Paolo
Jul 28 2020, 07:14 AM
I don't think this paper on TW-1 has been mentioned yet:
Overview of China’s 2020 Mars mission design and navigationQUOTE
Scheduled for an Earth-to-Mars launch opportunity in 2020, the China’s Mars probe will arrive on Mars in 2021 with the primary objective of injecting an orbiter and placing a lander and a rover on the surface of the Red Planet. For China’s 2020 Mars exploration mission to achieve success, many key technologies must be realized. In this paper, China’s 2020 Mars mission and the spacecraft architecture are first introduced. Then, the preliminary launch opportunity, Earth–Mars transfer, Mars capture, and mission orbits are described. Finally, the main navigation schemes are summarized.
you can download the pdf from researchgate
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/31..._and_Navigation
Phil Stooke
Jul 28 2020, 02:28 PM
http://9ifly.spacety.com/thread-93048-85-1.htmlPicture of Earth and Moon taken by TW1 from 1.2 million km.
Click to view attachmentCredit: CNSA
EDIT: oops, not Mars! Thanks Lucas...
Phil
Lucas
Jul 29 2020, 01:19 PM
Neat! Hopefully that’s the Moon or else we’re in a lot of trouble!
QUOTE (Phil Stooke @ Jul 28 2020, 09:28 AM)
http://9ifly.spacety.com/thread-93048-85-1.htmlPicture of Earth and Mars taken by TW1 from 1.2 million km.
Click to view attachmentCredit: CNSA
Phil
Phil Stooke
Jul 30 2020, 10:23 PM
Quick look at the coordinates recently suggested in Chinese media:
This is Mars Odyssey THEMIS infrared with inverted shading -white areas would be dark, or cool, in THEMIS and most are associated with small craters so they are probably blocky. The circle is the site mentioned in recent posts. It's smaller than their landing ellipse, only designed to show the area noted in the media post.
Click to view attachmentThat corresponds to this MRO CTX image (image number is in file name if you save it):
Click to view attachmentThe site is in the upper right corner of this image.
Phil
Phil Stooke
Jul 31 2020, 03:14 AM
This is the area around that identified point - the image is about 10 km wide. There should be visible crater rims to provide relief in the panoramas. We don't know this will be the site and this is a lot smaller than the landing ellipse.
Phil
Click to view attachment
nprev
Jul 31 2020, 06:59 AM
Hmm. Looks a bit dusty (shocker). All those short white streaks are more than a bit intriguing in this view; hopefully they'll be able to reach one.
vikingmars
Jul 31 2020, 09:13 AM
There are lots of pingos south of this site : maybe an hint to the presence of sub-surface ice and/or permafrost
spacepoint
Jul 31 2020, 01:50 PM
Phil Stooke
Jul 31 2020, 06:19 PM
"All those short white streaks are more than a bit intriguing"
They are dust drifts, perpendicular to the prevailing wind. HiRISE would show them more clearly than CTX does. I expect we will see one up close eventually.
Phil
volcanopele
Aug 1 2020, 05:14 AM
Thanks for posting the central coordinates, Phil, I've been wanting to see if CaSSIS has any coverage of the landing site. Any chance for a landing ellipse? The best image I could find was a bit to the southeast.
marsophile
Aug 6 2020, 05:13 AM
https://twitter.com/Tschnn/status/1174667085915598848Twitter post by Thomas Schumann that has an image of two potential landing sites at
23-28 N x 108-112 E
24-30 N x 129-133 E
So it seems it could possibly land at
30 N x 134 E
That would put it at 18 degrees due south of the Viking 2 landing site at
48 N x 134 E
which I think is about 1100 km distant.
Assuming it could travel at 300 meters per day, I estimate it could reach Viking 2 in about 10 years of steady driving! If it didn't have something better to do, of course
tolis
Aug 6 2020, 07:52 AM
Even if it were possible to land or rove to the VL2 site, would you really want to? I'm no expert, but based on the area density of large rocks,
this is probably one of the worse sites that we've seen up close so far in terms of rover trafficability.
Using a helicopter would probably be a better idea (hint, hint).
JRehling
Aug 16 2020, 05:43 PM
Or just land there in the first place.
Phil Stooke
Aug 16 2020, 06:27 PM
Viking 2 would never have gone to its site if the science team knew how rocky it was. They thought it was covered with sand. Now we know, it's absolutely off limits.
Phil
Hungry4info
Jan 18 2021, 11:45 PM
Phil Stooke
Jan 19 2021, 03:28 AM
Fear not, people of Earth. Yutu 2 didn't get the name that was most popular in its shortlist and this one probably won't either. Personally I like the name which translates as 'Red Hare', though in the old tale 'Red Hare' was actually a horse.
Phil
HSchirmer
Jan 19 2021, 05:44 AM
QUOTE (Phil Stooke @ Jan 19 2021, 03:28 AM)
Personally I like the name which translates as 'Red Hare', though in the old tale 'Red Hare' was actually a horse.
Phil
So, they're actually going to be doing "Operation Barbarossa"...
Xerxes
Jan 19 2021, 02:32 PM
Since 弘毅 is pronounced "Hongyi" and not "Perseverance", I think the rover would probably be named Hongyi. It means literally "great will", and oddly enough is best known for being the name of a venture-capital firm. I wonder if advertising shenanigans are involved.
Phil Stooke
Feb 5 2021, 04:20 PM
Paolo
Feb 5 2021, 05:35 PM
nprev
Feb 10 2021, 04:37 PM
Congratulations to CNSA! Exciting times indeed ahead for this mission!
Now that it's arrived please move the discussion to the new Tianwen-1 At Mars thread.
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