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An overview of the mission and technical characteristics of Change’4 Lunar Probe

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Abstract

Change’4 Lunar Probe will softly land on the farside of the Moon for the first time of all mankind and carry out in-situ and rovering exploration. In this paper, the scientific significance and engineering difficulties of Change’4 are introduced and the probe’s general design, including the aspects of landing site selection, relay communication, trajectory design of relay satellite is explained. Besides, four key technologies, namely safe landing strategy on complex terrain, orbit design and control of libration point 2, relay communication on L2, radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) and electric-thermal utilization, as well as how to realize them are also discussed. Finally the prospect of the prominent technological breakthrough of Change’4 is described.

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Correspondence to Fei Li.

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Ye, P., Sun, Z., Zhang, H. et al. An overview of the mission and technical characteristics of Change’4 Lunar Probe. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 60, 658–667 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-016-9034-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-016-9034-6

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