The moon is born on the sea, and the end of the world is at this time!
The much-anticipated lunar miner Chang'e-6 has finally successfully returned, carrying 2 kilograms of lunar soil on the far side of the moon, which is also the first time in the world.
The successful return of Chang'e-6 can be said to have set a number of world records, not only becoming the first human to successfully land on the far side of the moon, but also becoming the first successful return of a lander on the far side of the moon.
All eyes are on it, and naturally any detail is targeted.
Especially in the process of returning, the lack of height of the second jump has become a point of criticism for many people.
So, is it really a technical problem with the Chang'e-6 return capsule? Or is it deliberate?
First, the height of the second jump of the Chang'e-6 return capsule is not enough
As we all know, the Chang'e-6 return capsule needs to fly more than 380,000 kilometers to return from the moon to Earth.
This distance is nearly 10 times the circumference of the Earth's equator, which can be described as very far away.
In the process of returning, because of the gravitational pull of the earth and the starting speed of the return capsule itself, the speed of return is getting faster and faster.
When approaching the Earth's atmosphere, the Chang'e-6 return capsule even reached a speed of 10.9 km/s, or Mach 31.
Many people have no concept of this speed, and in layman's terms, this speed is more than 30 times the speed of sound propagation.
And we all know that the faster the speed, the more serious the friction after entering the atmosphere, if you don't try to reduce the speed of the spacecraft, the return capsule will definitely burn up in the process of returning.
Therefore, our Chang'e uses the method of "playing the water" to return, that is, to enter-pop-enter again (how do you feel a bit obscene).
The benefits of this approach are numerous.
- First, it can reduce the weight of the heat-proof outsole outside the return capsule, and the return speed is slow, and the heat-proof armor can be thinner and lighter.
- Second, it can reduce the weight of the fuel carried by the return capsule, and the American return capsule mostly uses the engine thrust reverser to reduce the return speed, but this disadvantage is to carry more fuel.
Because the continent has successfully landed on the far side of the moon for the first time, it has higher requirements for success, and in order to prevent the return capsule from having any problems, the method of secondary bounce is adopted.
The specific method is simply divided into these steps.
- First, at a distance of 120 km above the Earth, you can enter the Earth's atmosphere at a small angle, because the angle is small and the speed is very fast, and after entering the atmosphere, it will "pop out" the atmosphere again, giving people the feeling of flying out again.
- Second, after ejection, the speed of the return capsule will drop rapidly, the speed will slow down and be captured by the earth's gravity, and it will return quickly, that is, re-entry.
- Thirdly, after re-entry, the speed will drop significantly, and the altitude will continue to decrease, and when it descends to a distance of about 10km from the ground, the parachute of the return capsule will be officially opened, and the return capsule will descend at a speed of 13 m/s, and finally successfully land.
Although the whole process looks quite simple, there are many problems, the return capsule needs to adjust the angle at all times, otherwise the flight altitude is not enough, and the ejection angle is insufficient, which will affect the final landing result.
You must know that when the return capsule jumped, it happened to "jump" from India to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau on the mainland, and after crossing the entire Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, it landed in Inner Mongolia.
If the angle is not right, the speed is wrong, and the height is wrong, it is very likely that you will not be able to "jump" from the territory of the mainland and fly to someone else's house.
Therefore, the whole return link can be said to be intolerant of "half a bit of sand".
But this time, there was still a "problem" in the return process, which was very different from the previous returns.
Under normal circumstances, after the capsule enters the atmosphere, it should jump out at a height beyond the "Kármán line", that is, it needs to be 100 km away from the earth.
But our Chang'e-6 return capsule jumped out at a height of only 90km.
In the simplest terms, it is "jumping" short.
Generally speaking, there must be a reason for this "unusualness", and many netizens believe that there is a technical problem and the angle of the return capsule is not adjusted correctly.
But in fact, the truth is not the case, it is very likely that the mainland has updated the new heat-resistant material of the return capsule, and it is also possible that the mainland has upgraded the material of the parachute of the return capsule.
These two material upgrades will allow us to return with heavier personnel or materials in the future, making our future manned lunar landing projects go more smoothly!
Second, the lunar soil of the Chang'e-6 return capsule will not be given to the United States
The successful landing of the return capsule has made scientists around the world excited, except for the United States.
The happiest scientists this time should be Europe and Pakistan, who followed the mainland to cooperate with Chang'e-6, which can be described as "lying to win", and have the opportunity to apply for a little lunar soil for research.
Originally, this was a "gift" from outer space, a "feast" for scientists around the world, and we are also a "country of etiquette", so it is actually normal to share some with other countries.
As a "satellite" accompanying the earth, the moon actually has a very high research value, especially the helium-3 on the moon, which is a very good nuclear fuel, and it can be said that with this energy source, there will be a steady stream of electricity.
For example, the gravitational attraction on the moon is very low, and if a permanent military base is established on the moon, a weapon can hit the land in a very short time, and it is difficult to stop.
So, scientists are obsessed with anything on the moon, especially lunar soil.
According to the situation of Chang'e-5, the United States is likely to still want our lunar soil this time, and will also use "righteousness" as a gimmick.
Although the United States has a lot of lunar soil, and even rocks on the moon, they do not have lunar soil on the far side of the moon.
The lunar soil contained in a place must contain different materials, and the one retrieved by Chang'e 5 on the mainland was recently found to have graphene, while the lunar soil in the United States has not been analyzed for so many years, indicating that the composition of lunar soil in different regions is different and the scientific value is different.
On the far side of the moon, people are most concerned about ice water at the moment, and once it is really certain that there is ice water, then it will be possible for human beings to continue to develop and even establish bases on the moon.
Therefore, whoever is the first to grasp the "secret" of the far side of the moon will have more initiative, so the lunar soil on the far side of the moon is indeed very significant.
It is also very normal for the United States to want such a major lunar soil, and during Chang'e-5, the mainland held a "review meeting on international loan of lunar samples", at which 10 foreigners from all over the world applied for research on lunar soil.
But five of the 10 are Americans, but the United States passed a so-called "Wolf Clause" as early as 2011, which means that it rejects any aerospace program from cooperating with the mainland.
The original purpose of this clause was to prevent us from learning the "advanced" aerospace technology of the United States, for fear that we would steal their knowledge.
It's a pity that now this clause can be said to make the United States "lift a stone to shoot itself in the foot", and it is embarrassing to want to "learn from us", and it is really too difficult to be rejected if you are cheeky...
But no matter how difficult it is, NASA wants to have this lunar soil, so during the Chang'e-5 mission, NASA wrote a special letter to report to the relevant units in the United States.
The meaning, "We want lunar soil, not against the rules, but so that American scientists can be on the same level as scientists in other countries."
Listen, these experts just have a level, and they are obviously quite "shy", but they say "righteous words".
At that time, these American experts worked so hard for the lunar soil of Chang'e-5, not to mention the world's first lunar soil on the back of the moon.
Therefore, this time they are basically "determined to win" and hope to go back to research and research a little bit.
Many people may say when they see this, they must not give, and the behavior of "stinky and shameless" cannot be supported.
But I personally think that the United States will eventually apply for some lunar soil, because we developed the moon itself for the sake of human beings all over the world.
It has to be said here that the mainland has had a "view of the overall situation" since ancient times.
Establish a heart for heaven and earth, and establish a life for the people.
For the sake of the saints, for the sake of eternal peace.
There are few such statements in other countries, let alone NASA.
Therefore, I personally think that in the end, I will still share some lunar soil on the far side of the moon with them, which is the confidence and strength, but it will definitely be after our research.
Third, the next lunar exploration will be dominated by continents
At present, the US plan to return to the moon has been blocked, and it is not known when it will be truly successful.
And our lunar exploration program is in full swing, which can be described as "one step at a time".
At present, the Chang'e-6 orbiter has flown away from the Earth for the next step of research, and the Chang'e-7 and Chang'e-8 missions have also begun preparations.
The mission of Chang'e-7 has been confirmed, and the main task is to find a source of water for the moon.
To this end, the mainland has signed contracts with Egypt and Bahrain, and in the next Chang'e-7 mission, the main thing is to find water.
The Chang'e-7 mission is located at the eternally dark south pole of the moon, where temperatures are very low and there is a high probability of icy water.
To this end, the mainland has developed a "flying vehicle", which adopts the method of "long legs", so that it can quickly move on the surface of the moon and finally find the material it wants.
Write at the end
The successful return of Chang'e-6 means that the mainland has entered a new starting point in the field of lunar exploration.
Nowadays, in the field of aerospace, we are no longer lagging behind, and we do not need to learn from other countries to learn and ask for advice, and the technology we have can already allow us to "command and guide" in this field.
Thousands of years ago, in the Tang Dynasty, foreigners did not have the right to give us alms, because they were not qualified, and at that time we were considered the center of the world, a big country where all nations came to drink.
Now, the wind of the times has finally begun to reverse, and the prosperity of all nations will also be witnessed in our generation!
Come on Chang'e, come on the motherland!