Localization of the Chang’e-5 Lander Using Radio-Tracking and Image-Based Methods

Jia Wang,Jianfeng Xie,Bin Liu,Zhifei Rong,Jing Kong,Wenhui Wan,Yu Zhang,Yexin Wang,Zhaoqin Liu,Ming Chen,Man Peng,Jianfeng Duan,Kaichang Di

doi:10.3390/rs13040590

Abstract

Chang’e-5, China’s first unmanned lunar sample-return mission, was successfully landed in Northern Oceanus Procellarum on 1 December 2020. Determining the lander location precisely and timely is critical for both engineering operations and subsequent scientific research. Localization of the lander was performed using radio-tracking and image-based methods. The lander location was determined to be (51.92°W, 43.06°N) by both methods. Other localization results were compared for cross-validation. The localization results greatly contributed to the planning of the ascender lifting off from the lander and subsequent maneuvers, and they will contribute to scientific analysis of the returned samples and in situ acquired data.

Highlights

Chang’e-5, China’s first unmanned lunar sample-return mission, was launched fromWenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan Province on 24 November 2020
After the Chang’e-5 lander–ascender combination landed on the Moon and until the ascender lifted off, Unified X-band (UXB) tracking was performed through the Jiamous, Kashgar and
South America stations of the deep space network, and VLBI tracking was performed through the Shanghai, Beijing, Kunming and Urumqi stations

Summary

Introduction

Chang’e-5, China’s first unmanned lunar sample-return mission, was launched fromWenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan Province on 24 November 2020. Chang’e-5, China’s first unmanned lunar sample-return mission, was launched from. After separating from the orbiter–re-entry capsule combination on November 2020, the lander–ascender combination successfully landed in Northern. The lander–ascender combination completed collection of lunar samples using a drill and a mechanical arm on 2 December 2020, and the ascender carried the samples and lifted itself to the lunar orbit on 3 December 2020. On 6 December 2020, the ascender and re-entry capsule completed a rendezvous and docking after a series of sophisticated maneuvers, and the ascender delivered the sealed sample container into the re-entry capsule. The orbiter–re-entry capsule combination travelled in a lunar orbit for nearly six days and entered the Moon-Earth transfer orbit after two injection maneuvers on 12 and 13 December

Methods

Results

Conclusion