First-round design of the flight scenario for Chang’e-2’s extended mission:take off from lunar orbit

Chang＇e-2, Chinese second lunar probe, was inserted into a 100 km altitude low lunar orbit on October 9th, 2010, its purpose is to continuously photograph the lunar surface and possibly chosen landing sites for future lunar missions. The probe will still carry considerable amount of propellant after completing all prescribed tasks in about six months. After the successful launch of Chang＇e-2, we began designing the probe＇s subsequent flight scenario, considering a total impulse of 1 100 m/s for takeoff from low lunar orbit and a maximum 3× 10^6 km distance for Earth-probe telecom- munication. Our first-round effort proposed a preliminary flight scenario that involves consecutive arrivals at the halo orbits around the Earth-Moon L1/L2 and Sun-Earth L1/L2 points, near-Earth asteroid flyby, Earth return, and lunar impact. The designed solution of Chang＇e-2＇s subsequent flight scenario is a multi-segment flight trajectory that serves as a reference for making the final decision on Chang＇e-2＇s extended mission, which is a flight to the Sun-Earth L2 point, and a possible scheme of lunar impact via Earth flyby after remaining at the Sun-Earth L2 point was also presented. The proposed flight trajectory, which possesses acceptable solution accuracy for mission analysis, is a novel design that effectively exploits the invariant manifolds in the circular restricted three-body problem and the patched-manifold-conic method.

Data Analysis of Chang'E-1 Gamma-Ray Spectrometer and Global Distribution of U,K,and Th Elemental Abundances

Gamma-ray spectrometer （GRS） is one of the main payloads on the Chang＇E-1 （CE-1） lunar probe, mainly aimed to detect the elemental abundances and distributions on the lunar surface. At 03：58 on 28 November 2007, it performed the first observation of the lunar gamma rays. As of 24 October 2008, 2105 h of effective gamma rays spectra had been acquired by CE-1 GRS, which covers the whole surface of the moon. This paper mainly describes the data processing procedures and methods of deriving the elemental abundances by using the CE-1 GRS time series corrected spectra： first, to bin data into pixels for mapping; then, to perform a background deduction of the cumulative spectra and obtain a peak area of the elements; and finally, to use the elemental abundances inversion model to produce the elemental abundances. Based on these processing methods, the global abundance maps of U, K, and Th at a 5°×5° equal-area pixel are acquired by CE-1 GRS data. The paper gives a preliminary analysis of the uncertainties of the elemental abundances.

Lunar Penetrating Radar onboard the Chang'e-3 mission

Lunar Penetrating Radar （LPR） is one of the important scientific instru- ments onboard the Chang＇e-3 spacecraft. Its scientific goals are the mapping of lunar regolith and detection of subsurface geologic structures. This paper describes the goals of the mission, as well as the basic principles, design, composition and achievements of the LPR. Finally, experiments on a glacier and the lunar surface are analyzed.

Mapping of the lunar surface by average atomic number based on positron annihilation radiation from Chang'e-1

A map of the average atomic number of lunar rock and soil can be used to differentiate lithology and soil type on the lunar surface.This paper establishes a linear relationship between the average atomic number of lunar rock or soil and the flux of position annihilation radiation(0.512-Me V gamma-ray) from the lunar surface.The relationship is confirmed by Monte Carlo simulation with data from lunar rock or soil samples collected by Luna(Russia) and Apollo(USA) missions.A map of the average atomic number of the lunar rock and soil on the lunar surface has been derived from the Gamma-Ray Spectrometer data collected by Chang'e-1,an unmanned Chinese lunar-orbiting spacecraft.In the map,the higher average atomic numbers(ZA > 12.5),which are related to different types of basalt,are in the maria region;the highest ZA(13.2) readings are associated with Sinus Aestuum.The middle ZA(~12.1) regions,in the shape of irregular oval rings,are in West Oceanus Procellarum and Mare Frigoris,which seems to be consistent with the distribution of potassium,rare earth elements,and phosphorus as a unique feature on the lunar surface.The lower average atomic numbers(ZA < 11.5)are found to be correlated with the anorthosite on the far side of the Moon.

Latest Scientific Results of China's Lunar and Deep Space Exploration(2022–2024)

China has successfully launched six lunar probes so far.From Chang'E-1 to Chang'E-4,they completed the circling,landing and roving exploration,of which Chang'E-4 was the first landing on the far side of the Moon in human history.Chang'E-5 was launched in December 2020,bringing back 1731 g of lunar soil samples.Through the detailed analysis of the samples,the scientists understand the history of late lunar volcanism,specifically extending lunar volcanism by about 800 million to 1 billion years,and proposed possible mechanisms.In addition,there are many new understandings of space weathering such as meteorite impacts and solar wind radiation on the Moon.China's first Mars exploration mission Tianwen-1 was successfully launched in July 2021.Through the study of scientific data,a number of important scientific achievements have been made in the topography,water environment and shallow surface structure of Mars.This paper introduces the main scientific achievements of Chang'E-4,Chang'E-5 and Tianwen-1 in the past two years,excluding technical and engineering contents.Due to the large number of articles involved,this paper only introduces part of the results.

Scheme design of the CHANG＇E-5T1 extended mission

Flight schemes for the CHANG＇E-5T1 extended mission are investigated in this paper.In the flight scheme and trajectory design, the remaining propellant of the CHANG＇E-5T1 mission is utilized. The CHANG＇E-5T1 mission is firstly introduced with feasible flight goals derived based on the terminal trajectory and satellite status. The flight schemes are designed to include a lunar return and the libration points in the Sun-Earth/Moon and Earth-Moon systems, with an emphasis on the Earth-Moon triangle libration point thus far unexplored. Secondly, three schemes are proposed for the CHANG＇E-5T1 extended mission with different flight goals. The direct libration point orbit transfer and injection method is adopted to solve the issue in the transfer trajectory design.Furthermore, an innovative concept is proposed to transfer from the Earth-Moon collinear libration point to the triangle point using the Sun-Earth/Moon libration point. Finally, the merits and drawbacks of the three schemes are discussed in terms of flight time, control energy and frequency, flight distance, and goal value. As a result, the scheme including a lunar return and the Earth-Moon L2 libration point is selected for the CHANG＇E-5T1 extended mission. A flight to the Earth-Moon libration point is achieved, replicating the achievement of the ARTEMIS mission.

Primary scientific results of Chang'E-1 lunar mission

The strategic plan for the development of the unmanned Chinese Lunar Exploration Program is characterized by three distinct stages: "orbiting around", "landing on" and "returning from" the Moon. The first Chinese lunar probe, Chang'E-1, which was successfully launched on October 24th, 2007 at Xichang Satellite Launch Center, and guided to crash on the Moon on March 1st, 2009, at 52.36°E, 1.50°S, in the north of Mare Fecunditatis, is the first step towards the "orbiting around" stage. The Chang'E-1 mission lasted 495 days, exceeding the expected life-span by about four months. A total of 1.37 TB raw data was received from Chang'E-1. It was then processed into 4 TB scientific data products at various levels. Many scientific results have been obtained by analyzing these data, including especially the "global lunar image from the first Chinese lunar explora- tion mission". All scientific goals of Chang'E-1 have been achieved. It provides much useful materials for further advances of lunar sciences and planetary chemistry. Meanwhile, these results will serve as a firm basis for future Chinese lunar missions.

The Chang’E-1 orbiter plays a distinctive role in China’s first successful selenodetic lunar mission

The first Chinese lunar orbiter Chang'E-1 is a successful mission with many fruitful results obtained in various disciplines. The scientific data acquired by the Chang'E-1 payloads can benefit studies of the lunar origin and evolution, as well as other relevant research areas, after careful validation of the data. Among the new results, the Chang'E-1 selenodetic products are continually uncovering characteristics of the lunar surface, undersurface and inner structure. Successful lunar orbiters such as the Clementine, Lunar Prospector, KAGUYA/SELENE, Chang'E-1, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and GRAIL have been revealing, with increasing clarity, global selenodetic characteristics with state-of-the-art fine resolution and high precision. In particular, the Chang'E-1 plays an important distinctive role in selenodetic exploration through enhancing lunar topography and gravity models. The gravity model has been successfully improved with a factor of two after applying the Chang'E-1 long-wavelength tracking data. Using the new models, some medium-scale lunar surface characteristics such as basins and volcanoes have been identified. Furthermore, the old mascon basins of Bouguer, gravity anomaly and craters have been discovered with the Chang'E-1 selenodetic data.

Inversion of the Main Mineral Compositions and Subdivision of Tectonic Units on Lunar LQ-4 based on Chang'e Data

Spectra are sensitive in detecting main minerals on the lunar surface from visible light to infrared light. Since spectral characteristics of minerals are closely related to their compositions and the maturity level of soil on the Moon, studying the compositions and distribution of elements and minerals on the lunar surface can help to understand the evolution of the Moon through remote sensing technology. The correlation between the spectral characteristics of Chang＇e-1 interference imaging spectrometry（IIM） reflectance images and the mineral contents of LSCC（Lunar Soil Characterization Consortium） lunar surface mineral samples was discussed and the spatial distributions of Fe O and Al_2O_3 contained in both pyroxene and plagioclase on LQ-4 were studied using the improved angle parameter method, MNF, and band ratio statistics. A comparison of the mapping results of the optical models by Lucey, Shkuractov and other researchers on Clementine and the gamma ray spectrometry data shows that the content error is within 0.6% for lunar mare areas and close to 1% for the highland areas. The tectonic framework on the lunar surface was also investigated. And based on integrated analysis of previous findings on topography of the lunar surface, Chang＇e LAM, CCD and LOLA images and the gravity anomalies data（Clementine GLGM-2）, the tectonic unit subdivision was established for LQ-4, the idea of subdividing the lunar tectonic units was proposed, and this will provide a good foundation for studying the lunar tectonic evolution.

Data preprocessing and preliminary results of the Moon-based Ultraviolet Telescope on the CE-3 lander

The Moon-based Ultraviolet Telescope （MUVT） is one of the payloads on the Chang＇e-3 （CE-3） lunar lander. Because of the advantages of having no at- mospheric disturbances and the slow rotation of the Moon, we can make long-term continuous observations of a series of important celestial objects in the near ultra- violet band （245-340 nm）, and perform a sky survey of selected areas, which can- not be completed on Earth. We can find characteristic changes in celestial brightness with time by analyzing image data from the MUVT, and deduce the radiation mech- anism and physical properties of these celestial objects after comparing with a phys- ical model. In order to explain the scientific purposes of MUVT, this article analyzes the preprocessing of MUVT image data and makes a preliminary evaluation of data quality. The results demonstrate that the methods used for data collection and prepro- cessing are effective, and the Level 2A and 2B image data satisfy the requirements of follow-up scientific researches.

Registration of Correspondent Points in the Stereo-Pairs of Chang'E-1 Lunar Mission Using SIFT Algorithm

In this article, an appropriate strategy for registration of correspondent points in the stereo-pairs of Chang’E-1 lunar mission has been introduced. It consists of area-based method and feature-based method as two steps. Firstly, one subimage was extracted from nadir image as reference image. Making use of area-based method, another subimage which is called target image can be obtained from backward or forward image overlapping the same region of lunar surface with reference image. Secondly, feature points of each subimage can be extracted by SIFT （scale invariant feature transform） algorithm. Lastly, for each feature point given in reference image, the position of correspondence in target image can be estimated according to the parameters of Chang’E-1 lunar orbiter. In contrast to standard SIFT matching algorithm, the method proposed in this article can narrow the search space and accelerate the speed of computation while achieving reduction of the percentage of false registration.

Laser altimetry data of Chang'E-1 and the global lunar DEM model

The Laser AltiMeter (LAM), as one of the main payloads of Chang'E-1 probe, is used to measure the topography of the lunar surface. It performed the first measurement at 02:22 on November 28th, 2007. Up to December 4th 2008, the total number of measurements was approximately 9.12 million, covering the whole surface of the Moon. Using the LAM data, we constructed a global lunar Digtal Elevation Model (DEM) with 3 km spatial resolution. The model shows pronounced morphological characteristics, legible and vivid details of the lunar surface. The plane positioning accuracy of the DEM is 445 m (1σ), and the vertical accuracy is 60 m (1σ). From this DEM model, we measured the full range of the altitude difference on the lunar sur-face, which is about 19.807 km. The highest point is 10.629 km high, on a peak between crater Korolev and crater Dirichlet-Jackson at (158.656°W, 5.441°N) and the lowest point is -9.178 km in height, inside crater Antoniadi (172.413°W, 70.368°S) in the South Pole-Aitken Basin. By comparison, the DEM model of Chang'E-1 is better than the USA ULCN2005 in accuracy and resolution and is probably identical to the DEM of Japan SELENE, but the DEM of Chang'E-1 reveals a new lowest point, clearly lower than that of SELENE.

Lunar topographic model CLTM-s01 from Chang’E-1 laser altimeter

More than 3 million range measurements from the Chang’E-1 Laser Altimeter have been used to produce a global topographic model of the Moon with improved accuracy. Our topographic model, a 360th degree and order spherical harmonic expansion of the lunar radii, is designated as Chang’E-1 Lunar Topography Model s01 (CLTM-s01). This topographic field, referenced to a mean radius of 1738 km, has an absolute vertical accuracy of approximately 31 m and a spatial resolution of 0.25° (～7.5 km). This new lunar topographic model has greatly improved previous models in spatial coverage, accuracy and spatial resolution, and also shows the polar regions with the altimeter results for the first time. From CLTM-s01, the mean, equatorial, and polar radii of the Moon are 1737103, 1737646, and 1735843 m, respectively. In the lunar-fixed coordinate system, this model shows a COM/COF offset to be (?1.777, ?0.730, 0.237) km along the x, y, and z directions, respectively. All the basic lunar shape parameters derived from CLTM-s01 are in agreement with the results of Clementine GLTM2, but CLTM-s01 offers higher accuracy and reliability due to its better global samplings.

The global image of the Moon obtained by the Chang'E-1:Data processing and lunar cartography

The global lunar image of the first phase of Chinese Lunar Exploration Program is the first image that covered all over the surface of the Moon. It will serve as a critical foundation for succeeding exploration and scientific research. In this paper, the acquisition, characteristics, and data quality of Chang'E-1 CCD image data are described in detail. Also described are the methodology and procedure of data processing. According to rule of planetary cartography, the image data have been processed, geometrically corrected, and then mosaicked and merged in a scale of 1:2.5 million. The results of data processing and charting show that the image data of Chang'E-1 CCD and their geometric precision meet the demand of charting a map in the scale of 1:2.5 million. The relative geometric positioning precision of the global image is better than 240 m, and the absolute geometric positioning precision is slightly better than that of the ULCN2005 and Clementine lunar basemap (V2.0). The plane positioning precision is approximately 100-1500 m. This global image proves to be the best global image of the Moon so far in terms of space coverage, image quality, and positioning precision.

Absolute calibration of the Chang'E-1 IIM camera and its preliminary application

The interference imaging spectroradiometer (IIM) onboard the first lunar satellite of China "Chang'E-1" can now provide approximately global high spectral and spatial resolution reflectance spectra of the Moon. It is the essential instrument with which to accomplish one of the four missions of the first lunar satellite of China. As the current data provided by the Lunar Exploration Program Center and National Astronomical Observatories (NAOC) are not reflectance and the sensor response is inhomogeneous in the line direction,users can not use the current data directly. Moreover,due to the narrow band range,IIM data cannot cover the absorption peak of the mafic minerals of the Moon completely,which limits its ability for identifying minerals. The main objective of this study is to describe the methods for absolute calibration,correction and acquiring the absorption center of minerals for IIM data. The results from our study show that in the space domain the sensor response decreases toward the left,and in the spectral domain the response of the longer bands is more inhomogeneous than that of the shorter bands. After the calibration and correction,the reflectance of IIM matches the earth-based telescopic spectra well,which suggests the possible use of the processed data in the geological research. A high correlation was found between the absorption center and the wavelength at which the first derivative equals 0,i.e.,the so-called Stagnation Point in the mathematical sense. In the end,we show a preliminary applied study of the two craters with diameter larger than 35 km using the calibrated data. The spectra of IIM data show that the lunar crust has compositional diversity within the km scale. Pure anorthosite may be found on the wall and floor of the Aristarchus crater with the map of absorption center,which indicates that anorthosite is ubiquitously present within the lunar crust. IIM,with its capacity to acquire lunar composition at the regional and global scale,will contribute to the research of lunar origin and evolution.

Geologic investigation and mapping of the Sinus Iridum quadrangle from Clementine, SELENE, and Chang’e-1 data

The objectives of lunar satellite remote sensing are to study lunar surface characteristics, inner structure, and its evolution history. The contents of TiO 2 and FeO are assessed from Clementine UV/VIS data for Sinus Iridum. The geologic stratigraphic units and crates are interpreted visually based on SELENE Terrain Camera (TC) images and the spatial resolution of which is up to 10 m. And the geologic ages of different stratigraphic units are calculated by the crater size-frequency distributions measurements. The gravity anomaly is generated from SELENE gravity model (SGM90d) to show its difference from Mare Imbrium. Furthermore, the thickness of lunar regolith is also derived from microwave radiometer data of Chang’e-1 satellite. Integrating these results, it shows that the Sinus Iridum is different from the Mare Imbrium in inner structure and surface sedimentation. And its history of subsidence, deposition, volcanism, and impact is described. It makes sense to the future soft-landing and sampling at potential Sinus Iridum by remote sensing geologic analysis.

Estimation of lunar titanium content: Based on absorption features of Chang’E-1 interference imaging spectrometer (ⅡM)

Two linear regression models based on absorption features extracted from CE-1 IIM image data are presented to discuss the relationship between absorption features and titanium content. We computed five absorption parameters (Full Wave at Half Maximum (FWHM), absorption position, absorption area, absorption depth and absorption asymmetry) of the spectra collected at Apollo 17 landing sites to build two regression models, one with FWHM and the other without FWHM due to the low relation coefficient between FWHM and Ti content. Finally Ti content measured from Apollo 17 samples and Apollo 16 samples was used to test the accuracy. The results show that the predicted values of the model with FWHM have many singular values and the result of model without FWHM is more stable. The two models are relatively accurate for high-Ti districts, while seem inexact and disable for low-Ti districts.

Automatic extraction of lunar impact craters from Chang'E-1 satellite photographs

The distribution characteristics of the impact craters can provide a large amount of information on impact history and the lunar evolution process. In this research, based on the digital elevation model （DEM） data originating from Change＇E-1 CCD stereo camera, three automatic extraction methods for the impact craters are implemented in two research areas： direct extraction from flooded DEM data （the Flooded method）, object-oriented extraction from DEM data by using ENVI ZOOM function （the Object-Oriented method） and novel object-oriented extraction from flooded DEM data （the Flooded Object-Oriented method）. Accuracy assessment, extracted degree computation, cumulative frequency analysis, shape and age analysis of the extracted craters combined display the following results. （1） The Flooded Object-Oriented method yields better accuracy than the other two methods in the two research areas; the extraction result of the Flooded method offers the similar accuracy to that of the Object-Oriented method. （2） The cumulative frequency curves for the extracted craters and the confirmed craters share a simi- lar change trajectory. （3） The number of the impact craters extracted by the three methods in the Imbrian period is the largest and is of various types; as to their age earlier than lmbrain, it is difficult to extract because they could have been destroyed.

Lunar digital elevation model and elevation distribution model based on Chang’E-1 LAM data

More than 8.2 million effective data samples were obtained by the Chang’E-1 Laser Altimeter (LAM).In order to produce a global topographic model of the moon with improved accuracy,a hierarchical many-knot spline method was proposed in this paper.This algorithm makes use of a hierarchy of control lattices to approximate or interpolate the LAM data.Based on the proposed algorithm,a 0.0625°×0.0625° grid of global lunar DEM was obtained and it was compared with ULCN2005,CLTMs01 and Kaguya models,respectively.At the same time,this paper explored the elevation distribution law and established the elevation distribution model.It is shown that the global lunar and nearside elevation distribution is positively skewed and leptokurtic normal distribution,and the farside elevation distribution is a positively skewed and platykurtic normal distribution.

Super-resolution reconstruction and higher-degree function deformation model based matching for Chang’E-1 lunar images

This article intends to solve the matching problem of 2C level lunar images by Chang’E-1(CE-1)lunar probe satellite.A line-scanner image matching method is proposed which represents deformation by the quadric function along the camera motion direction and bases on the deformation model for a relief terrain’s imaging on sensors of the satellite borne three-line scanner camera.A precise matching is carried out for the normal view,the frontward view,and the backward view images of the CE-1 by combining the proposed method with the standard correlation method.A super-resolution(SR)reconstruction algorithm based on the wavelet interpolation of non-uniformly sampled data is also adopted to realize SR reconstruction of CE-1 lunar images,which adds the recognizable targets and explores CE-1 lunar images to the full.