Episode 75: China -back to the Moon with Chang’ E 4

One mission two spacecraft, China is going back to the Moon with
Chang'E 4 mission that I think is the most exciting lunar mission
since the 1970s. By the end of 2018, the China National Space
Administration (CNSA) will launch Chang'E 4 that will explore
the far side of the Moon with a lander and a rover. Since it is on
the other side of the Moon, it will be totally out of sight from
the Earth. To facilitate communication, a relay satellite will
be launched in advance of the lander/rover's arrival at the Moon.
In addition to engaging private sector companies in China, Chang’E
4 will include a significant level of international collaboration,
with payloads from Germany, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, and
Sweden. Ye Quan-Zhi is a postdoc astronomer who specialises in
small bodies in the solar system. Like me, he started off as an
amateur astronomer but now uses telescopes with apertures measured
in meters rather than inches!  In addition to his research, he
writes about space in the Planetary Society's blog.   As
a Chinese national, Quan-Zhi has an interest in and insight into
the Chinese Space Programme, and in this episode, we spoke about
the upcoming Chang'e E-4 mission and the prospects of collaboration
between India and China in space. Change' E 4 Mission - An overview
Relay Satellite Named as "Queqiao" or magpie bridge, it will be
launched in May 2018 and placed in the Earth/Moon L2 orbit (also
known as a halo orbit) about 60,000km from the Moon (450,000 km
from the Earth) in the opposite direction of the Earth. From there,
it will always have a line of sight to the far side of the Moon and
Earth at the same time. Its primary purpose is to act as a relay
providing all the communications from the Lander/Rover that will
land on the Moon in late 2018 or early 2019. The two
microsatellites from the Netherlands are called “Longjiang-1" and
"Longjiang-2”. They will enter an elliptical lunar orbit and
conduct low-frequency radio astronomy experiments. Lander &
Rover Due for launch in December 2018 or early 2019 The lander and
rover are backups to the highly successful 2013 Chang’E 3 mission.
Whilst identical in most respects, lessons learnt from Chang’E 3
have been incorporated in modifications to Chang’E 4. Lander •
Landing Camera (LCAM) • Terrain Camera (TCAM) • Low-Frequency
Spectrometer (LFS) to investigate radiation bursts from the sun and
cosmos. • Lunar Lander Neutrons and Dosimetry (LND), a neutron
detector from the University of Kiel in Germany • A mini "lunar
biosphere" experiment designed by 28 Chinese universities,
consisting of a 0.8 litre capacity enclosure weighing 3 kilograms.
The biosphere contains silkworm eggs and seeds for cress and
potatoes. Once on the lunar surface, this mini biosphere will
maintain a humidity and temperature (1 to 30 degrees centigrade)
whilst the lunar surface temperature varies from +100 to -100
degrees centigrade. An HD camera will live-stream from the lunar
surface, showing the hatching eggs and sprouting seeds during the
first two weeks of the mission. Rover • Panoramic Camera (PCAM) •
Ground penetrating radar (LPR) to investigate the lunar crust and
mantle • Visible and Near-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (VNIS),
for imaging spectroscopy • Advanced Small Analyser for
Neutrals (ASAN), to investigate how solar particles interacts with
the lunar surface.