Performance of AIR Payloads onboard Chang’e-4 Satisfactory

The Chang’e-4 lunar probe that successfully landed on the dark side of the moon on January 3, 2019, also carried with two payloads developed by AIR research teams, the lunar penetrating radar (LPR) and the very low frequency radio spectrometer (VLFRS). Both the payloads have successfully begun their operations onboard the lunar probe, making China the first country conducting radio observation on the far side of the moon and filling the scientific gap of radio astronomical observations at the frequencies between 100KHz~10MHz.

In addition to observing low frequency signals from space even beyond the solar system, VLFRS can also be used to carry out research on the lunar surface. The technology was developed by the Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Radiation and Sensing Technology, a product of two-year hard labor. High-resolution surface penetrating radar onboard the Yutu-2 was also developed by the laboratory. It obtains the data about the moon soil and its depth, the distribution of boulders and lava tubes, and petro-geological structure of moon’s sub-surface. Thanks to decade-long efforts of the research team, the penetrating radar onboard the Chang’e-3 obtained, for the first time, on-the-spot data about the distribution and depth of lunar soil and geological structure of lunar subsurface layer using radar technology.

The Chang’e-4 mission is supported by several other technologies developed by researchers of the institute. For instance, the remote sensing operation of the Chang’e-4 uses technology and software for lunar surface environment sensing and precise navigation and positioning of the lunar rover, which were developed by the planetary remote sensing team of the State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science. The research team also worked at the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center to provide support regarding operations such as land positioning, 3-D terrain reconstruction, obstacle recognition, visual navigation of lunar rover.

The S-band and X-band continuous wave klystrons, were also developed by AIR’s Center for Microwave Devices and System Research and Development. The klystrons were used during the launching missions of Chang’e-3 and Chang’e-4 as key devices for their exploration systems.