Flight results of Chang’E-4 lander summary and evaluation

Abstract

The Chang’E-4 lander landed on January 3, 2019, achieving the first lunar soft landing and cruise exploration by humans on the far side of the Moon. Compared with landing missions on the near side of the Moon, the Chang’E-4 landing site is in the South Pole–Aitken Basin on the far side, where the terrain is more rugged. Direct communication with Earth from the far side of the Moon is impossible, and relay support is necessary. Therefore, the complex terrain and relative constraints of relay communication represent important considerations for the design of the Chang’E-4 flight control process. The flight results of the Chang’E-4 show that the flight procedure performed perfectly. High-precision orbit control, a soft landing, and lunar surface work with support from the stable relay communication link were all realized. Presently, the payload and Moon night temperature acquisition equipment are powered for acquiring continuous on-orbit science exportation data. The interaction effect between the engine plume and lunar surface during the approach process, and an evaluation of the landing cushion range are estimated in this paper through analysis of the telemetry data. The mining and analysis of the on-orbit data from the Chang’E-4 lander can be used to optimize the simulation and analysis models and lay a solid technical foundation for research on the Moon’s far-side environment.