Scientific objectives and payloads of Tianwen-1, China’s first Mars exploration mission

This paper describes the scientific objectives and payloads of Tianwen-1, China’s first exploration mission to Mars. An orbiter, carrying a lander and a rover, lifted-off in July 2020 for a journey to Mars where it should arrive in February 2021. A suite of 13 scientific payloads, for in-situ and remote sensing, autonomously commanded by integrated payload controllers and mounted on the orbiter and the rover will study the magnetosphere and ionosphere of Mars and the relation with the solar wind, the atmosphere, surface and subsurface of the planet, looking at the topography, composition and structure and in particular for subsurface ice. The mission will also investigate Mars climate history. It is expected that Tianwen-1 will contribute significantly to advance our scientific knowledge of Mars.     

火星探测无人机任务规划与建模分析

利用无人机进行火星探测, 具有探测范围广、可看到地形变化等优点. 介绍了火星探测无人机总体任务规划的情况, 讨论了探测无人机在火星与地球上飞行的区别, 建立了火星探测无人机纵向非线性模型, 并在平衡点对非线性模型进行泰勒展开, 得到线性化模型. 通过对线性模型的进一步分析, 掌握了火星探测无人机的稳态性能及飞行特点.      

火星探测的微波遥感技术

从微波遥感的角度出发,综述目前国际上对火星的探测现状,列出对微波遥感探测有影响的火星表层土壤、岩层的结构、分布及其介电特性等参数的已有研究结果,分析对火星地壳表层水(或冰)存在可能性及其分布状态的研究动向.结合地球表面微波遥感技术的最新进展,提出用主动与被动微波遥感探测火星表面浅层土壤物质状态和分层结构的可行性分析,初步研讨了火星表层是否有水(或冰)存在的探测方案.      

一种火星多模式组合探测任务设想

针对火星探测科学发现及任务创新需求,探索更先进的探测模式,提出了一种火星多模式组合探测任务设想。该任务设想的特点在于结合了轨道环绕、表面着陆、多点穿透和浮空探测,获取立体多层多源信息,一次任务实现深度科学探测。对火星开展多模式组合探测,不仅会开拓更加具有优势的火星探测新方式,发展新的探测能力和技术,也会加深对火星的全面了解,提高探测活动的综合效果。多模式探测设想不仅适用于火星,对金星、土星等地外天体探测也有很好的支撑作用。     

中国首次火星探测任务科学目标与有效载荷配置

中国首次火星探测任务将于2020年实施,科学目标和有效载荷配置是工程任务的重要顶层设计之一。简要回顾了国外已实施火星探测任务的主要科学目标,介绍了我国首次火星探测任务科学目标、有效载荷配置,分析了科学目标的创新性和特色。     

火星生命探测中一种潜在的生物标志物磷酸盐

地外生命探索是国际上广泛关注的深空探测重要目标之一.中国第一个火星探测器天问一号成功发射,开启了对火星表面形貌、生命迹象等进行科学探索的旅程.作为太阳系中与地球最为相似的星球,火星带给人类无穷的遐想.火星上是否存在生命,未来人类是否可以移民火星,磷作为重要的生命元素,在生命的整个进化过程具有不可替代的作用.磷酸盐可以作...     

Development Progress of China's First Mars Exploration Mission: Its Scientific Objectives and Payloads

China's first Mars exploration mission is scheduled to be launched in 2020. It aims not only to conduct global and comprehensive exploration of Mars by use of an orbiter but also to carry out in situ observation of key sites on Mars with a rover. This mission focuses on the following studies:topography, geomorphology, geological structure, soil characteristics, water-ice distribution, material composition, atmosphere and ionosphere, surface climate, environmental characteristics, Mars internal structure, and Martian magnetic field. It is comprised of an orbiter, a lander, and a rover equipped with 13 scientific payloads. This article will give an introduction to the mission including mission plan, scientific objectives, scientific payloads, and its recent development progress.      

Exobiology revisited

The term “Exobiology” was introduced about 25 years ago, at a time when intensive discussions were under way concerning plans for the biological exploration of Mars. The search for life on Mars was to be a critical test of the concept of chemical evolution- not an end in itself. After the Viking mission, when it became apparent that prospects were dim for the discovery of extraterrestrial life within our solar system, many people concluded that this new field of endeavor would soon expire. Quite the contrary, over the past decade, the field has broadened considerably into a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the circumstances that led to the origin of life and the interplay between the evolution of this planet and its biota.     

A mars communication constellation for human exploration and network science

This paper analyses the possibility of exploiting a small spacecrafts constellation around Mars to ensure a complete and continuous coverage of the planet, for the purpose of supporting future human and robotic operations and taking advantage of optical transmission techniques. The study foresees such a communications mission to be implemented at least after 2020 and a high data-rate requirement is imposed for the return of huge scientific data from massive robotic exploration or to allow video transmissions from a possible human outpost.     

中国首次火星探测任务地面应用系统

中国首次火星探测任务(HX-1)计划2020年通过一次发射实现火星环绕和着陆巡视,对火星开展全球性、综合性的环绕探测,在火星表面开展区域巡视探测。地面应用系统是首次火星探测任务工程五大系统之一,主要负责科学探测计划制定,有效载荷运行管理,探测数据的接收、处理、解译和管理,组织开展科学数据的应用和研究等任务。在分析国外类似系统和火星探测地面应用系统的特点和难点基础上,从系统的主要任务和技术指标出发,介绍了系统总体布局、分系统主要功能、组成和设计。     

地基行星大气掩星观测资料流程和数据整理

在中国火星探测萤火一号(YH-1)计划中, 包括了地基掩星观测反演火星大气的科研任务. 观测资料整理是反演流程的第一步. 本文描述了地基火星大气掩星观测处理软件系统的观测数据流程和观测资料整理模块,并详细介绍了观测资料整理模块的结构和功能, 其中包括时间系统转换、历表插值、坐标系变换、信号时延改正以及掩星平面建立. 利用行星数据系统公布的火星快车无线电科学数据和由SPICE得到的地球、火星历表以及火星快车的轨道数据, 结合本文的算法, 得到了一些实验结果.      

Scientific Objectives and Payloads of Chinese First Mars Exploration

China plans to implement the first Mars exploration mission in 2020. It will conduct global and comprehensive exploration of Mars and high precision and fine resolution detection of key areas on Mars through orbiting, landing and roving. The scientific objectives include studying the Martian morphology and geological structure characteristics, studying the soil characteristics and the water-ice distribution on the Martian surface, studying the material composition on the Martian surface, studying the atmosphere ionosphere and surface climate and environmental characteristics of Mars, studying the physical field and internal structure of Mars and the Martian magnetic field characteristics. The mission equips 12 scientific payloads to achieve these scientific objectives. This paper mainly introduces the scientific objectives, exploration task, and scientific payloads.      

Exobiological exploration of Mars.

Of all the other planets in the solar system, Mars remains the most promising for further elucidating concepts about chemical evolution and the origin of life. Strategies were developed to pursue three exobiological objectives for Mars exploration: determining the abundance and distribution of the biogenic elements and organic compounds, detecting evidence of an ancient biota on Mars, and determining whether indigenous organisms exist anywhere on the planet. The three strategies are quite similar and, in fact, share the same sequence of phases. In the first phase, each requires global reconnaissance and remote sensing by orbiters to select sites of interest for detailed in situ analyses. In the second phase, lander missions are conducted to characterize the chemical and physical properties of the selected sites. The third phase involves conducting "critical" experiments at sites whose properties make them particularly attractive for exobiology. These critical experiments would include, for example, identification of organics, detection of fossils, and detection of extant life. The fourth phase is the detailed analysis of samples returned from these sites in Earth-based laboratories to confirm and extend previous discoveries. Finally, in the fifth phase, human exploration is needed to establish the geological settings for the earlier findings or to discover and explore sites that are not accessible to robotic spacecraft.     

The implantation of life on Mars: feasibility and motivation.

Environmental conditions on Mars are extremely hostile, and would be destructive to any organisms which might arrive there unprotected to-day. However, it is a biocompatible planet. Its unalterable astrophysical parameters would allow the maintenance of a much thicker, warmer carbon dioxide atmosphere than that which currently exists. Though very cold (averaging about -60 degrees C), highly oxidizing and desiccated, Mars may possess substantial quantities of the materials needed to support life--in particular, water and carbon dioxide. A general scenario for implanting life on Mars would include three main phases: (1) robotic and human exploration to determine whether sufficiently large and accessible volatile inventories are available; (2) planetary engineering designed to warm the planet, release liquid water and produce a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere; and (3) if no indigenous Martian organisms emerge as liquid water becomes available, a program of biological engineering designed to construct and implant pioneering microbial communities able to proliferate in the newly clement, though still anaerobic, Martian environment. The process of establishing an ecosystem, or biosphere, on a lifeless planet is best termed 'ecopoiesis.' This new word, derived from Greek, means 'the making of an abode for life.' It is by no means clear whether ecopoiesis on Mars is scientifically possible or technologically achievable. Thus we urge that it be one of the objectives of space research during the next century to assess the feasibility of ecopoiesis on Mars.     

Planetary protection issues in advance of human exploration of Mars.

Current planetary quarantine considerations focus on robotic missions and attempt a policy of no biological contamination. The presence of humans on Mars, however, will inevitably result in biological contamination and physical alteration of the local environment. The focus of planetary quarantine must therefore shift toward defining and minimizing the inevitable contamination associated with humans. This will involve first determining those areas that will be affected by the presence of a human base, then verifying that these environments do not harbor indigenous life nor provide sites for Earth bacteria to grow. Precursor missions can provide salient information that can make more efficient the planning and design of human exploration missions. In particular, a robotic sample return mission can help to eliminate the concern about returning samples with humans or the return of humans themselves from a planetary quarantine perspective. Without a robotic return the cost of quarantine that would have to be added to a human mission may well exceed the cost of a robotic return mission. Even if the preponderance of scientific evidence argues against the presence of indigenous life, it must be considered as part of any serious planetary quarantine analysis for missions to Mars. If there is life on Mars, the question of human exploration assumes an ethical dimension.     

Mars Sample Return: Do Australians trust NASA?

Mars Sample Return (MSR) represents an important scientific goal in space exploration. Any sample return mission will be extremely challenging from a scientific, economic and technical standpoint. But equally testing, will be communicating with a public that may have a very different perception of the mission. A MSR mission will generate international publicity and it is vital that NASA acknowledge the nature and extent of public concern about the mission risks and, perhaps equally importantly, the public’s confidence in NASA’s ability to prepare for and manage these risks. This study investigated the level of trust in NASA in an Australian population sample, and whether this trust was dependent on demographic variables. Participants completed an online survey that explored their attitudes towards NASA and a MSR mission. The results suggested that people believe NASA will complete the mission successfully but have doubts as to whether NASA will be honest when communicating with the public. The most significant finding to emerge from this study was that confidence in NASA was significantly (p < 0.05) related to the respondent’s level of knowledge regarding the risks and benefits of MSR. These results have important implications for risk management and communication.     

Critical issues in connection with human missions to Mars: protection of and from the Martian environment.

Human missions to Mars are planned to happen within this century. Activities associated therewith will interact with the environment of Mars in two reciprocal ways: (i) the mission needs to be protected from the natural environmental elements that can be harmful to human health, the equipment or to their operations; (ii) the specific natural environment of Mars should be protected so that it retains its value for scientific and other purposes. The following environmental elements need to be considered in order to protect humans and the equipment on the planetary surface: (i) cosmic ionizing radiation, (ii) solar particle events; (iii) solar ultraviolet radiation; (iv) reduced gravity; (v) thin atmosphere; (vi) extremes in temperatures and their fluctuations; and (vii) surface dust. In order to protect the planetary environment, the requirements for planetary protection as adopted by COSPAR for lander missions need to be revised in view of human presence on the planet. Landers carrying equipment for exobiological investigations require special consideration to reduce contamination by terrestrial microorganisms and organic matter to the greatest feasible extent. Records of human activities on the planet's surface should be maintained in sufficient detail that future scientific experimenters can determine whether environmental modifications have resulted from explorations.     

我国首次火星探测任务

我国首次火星探测任务于2016年立项实施。综合介绍了国际火星探测的历史和现状,我国首次火星探测任务的工程目标和科学目标、总体技术方案、关键技术难点、预期创新成果。我国首次火星探测任务将通过一次发射,实现火星环绕和着陆巡视,对火星开展全球性普查和局部的精细探测,推进火星地形地貌与地质构造、土壤特征与水冰分布、表明物质组成、大气电离层和气候环境、物理场与内部构造等方面的研究。实现火星探测任务目标,针对火星探测面临的各种特殊环境,需突破长期自主管理与控制等8类关键技术,取得的一系列创新成果,将为我国建立独立自主的深空探测基础工程体系,掌握深空探测基础共性技术,形成开展深空探测的基础工程能力。     

Planetary protection program for Mars 94/96 mission.

Mars surface in-situ exploration started in 1975 with the American VIKING mission. Two probes landed on the northern hemisphere and provided, for the first time, detailed information on the martian terrain, atmosphere and meteorology. The current goal is to undertake larger surface investigations and many projects are being planned by the major Space Agencies with this objective. Among these projects, the Mars 94/96 mission will make a major contributor toward generating significant information about the martian surface on a large scale. Since the beginning of the Solar System exploration, planets where life could exist have been subject to planetary protection requirements. Those requirements accord with the COSPAR Policy and have two main goals: the protection of the planetary environment from influence or contamination by terrestrial microorganisms, the protection of life science, and particularly of life detection experiments searching extra-terrestrial life, and not life carried by probes and spacecrafts. As the conditions for life and survival for terrestrial microorganisms in the Mars environment became known, COSPAR recommendations were updated. This paper will describe the decontamination requirements which will be applied for the MARS 94/96 mission, the techniques and the procedures which are and will be used to realize and control the decontamination of probes and spacecrafts.