(correspondent: sun wei, zhang jing and liu qi) on january 3, 2019, the chang’e 4 lunar probe successfully landed on the far side of the moon for the first time through a range of movements such as orbit change and braking at perilune during its nearly one-month space flight. the feat of soft landing on the far side of the moon initiates a new chapter in lunar exploration. the successful launch of chang’e 4 and its soft landing have been supported by many technical products of haohua’s affiliated enterprises.
on the eve of the launch of chang’e 4, or at 4:00 a.m. on december 8, yuanwang 7 released zhuzhou institute’s exploration balloon, supplying an important meteorological guarantee for the smooth progress of the launch mission. as far as space mission is concerned, carrier rockets, construction of launching site, and favorable meteorological conditions are all indispensable. meteorological conditions serve as no reference but a “starting gun.” only when meteorological conditions for launching are met can a carrier rocket blast off into space. exploration balloon can rise to the high altitude to directly detect the meteorological environment. it carries a sonde that can rise to an altitude of 30,000 meters. in the entire process, the sonde, like a ct scanner, can scan layer by layer from low altitude to high altitude and send data of temperature, air pressure, air humidity, and wind direction and speed at different altitudes and longitude and latitude back to the ground through signals. thus, scientists and technicians can obtain key values of meteorological elements. previously, zhuzhou institute’s exploration balloons have provided “meteorological support” for several major national space missions such as shenzhou, tiangong, and chang’e.
together with chang’e 4, the two bright-colored five-star red national flags researched by the north paint & coatings industry research and design institute are made of the same special materials as those on chang’e 3. they have superb temperature-changing resistance and radiation resistance and can maintain their original color under the extreme environment of outer space. the national flag coating technology applied this time was proposed by lanzhou institute of physics, cast, and developed by the north paint & coatings industry research and design institute. the coatings can also be applied to subsequent mars rovers and space stations. over the past 50 years, various special coatings such as temperature-sensitive coatings and chemical milling protective coatings developed and produced by the north paint & coatings industry research and design institute have been widely applied in the fields of aerospace and electronic technology in china, laying a solid foundation for the development and scientific research of china’s aerospace industry.
in the implementation of chang’e 4 mission, the propellants and thermal working medium products provided by guangming institute have supported and played a critical role in the implementation of the mission. chang’e 4 finally achieved a soft landing after a variety of movements ranging from entering the earth-moon transfer orbit to implementing mid-way attitude adjustment and orbit change. the propellant used in the propulsion system, an important subsystem of chang’e 4, represents a special product independently developed by the scientific research center of guangming institute and a key product to ensure chang’e 4 can successfully land on the moon.
after the successful landing of chang’e 4, its lunar rover yutu 2 will carry out exploration tasks on the moon’s surface. the temperature difference between day and night on the moon’s surface exceeds 300℃. to ensure that the lander and the probe can normally work under extreme temperatures, chang’e 4 adopted a variable heat conduction pipe with a heat-controlled dual-phase fluid loop. the media filled in the heat-controlled loop and heat-conducted pipe include three kinds of thermal working medium products independently developed by the electron gas r&d center of guangming institute. the three products are key products to guarantee the normal work of chang’e 4 probe and yutu 2 rover. in recent years, dedicated propellants and thermal working medium products for aerospace developed by guangming institute have been successfully applied to spacecraft such as chang’e, tiangong, shenzhou spacecrafts, and communication satellites.
in the future, as china’s space industry continues to create the “chinese dreams,” china haohua’s affiliated enterprises will continuously practice the development concept of “science and technology development, innovation-driven development, and pursuit of excellence,” strive to achieve technological breakthroughs and product upgrading, and sync themselves to the development of china’s space industry.
