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.

Overview of the Latest Scientific Results of China’s Lunar Exploration Program

China’s Chang’E-4 probe successfully landed on 3 January 2019 in Von Kármán crater within the South Pole-Aitken(SPA)basin on the lunar far side.Based on the data acquired by the scientific payloads onboard the lander and the rover,the researchers obtained the related information such as the geologic and tectonic setting of the landing area,compositional characteristics of the landing surface materials,dielectric permittivity and density of the lunar soil.The experiments confirmed the existence of materials dominated by olivine and low-calcium pyroxene in the SPA basin on the lunar far side,which preliminary revealed the geological evolution history of the SPA basin and even that of the early time lunar crust,as well as the tectonic setting and formation mechanism of the materials in the lunar interior.The researchers also investigated the particle radiation,Linear Energy Transaction(LET)spectrum,and so forth on the lunar surface.The low-frequency radio observations were carried out on the lunar far side for the first time as well.This article summarizes the latest scientific results in the past years,focusing on the Chang’E-4 mission.

Overview of the Latest Scientific Achievements of Chang'E-4 Mission of China's Lunar Exploration Project

On 3 January 2019,the Chang’E-4 probe successfully landed in the Von Kármán crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the Moon.On 4 January,the Yutu-2 rover was successfully separated from the lander and the scientific payloads were powered on to conduct scientific exploration.It was the first time that manmade probe achieved soft landing and roving on the far side of the Moon.Based on the data obtained by scientific payloads on the Chang’E-4,the research team obtained geological information such as landing area topography,structure and composition;demonstrated the existence of deep materials—mainly olivine and low-calcium pyroxene in the South Pole-Aitken Basin;achieved high-precision imaging of the layered structure of lunar subsurface in the roving area;discovered carbonaceous spheroidal meteorite residues and impact glass;preliminarily revealed the geological evolutionary history of the South Pole-Aitken Basin;for the first time,obtained information of the radiation dose of energetic particles at the lunar surface and the structure of the lunar neutral atomic energy spectrum;discovered the lunar mini-magnetosphere and contributed new knowledge of the radiation hazards at the lunar surface.This article summarizes the latest scientific achievement from the Chang’E-4 mission over the past three years.