Photo: China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
China has taken another important step toward its first Mars fact-finding mission, Tianwen-1. The Long March-5 Y4, the probe-carrying carrier rocket, was transported vertically to the launch pad at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China’s Hainan province on Friday morning before the scheduled launch for late July and early August, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
According to a CNSA press release the Global Times reached on Friday, the Y4 Long March-5 rocket arrived at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in late May this year, and has completed the preparatory work, including assembly tests and pre-launch.
On Friday morning, the shuttle rocket was transferred to the launch area after a smooth deployment from the assembly building, which took about two hours, the CNSA said.
The propeller will be injected into the rocket after further functional checks and final inspections. And then the rocket will be launched according to the schedule.
The minimum distance between Mars and Earth is about 55 million km, and the two planets only get closer every 26 months, said space industry giant China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the mission’s contractor, to the Global Times in June. . The Mars exploration window is open between July and August.
Infographic: GT
The final launch date of China’s Mars research mission will be determined by environmental factors, including weather conditions, the distance from Earth to Mars, and the overall state of the launch center, as well as a small but more decisive factor, Pre-launch technical readiness inspection, Wang Ya’nan, editor-in-chief of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times on Friday.
There should be no rain, with ground wind speeds of less than 8 meters per second and horizontal visibility of more than 20 kilometers, Beijing-based space expert Pang Zhihao told the Global Times.
Also, from eight hours before launch to one hour after launch, 30 to 40 kilometers from surrounding areas should be free of thunder activity, and wind speeds should be weaker than 70 meters per second in skies 3-18 kilometers over the launch area, Pang said, noting that winds 8 to 15 kilometers above the ground would affect the rocket’s flight pattern.
A difference in wind speed in the upper and lower air could skew the rocket’s body, leading to failure, he said.
The UAE’s mission to Mars has been rescheduled for launch between July 20-22, the UAE government announced Thursday.
The launch of Japan’s Hope probe was postponed twice this week due to unstable weather at its launch site on the Japanese island of Tanegashima.
“Weather conditions in Hainan are generally better than those in Japan. That was one of the factors that China considered when deciding to build the launch center on the southern island of Hainan,” said Wang.
The mission will mark the first launch of the Long March-5 app, currently the strongest member of the Chinese carrier rocket family. It will be the first launch of a Chinese rocket into the Earth-Mars transfer orbit.
The Mars Fact Finding Mission Tianwen-1 was approved by the Chinese authorities in January 2016 and aims to orbit, land, and traverse the Red Planet in a single mission.
The next launch will be the fourth flight of the Long March-5, following the successful return of the next-generation rocket in late 2019, more than two years after a launch failure in July 2017 in the second test of the rocket. flight due to engine problems.
Earlier Tuesday, media reported that the spacecraft developer, the Chinese Academy of Space Technology, had revealed the Mars probe that had arrived at the Wenchang Space Launch Center.
Space experts expressed confidence in the success of the Mars mission in China, as the country has accumulated rich experience from previous lunar probe missions, with the Chang’e-4 landing on the far side of the moon as the most outstanding.
“The relay communication technology applied on the Chang’e-4 mission will be particularly valuable to the Mars mission, overcoming the remote challenge for interplanetary spacecraft communication,” said Wang.
