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#220
by
Chris Bergin
on 31 Oct, 2014 22:15
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China Xinhua News @XHNews
Return capsule of China's test lunar orbiter lands successfully in north China's Inner Mongolia
Welcome home!
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#221
by
satwatcher
on 31 Oct, 2014 22:22
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News story on
Xinhua.
A good ending to an odd week in spaceflight.
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#222
by
elakdawalla
on 31 Oct, 2014 22:28
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The Xinhua story says:
The test lunar orbiter, nicknamed "Xiaofei" on Chinese social networks
What is the significance of the name "Xiaofei", does anybody know?
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#223
by
jcm
on 31 Oct, 2014 22:32
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http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2014/11-01/6739522.shtmlrefers to the vehicle as
中国探月工程三期再入返回飞行试验器
Zhongguo tanyue gongcheng san qi zai ru fanhui feixing shiyan qi
Chinese Lunar Exploration Program Phase 3 Reentry Return Flight Tester
(no wonder the Chinese social networks are looking for a snappier name)
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#224
by
Liss
on 31 Oct, 2014 22:35
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小飞: 小 (xiao) means small and 飞 (fei) means to fly.
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#225
by
Galactic Penguin SST
on 31 Oct, 2014 22:46
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The Xinhua story says:
The test lunar orbiter, nicknamed "Xiaofei" on Chinese social networks
What is the significance of the name "Xiaofei", does anybody know?
A nickname - it literally means "little flyer".
And here it is! (photos from Xinhua News)
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#226
by
cjd
on 31 Oct, 2014 23:05
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#227
by
savuporo
on 31 Oct, 2014 23:09
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for some reason this picture looks a lot like they are checking if the chimp is OK...
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#228
by
Galactic Penguin SST
on 31 Oct, 2014 23:17
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Some key re-entry events as reported by
http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2014/11-01/6739528.shtml:
(all times in UTC)
21:53 - descent capsule separation at 5000 km from Earth
21:56 - main satellite bus performs burn to move away from capsule and goes back into high Earth orbit
22:10 - descent capsule enters re-entry attitude
22:12 - descent capsule enters 1st black-out as it dips into the atmosphere at 120 km altitude
22:15 - descent capsule exits 1st black-out on short ascent period
22:22 - descent capsule enters 2nd black-out
22:26 - descent capsule exits 2nd black-out
22:32 - parachute deployment at 10 km high
22:42 - touchdown
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#229
by
Steven Pietrobon
on 31 Oct, 2014 23:21
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Congratulations to China for the first successful capsule to return from around the Moon in over 38 years! That was Luna 24 which returned on 22 August 1976 (I was in Grade 7 in primary school then). Of course, Luna 24 was returning samples from the Lunar surface, which the Chinese have yet to do. In terms of a similar mission profile, this was last achieved by Zond 8 which returned on 27 October 1970, just over 44 years ago.
Looks like one side is scorched a lot more than the other sides. Is that normal for capsules of this type?
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#230
by
Galactic Penguin SST
on 31 Oct, 2014 23:23
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for some reason this picture looks a lot like they are checking if the chimp is OK...
Unfortunately the hatch is too small to fit in a chimp....
(I think some Chinese private company did put in kits carrying bacteria and plants for the ride around the Moon though)
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#231
by
Dalhousie
on 31 Oct, 2014 23:37
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for some reason this picture looks a lot like they are checking if the chimp is OK...
Unfortunately the hatch is too small to fit in a chimp....
(I think some Chinese private company did put in kits carrying bacteria and plants for the ride around the Moon though)
So was this effectively a life support system test as well?
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#232
by
Dalhousie
on 01 Nov, 2014 00:02
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#233
by
Phillip Clark
on 01 Nov, 2014 00:17
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The successful recovery of the descent module is excellent news - congratulations to China!
Now to see what they do with the DFH-3A derived bus.
I am lousy at scaling, but the descent module looks to be about 1 metre diameter and 1 metre high, so about 1/3rd scale of the Shenzhou descent module.
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#234
by
Lsquirrel
on 01 Nov, 2014 01:08
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The successful recovery of the descent module is excellent news - congratulations to China!
Now to see what they do with the DFH-3A derived bus.
I am lousy at scaling, but the descent module looks to be about 1 metre diameter and 1 metre high, so about 1/3rd scale of the Shenzhou descent module.
the orbiter has maneuvered, transfer to moon
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#235
by
elakdawalla
on 01 Nov, 2014 01:33
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#236
by
cscott
on 01 Nov, 2014 01:37
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Looks like one side is scorched a lot more than the other sides. Is that normal for capsules of this type?
I'm not a rocket scientist but...
I believe the capsule is deliberately weighed so that one side always flies "down". The asymmetric COG allows trajectory corrections via rotating the craft. From wiki:
The Apollo Command Module reentered with the center of mass offset from the center line; this caused the capsule to assume an angled attitude through the air, providing a sideways lift to be used for directional control. Rotational thrusters were used to steer the capsule under either automatic or manual control by changing the lift vector.
You'd expect the "down" side to be charred more.
See the SpaceX dragon for instance:
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#237
by
Dalhousie
on 01 Nov, 2014 01:56
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#238
by
Dalhousie
on 01 Nov, 2014 02:55
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#239
by
satwatcher
on 01 Nov, 2014 06:48
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There's a good video that explains the usage of lift during the Soyuz reentry
here.
Another, perhaps even better video, deals with the skip reentry used on Apollo,
.
Also, see the
Apollo 11 Flight Journal at 191:58:13 where Ron Evans explains the backup procedure for the CM attitude during reentry to Mike Collins, as the landing point had to be moved up range due to thunderstorms at the original landing point.
191:58:13 Evans: Okay, Mike. Of course, this is in the event the G&N and the EMS quits and you have to fly the constant-g; and what we're trying to do is to extend the constant-g range from 1,100 to 1,500 miles. We've run this procedure in the simulator, and it works fine. Basically, I'll go through it - just go through it, and then if you have any questions, come back. But it's the same lift vector up until Max g, and then lift vector down, and then modulate the lift vector until g-dot goes to zero. Okay, this procedure is essentially the same so far. And then hold g-dot zero until you pass the Retro elapsed time of V-circular; and then after you pass this Retro elapsed time of V-circular, roll to a gimbal angle of 45 degrees, and then hold this constant bank angle of 45 degrees until you come to the Retro elapsed time of drogues. Over.
