This star is going to the moon

Chapter 478 The American: "Where is our... lunar rover?" (Part 2)

Rowoon's fans and those who pay close attention to him have noticed that he has been appearing in public more and more frequently since the completion of his TV series, either attending conferences or giving news interviews.

Unlike when filming a movie, where you disappear once you're on set.

Just like now, the "Wu Gang 2" lunar lander has successfully landed in the designated landing area and released the "Yutu 5" and "Yutu 6" lunar rovers.

Then Lu Yun immediately spoke up.

"After organizational decision, the landing site of the Wu Gang 2 lunar lander was named 'Tian A' Base."

"This name also comes from the Twenty-Eight Mansions of ancient astronomy. 'Tian'a' belongs to the 'Pleiades' in the White Tiger constellation, meaning 'river in the sky.' We hope it can find a water source suitable for human habitation in the new impact crater..."

While foreign netizens were still researching when Lu Yun announced his name, domestic netizens immediately recognized it.

Haha, it's great to have such a rich collection of ancient myths!

Ancient astronomers were quite prescient; they prepared names for our space exploration long ago, and they sound very cultured.

To be fair, the person who first came up with the idea of ​​linking spaceflight with ancient mythology was definitely a genius!

[Since unmanned lunar exploration uses the Twenty-Eight Mansions constellation, does that mean we're going to deploy more than fifty lunar rovers on the moon?]

Good heavens, over fifty vehicles! Are they planning to create a steel torrent on the moon?

[Terrifying!]

[It's impossible to have more than fifty vehicles. I don't think that many are needed. Besides, the standard isn't 28 constellations corresponding to 56 vehicles, since the three vehicles from Chang'e 4 and Wu Gang 1 were in the same constellation.]

[Wow, if the number doubles again, wouldn't that mean there would be a hundred cars?]

[Haha, who knows what will happen later? But why isn't the base named "Wuche" this time? It's also a constellation name, and we currently have exactly five lunar rovers operating on the moon—the numbers match perfectly!]

How many lunar rovers are there on the moon? Is five a lot or a little?

Upon seeing that some laypeople didn't understand, space enthusiasts immediately began to explain the science.

Thanks to the explosive growth of China's space program and Lu Yun's efforts, the status of space enthusiasts has risen considerably in recent years, leading to their increasing activity online.

With their increased activity and the support of this trend, more and more newcomers are getting into the "space hobby".

Although many countries have explored the moon, very few have successfully sent lunar rovers to the moon.

There are currently three.

And one of them died.

That is, the old bear, the old American, and the old Chinese.

As for Xiong Da, who inherited the legacy, it has not yet sent a lunar rover to the moon.

And before Lu Yun sent the latest four lunar rovers to the moon, there were only eight lunar rovers in total on the moon.

Among them are two unmanned lunar rovers belonging to the Old Bear.

Three manned lunar rovers operated by the Americans.

The three unmanned lunar rovers operated by Laos and China are Yutu, Jinchan, and Yutu-2.

With the addition of these four new lunar rovers from Bluestar Space, China now has two more lunar rovers than the other two countries combined.

Furthermore, the lunar rovers of the US and China are all immobile, while China has five rovers that are still operational and are simultaneously roaming on both the near and far sides of the moon!
It's important to know that lunar rovers are a technologically complex and demanding research and development mission.

Strictly speaking, it actually belongs to robotics technology.

Of course, the main focus is on unmanned lunar rovers.

A manned lunar rover is a vehicle driven by astronauts that travels on the lunar surface.

Primarily used to expand the range of activities for astronauts and reduce their physical exertion, it can store rock and soil samples collected by astronauts at any time.

Each wheel of this type of lunar rover is driven by an engine powered by batteries. The tires remain elastic even at temperatures as low as -100 degrees Celsius. Astronauts operate the rover with handles, allowing it to move forward, backward, turn, and climb slopes.

The three manned lunar rovers of the United States were like this; after the astronauts drove them for twenty or thirty kilometers, they were "abandoned".

Because all three manned lunar rovers use disposable batteries that cannot be recharged.

Unmanned lunar rovers, on the other hand, have a much wider variety of features.

In addition to basic driving capabilities, they also need to have a certain level of intelligent systems and the ability to independently handle various environments.

Because of the great distance, scientists were unable to process the feedback information through real-time remote control.

Therefore, unmanned lunar rovers need to be equipped with several sensors. After learning about the surrounding environment, their own attitude, and position, they can generate a three-dimensional terrain map through ground or in-vehicle devices, then edit the direction, draw the path to the target point, and navigate and control the lunar rover to the destination.

These are all similar to the functions of modern robots.

However, these functions alone are not enough for a lunar rover.

They are robots that perform exploration missions in the special environment of space, possessing both the attributes of robots and the characteristics of spacecraft.

Unlike industrial robots, medical robots, and household robots used on the ground.

"Lightweight, small size, and low power consumption" has always been the golden rule of spacecraft design, and it is referred to as the "three conventional criteria" in the recent evaluation indicators of aerospace superior products.

Furthermore, the longer the journey, the higher the requirements, and the lighter, smaller, and lower the requirements for the mass, size, and power consumption of the lunar probe.

A lunar rover is a mobile platform that carries several payloads, such as exploration instruments or excavation and sampling devices.

These devices and apparatuses must be miniaturized and lightweight.

Lunar rovers typically serve as payloads for lunar orbiters, which in turn serve as payloads for launch vehicles, housed in a small-diameter fairing at the top of the rocket.

Therefore, lunar rovers are generally designed to be foldable in order to minimize their launch size.

Like the Yutu lunar rover, when it is launched, its two solar panels and camera telescopic rods fold up, turning itself into a "square box".

The American manned lunar rover folded even more drastically, folding up its chassis and wheels.

In addition, the power source for the lunar rover is hard-won, and the area and mass of solar cells that generate electricity are directly proportional to the amount of power consumed.

If disposable batteries are used, the weight is directly proportional to the usage time. In order to reduce the weight, the power consumption must also be reduced.

Therefore, the design of lunar rovers must make full use of microelectronic devices, micromechanics, and lightweight materials, and breakthroughs should be made in the development and application of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) lunar rovers.

When officially accepting the mission, the lunar exploration project team will set requirements for the lunar rover's mass, size, and power consumption, which must be developed according to the specified technical specifications.

The lunar rover must also adapt to the unique space environment, including the mechanical environment and the space environment. The mechanical environment refers to the impacts, vibrations, overloads, and noise generated by the launch vehicle during the lunar rover's launch and ascent.

The impact of the braking rocket during lunar descent, overload, and multiple bounces and rolls that may occur during landing due to the use of airbags to cushion the impact.

The mechanisms and other moving parts on the lunar rover, such as the wheels and their drive and steering mechanisms, the antenna deployment and pointing mechanisms, and the mining robotic arm, must be ensured to be able to unfold and move smoothly after being stored and compressed under high vacuum conditions for more than 100 hours without being "welded" or stuck.

The lunar environment is even more complex.

The moon's gravity is one-sixth that of Earth, which means that something that weighs 60 kilograms on Earth will only weigh 10 kilograms on the moon.

Imagine lifting a 30-kilogram rock on the moon; once it's back on Earth, it weighs a whopping 180 kilograms!

He instantly became a superhuman.

Of course, the mass of the object remains unchanged.

Low gravity also makes the soil on the lunar surface very loose, which reduces the efficiency of the lunar rover.

Furthermore, the lunar surface is rugged, with rocks, impact craters, and slopes.

In this situation, the wheels designed must overcome numerous obstacles, neither slipping nor overturning, and must be able to move forward, backward, turn, and climb slopes with ease.

Therefore, lunar rovers are generally set to travel at a relatively slow speed for safety reasons.

The temperature on the lunar surface can reach as high as 150 degrees Celsius during the day and drop to as low as -180 degrees Celsius at night, with a temperature difference of more than 300 degrees Celsius.

In particular, the day and night on the moon each last for about 14 days.

These harsh conditions are unprecedented for spacecraft orbiting Earth. Ensuring the lunar rover operates normally under extreme temperature conditions over extended periods is a key technology that the lunar rover and lunar exploration project need to address.

The rapidly changing temperature environment on the moon causes rubber to age quickly, so lunar rover tires must use special materials to overcome the temperature differences, such as various alloys.

In addition, the tires of driverless cars and manned cars are different.

Most unmanned vehicles have tires made of ribbed metal plates, while the tires of the manned lunar rover in the United States are made of mesh made of metal wires, which have a certain degree of elasticity.

In addition, the types, energy, and intensity of radiation from the Earth-Moon and lunar surfaces are different.

For electronic components used on lunar rovers, especially highly integrated microelectronic devices that are particularly sensitive to radiation, appropriate radiation hardening measures should be taken.

Under such harsh conditions, because of the "first-mover disadvantage" of the US and China, their lunar rovers have completed their missions and can only watch China's lunar rovers wander around the moon. In fact, they know what's going on...

The Americans know what they're doing.

But... you can't have that much!
This kind of news is exactly what the US space conglomerate loves, just like its military-industrial complex often hypes up the "military threat" from China.

We can demand a lot of money from the White House and Congress!
Of course, the US military-industrial complex doesn't know what will happen in a few years; they'll find out then...

This is not a publicity stunt.

With the support of Louisiana, the US space consortium has now realized that the "space threat theory" from China no longer needs to be hyped up.

That's a real threat!

So when they approached the White House and Congress for money regarding the International Astronautical Congress and the lunar rover, Old Deng also asked a question.

"Our voyage..."

"Hey, where's our lunar rover?"

"Have we not had a lunar rover program all these years, and can we only watch as the Chinese lunar rover roams freely claiming territory on the moon?"

The NASA official broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing this, thinking that Old Deng must have meant to say, "Where is our aircraft carrier?"

Unfortunately, the Federation only has aircraft carriers in the Earth's oceans, not in space.

If there really were space-based aircraft carriers, things would be much easier.

So he carefully said, "Your Excellency, because we have already sent people to the moon, the Federation has paid much less attention to the moon in recent years, and has focused its main resources on Mars."

"After the renewed focus on the moon was launched with the 'Return to the Moon' program, support was concentrated on manned lunar landings, so unmanned lunar exploration is mainly being done by commercial space companies."

"However, the Federation's commercial lunar exploration companies have limited technology and funding, so their lunar rover will have to wait a few more years to launch..."

"several years?"

Old Deng raised his voice: "I've read your report. You said that in 2024, the Chinese might have more than 10 operational lunar rovers on the moon."

"You also said that having more than 10 lunar rovers would allow you to claim a lot of land for scientific research, and then collect mineral samples and build research bases under the guise of scientific research, while preventing people from other countries from sabotaging the experiments!"

"Everyone knows that this is a de facto declaration of sovereignty!"

Are we just supposed to watch like this?

Upon hearing this, the NASA official broke out in a cold sweat.

"Well... we'll urge them to hurry!"

"We can still...we can still..."

NASA officials are urging their brains to come up with a solution!
Dead brain, think fast!

Hey!
He had a flash of inspiration!
"Your Excellency, next year we will conduct the maiden flight of the SLS lunar rocket and the unmanned lunar orbit test of the Orion spacecraft. I think we can install some monuments on the outside of the spacecraft and release them to fall on the moon after it reaches lunar orbit."

“We previously passed the Small Step for Human Heritage Act to protect our Apollo lunar landing site. The ostensible purpose was to prevent other countries and organizations from getting close to the Apollo lunar landing site, but it was actually a way of enclosing territory.”

“We can include those monuments in this bill as well. Although monuments can’t move like lunar rovers, at least we didn’t just watch the Chinese lunar rovers claim land. We’ve taken the lead in occupying some lunar territory.”

"..."

Old Deng was clearly not satisfied with this approach, especially since the bill was passed during Trump's presidency, and the "One Small Step" bill does not have the force of international law, nor can it bind powerful nations; at best, it only adds more wrangling.

But now... as long as we can argue it over, that's fine.

After seeing off the NASA officials, Old Deng started working, and as evening approached, he received some messages from the Chinese side that had been circulating during the day.

One of the messages completely stunned him!

The Lao-Chinese Space Agency will receive a mass-produced wooden kite space shuttle to replace the Shenzhou manned spacecraft and Tianzhou cargo spacecraft!

[A representative from the Lao-Chinese space agency stated that, in order to cope with the new situation of the future space age, the seven order controllers of the nation's highest "Big Dipper" constellation—Tian Shu, Tian Xuan, Tian Ji, Tian Quan, etc.—may take turns traveling into space in a space shuttle, because only by actually being in space can one truly assess the situation...]

"???"

(End of this chapter)