/14/2013 04:28 am »

Well, I was alive for the US Surveyor and Apollo missions but, I say keep it coming...more, more, more. Best of luck to China.

savuporo · « **Reply #4 on:** 12/14/2013 04:39 am »

CCTVNEWS ‏@cctvnews 2h
Video: China prepares for #ChangE3 lunar probe's moon landing.

True story : Only Lockheed Martin Space Systems have built spacecraft that have successfully landed on other planets this century. Thales Alenia built one last century but it landed in 2005

Dalhousie · « **Reply #5 on:** 12/14/2013 05:28 am »

Quote from: savuporo on 12/14/2013 04:39 am

True story : Only Lockheed Martin Space Systems have built spacecraft that have successfully landed on other planets this century. Thales Alenia built one last century but it landed in 2005

This would come as a surprise to Hughes/Boeing,who built Surveyor, and Lavochkin who built three families of lunar landers, lunar rovers, and two families of Venus landers.

Borklund · « **Reply #6 on:** 12/14/2013 05:43 am »

Quote from: Dalhousie on 12/14/2013 05:28 am

Quote from: savuporo on 12/14/2013 04:39 am
True story : Only Lockheed Martin Space Systems have built spacecraft that have successfully landed on other planets this century. Thales Alenia built one last century but it landed in 2005

This would come as a surprise to Hughes/Boeing,who built Surveyor, and Lavochkin who built three families of lunar landers, lunar rovers, and two families of Venus landers.

Important part of the quote now in bold.

Steven Pietrobon · « **Reply #7 on:** 12/14/2013 06:10 am »

lcs wrote in the other update thread

"Surveyor 1 succeeded on its first attempt. What were the three failed attempts?"

Rangers 3, 4 and 5.

Dalhousie · « **Reply #8 on:** 12/14/2013 06:25 am »

Quote from: Borklund on 12/14/2013 05:43 am

Quote from: Dalhousie on 12/14/2013 05:28 am
Quote from: savuporo on 12/14/2013 04:39 am
True story : Only Lockheed Martin Space Systems have built spacecraft that have successfully landed on other planets this century. Thales Alenia built one last century but it landed in 2005

This would come as a surprise to Hughes/Boeing,who built Surveyor, and Lavochkin who built three families of lunar landers, lunar rovers, and two families of Venus landers.
Important part of the quote now in bold.

"this century" is quite arbitary and nearly meaningless, it's less than a quarter of the space age.

Phillip Clark · « **Reply #9 on:** 12/14/2013 06:33 am »

On the original thread - to which I cannot now post - I had said that there were three US failures to survive a lunar landing before Surveyor 1 and this was queried. Remember that the original Rangers were intended to rough-land capsules on the Moon which would then return data: Rangers 3-5 from memory. They all failed to make a survivable landing and then the Ranger programme was redirected to the crash-land with photographs of the descent being returned - Rangers 6-9.

Since Rangers 3-5 should have made survivable landings - and were thus akin to Luna 9 et al - these are the three failures that I referred to.

Edit: Rangers 3-5 were designated the Block 2 series with Rangers 6-9 the Block 3 series. For an online review please check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_program.

savuporo · « **Reply #10 on:** 12/14/2013 07:08 am »

Quote from: Phillip Clark on 12/14/2013 06:33 am

... They all failed to make a survivable landing and then the Ranger programme was redirected to the crash-land with photographs of the descent being returned - Rangers 6-9...

I've recently browsed through a lot of recent chinese origin spacecraft and space robotics engineering related papers, the ones with open access. A lot of them, especially the ones related to Chang'e reference US, european, russian and japanese previous works a lot. Chinese are not starting from scratch as the US and USSR did in their time, they have a lot of knowledge to draw upon.
Granted, papers will never convey the fine engineering details, and the devil is always in the details, but they are off to a much better start - evidenced by near flawless performance of Chang'e-1 and beyond expectations accomplishments of Chang'e-2.

And before anyone jumps in with "they copied us",

http://www.ecns.cn/voices/2013/12-13/92538.shtml

Quote

To change the "made in China" label to "created in China", the country needs to develop new industries and establish a new innovation mechanism, and of course allocate more funds for R&D.

Chang'e probes very definitely bear the mark of "created in China" on them.

savuporo · « **Reply #11 on:** 12/14/2013 07:25 am »

CCTV live english channel just ran a short preview segment with some animations and confirmed that they will have live coverage. "Stay tuned"

jumpjack · « **Reply #12 on:** 12/14/2013 08:05 am »

Quote from: Chris Bergin on 12/14/2013 04:09 am

The rover will be capable of real time video transmission, while it will be able to dig and perform simple analysis of soil samples. For the real time video transmissions Yutu will use the PanCam. These cameras will provide stereo images in high-resolution and will eventually give three-dimensional imaging for the scientists on Earth.

Oh my God, realtime 3d transmission from another celestial body!!
I do not have a 3d TV set, how can I record the CCTV stream to view it later?

Borklund · « **Reply #13 on:** 12/14/2013 08:12 am »

Is this the correct URL? http://english.cntv.cn/live/p2p/index.shtml

Schedule isn't showing any Chang'e 3 coverage.

vyoma · « **Reply #14 on:** 12/14/2013 09:02 am »

Looks like there will be a live coverage here as well:
http://live.china.org.cn/2013/12/13/coming-soon-change-3-lands-on-the-moon/

dsmillman · « **Reply #15 on:** 12/14/2013 10:07 am »

What is the link for the "CCTV Coverage set to begin at 11am UTC" ??

Steven Pietrobon · « **Reply #16 on:** 12/14/2013 10:07 am »

According to my watch its 11:06 UTC, but CCTV-9 hasn't started coverage yet.

http://www.cctv-9.com/2013/default.asp?VideoName=live

Galactic Penguin SST · « **Reply #17 on:** 12/14/2013 10:10 am »

ESA ‏@esa
ESA ops supporting #ChangE3 landing - New Norcia station starts tracking descent at 12:26GMT http://bit.ly/1bOcW2t pic.twitter.com/cpNyPPkI2C

Galactic Penguin SST · « **Reply #18 on:** 12/14/2013 10:10 am »

Quote from: Steven Pietrobon on 12/14/2013 10:07 am

According to my watch its 11:06 UTC, but CCTV-9 hasn't started coverage yet.

http://www.cctv-9.com/2013/default.asp?VideoName=live

Seems to be my fault - it probably won't start till an hour later.

Steven Pietrobon · « **Reply #19 on:** 12/14/2013 10:29 am »

Coverage is from 12 to 14 hours UTC.