Photon counting detector for space debris laser tracking and lunar laser ranging

We are reporting on a design, construction and performance of solid state photon counting detector package which has been designed for laser tracking of space debris. The detector has been optimized for top photon detection efficiency and detection delay stability. The active area of the commercially available avalanche photodiode manufactured on Si (SAP500 supplied by Laser Components, Inc.) is circular with a diameter of 500 μm. The newly designed control circuit enables to operate the detection sensor at a broad range of biases 5–50 V above its breakdown voltage of 125 V. This permits to select a right trade-off between photon detection efficiency, timing resolution and dark count rate. The photon detection efficiency exceeds 70% at the wavelength of 532 nm. This is the highest photon detection efficiency ever reported for such a device. The timing properties of the detector have been investigated in detail. The timing resolution is better than 80 ps r.m.s, the detection delay is stable within units of picoseconds over several hours of operation. The detection delay stability in a sense of time deviation of 800 fs has been achieved. The temperature change of the detection delay is 0.5 ps/K. The detector has been tested as an echo signal detector in laser tracking of space debris at the satellite laser station in Graz, Austria. Its application in lunar laser ranging is under consideration by several laser stations.     

China's Planning for Deep Space Exploration and Lunar Exploration before 2030

The current lunar exploration has changed from a single scientific exploration to science and resource utilization. On the basis of the previous lunar exploration, Chinese scientists and technical experts have proposed an overall plan to preliminarily build a lunar research station on the lunar South Pole by several missions before 2035, exploring of the moon, as well as the use of lunar platforms and in-site utilization of resources. In addition, China will also explore Mars, asteroids and Jupiter and its moons. This paper briefly introduces the ideas of Chinese scientists and technical experts on the lunar and deep space exploration.     

Latest Scientific Results of China's Lunar Exploration Program

Through the implementation of China's Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP), a large amount of data has been acquired. This paper will present the latest scientific results based on these data involving the composition, topography, space environment, subsurface structure of the Moon, and asteroid exploration and moon-based observations, etc.     

嫦娥探测器分段渐倾转移机构设计

巡视探测器转移机构是在地外空间环境执行巡视探测器转移释放任务的空间机构。与美国、苏联转移任务不同,中国探月工程（CLEP）二期着陆器采用腿式着陆缓冲机构及巡视器顶部搭载方式,转移任务沿着陆器周向展开距离及巡视器释放高度增加,转移难度增大。在设计阶段,转移机构是否符合探测任务严苛的工程约束及设计指标;在执行阶段,转移机构能否在月面非确知环境下正常展开、转移过程是否稳定可靠,是嫦娥探测器顺利完成探测任务的关键。为保障月球后续任务及火星探测任务中转移机构的设计需要,根据巡视器转移系统特点,以探月二期工程中首次探索并成功自主设计定型的嫦娥分段渐倾转移机构为例,对巡视器转移系统的组成、任务需求及设计约束予以阐述,并结合参研人员经验,对机构研制方案的选取、关键环节设计、工程状态及任务验证情况进行说明,以为后续工作及相关工程提供参考。     

月球探测器软着陆机构展开过程的运动学分析

软着陆机构是月球探测器实现软着陆的关键部件。针对一种四腿式软着陆机构方案,论述了该软着陆机构展开的工作原理,分析了机构的奇异性,推导了机构不发生奇异的条件,建立了展开机构的运动学方程组,采用Newton-Raphson法求解了该非线性运动学方程组,获得了主支撑杆运动参数的变化规律。     

基于非线性混合模型研究太空风化对月壤光谱的影响

月表太空风化会改变月壤光谱特征, 影响月壤元素遥感反演精度. 研究太空风化对月壤光谱的影响有助于开发月壤成熟度光谱解耦算法, 提高月壤成分遥感反演精度. 直接对比月壤风化前后光谱的变化能最真实反映太空风化对光谱的影响, 但无法获取未风化的月壤样品, 利用实验室模拟方法开展研究也存在缺陷. 本文提出了一种简便的方法来研究太空风化对月壤光谱的影响, 并以月海样品为例进行探讨. 利用Hapke模型对月海样品组成矿物光谱按照实测含量进行非线性混合, 并通过对比混合后的光谱与实测的月壤光谱, 研究太空风化过程对月壤光谱的影响. 研究结果表明, 月壤在遭受太空风化后反射率降低, 波长越短降低越显著; 月壤背景吸收斜率增大, 月壤变得更红, 月壤矿物特征吸收峰深度降低, 光谱对比度变弱, 长波吸收峰(2.0μm附近)深度降低程度超过短波吸收峰(1.0μm附近)深度. 未来在利用遥感技术反演月壤元素含量时, 必须考虑这些因素.     

“嫦娥一号”卫星的调相轨道设计

中国第一颗月球探测卫星"嫦娥一号"的飞行轨道的设计中采用了调相轨道,在"长征三号甲"运载火箭提供的超地球同步转移轨道与地月转移轨道之间增加了一段由周期为24h和48h轨道构成的环绕地球飞行的调相轨道。为了将几条不同的轨道精确地拼接起来,必须考虑地球引力场对轨道的摄动影响。克服这个难点的做法是基于经典的轨道摄动理论,先将整段调相轨道设计为考虑地球引力场J2项影响的平轨道,在与运载的发射轨道拼接时,先将运载的包括短周期摄动的瞬时轨道转换为平轨道,在与地月转移轨道拼接时将调相轨道转换成拼接点的瞬时轨道。由于采用了平轨道的处理方法使得轨道控制策略的表述十分简明并易于操作。     

Influence of lunar regolith compressibility on sampling performance of thick wall spiral drills

A 2 m class robotic drill was sent to the Moon and successfully collected and returned regolith samples in late 2020 by China. It was a typical thick wall spiral drill (TWSD) with a hollow auger containing a complex coring system to retain subsurface regolith samples. Before the robotic drill was launched, a series of laboratory tests were carried out to investigate and predict the possible drilling loads it may encounter in the lunar environment. This work presents how the sampling performance of the TWSD is affected by the regolith compressibility. Experiments and analysis during the drilling and sampling process in a simulated lunar regolith environment were conducted. The compressibility of a typical lunar regolith simulant (LRS) was measured through uni-directional compression tests to study the relationship between its inner regolith stress and bulk density. A theoretical model was established to elucidate the cutting discharge behavior by auger flights based on the aforementioned relationship. Experiments were conducted with the LRS, and the results show that the sampling performance is greatly affected by the flux of the drilled cuttings into the spiral flight channels. This work helped in scheduling reasonable drilling parameters to promote the sampling performance of the robotic drill in the Chinese Chang'E 5 mission.     

月球车的视觉和自主导航系统

基于当前对于月球车、火星登陆机器人等的研究结果，介绍了月球车的视觉系统、控制方案和路径规划方法，并提出了对于月球车的控制方案的见解和路径规划的一些方法。     

一种采用衰减记忆滤波的环月航天器自主导航方法研究

针对环绕月球运行的深卒探测航天器提出了一种新的自主导航方案，该方案是以两个环月航天器之间的相对位置矢量信息作为量测量，结合轨道动力学方程，对航天器的轨道自主估计确定，方案中考虑了符合实际的复杂摄动影响，并对描述动力学特性的数学模型与噪声的统计模型不准确而导致的滤波发散问题，提出利用一种经过衰减记忆改进的平方根非线性滤波（SRUKF）算法进行解决。对所提方案做了大量的计算机仿真，同时洋尽的分析和比较了由于衰减因子及采样周期变化所带来的影响。从仿真结果上看，衰减记忆滤波处理能够很好得抑制非线性状态转移条件下的滤波发散趋势。