Immediately, Chang 'e III launched the joint exploration of the lander in place and the lunar rover's lunar patrol survey, and began to carry out scientific exploration such as "exploring the moon, patrolling the sky and observing the earth": the investigation of the lunar surface morphology and geological structure, the investigation of the lunar surface material composition and available resources, the earth plasma layer detection and the moon-based optical astronomical observation. According to the scheduled exploration plan, Chang 'e III has made a series of important achievements.
To commemorate China's successful landing on the moon for the first time, the International Astronomical Union officially named the area 77 meters around the landing site of Chang 'e III in Fiona Fang (the blue box area in Figure 4) as "Guanghan Palace".
During the whole scientific exploration period, in addition to the images and terrain data obtained by camera equipment, other payloads also obtained a lot of scientific data achievements:
Moon-based optical telescope: it is the first time in the world to carry out independent astronomical observation based on extraterrestrial celestial platform.
The Moon-based Astronomical Telescope got rid of the limitation of the atmospheric window, and realized the scientific detection of various types of celestial bodies (stars) on the surface of the moon in the near ultraviolet band (detection band 245-340 nm), which is the first time in the world to realize autonomous astronomical observation based on the platform of extraterrestrial celestial bodies.
The moon-based optical telescope is also the longest working equipment among all scientific instruments of Chang 'e III. It works about 65,438+02 to 65,438+08 hours every day on the moon and during the day. By June 2065, from April 38 to August, the cumulative observation time of the moon-based astronomical telescope was about 6,962 hours, and more than 340,000 image data were obtained, providing basic scientific topics such as stellar evolution, physics of dense stars and black holes, and high-energy celestial bodies.
Extreme ultraviolet camera: it is the first time to obtain the image data of the earth plasma layer observed at a large angle on the moon.
The extreme ultraviolet camera on the lander can observe and study the 30.4nm radiation produced by the earth plasma layer for a long time with a large angle of view, and obtain the image data of the earth plasma layer. It is the world's first extreme ultraviolet imaging instrument working on the surface of the moon.
As of June 2, 2065438, extreme ultraviolet camera has observed the earth plasma layer every month and every day. A total of 1045 image data were obtained, and the cumulative observation time was about 230 hours, which provided accurate and reliable data for studying the structure and dynamics of plasma layer and the distribution of electric field.
Lunar radar: to obtain scientific data related to the thickness distribution of lunar soil and the underground geological structure of the moon.
The lunar radar carried by the Chang 'e III patrol is a dual-channel antenna radar. The working center frequency of the first channel is 60 MHz, the thickness resolution is meters, and the detection depth exceeds 100 meters; The working center frequency of the second channel is 500MHz, the thickness resolution is less than 30cm, and the detection depth is greater than 30 m.
As of 201April 27th, the lunar radar has been on for 8.3 hours, and the effective detection distance is about 109 meters. The first channel echo data of the radar is 185 13, and the second channel echo data is 3238 1, which provides a basis for studying the thickness distribution of lunar soil and the geological structure under the moon.
Infrared imaging spectrometer: obtain spectral data.
The infrared imaging spectrometer carried by Chang 'e-3 patrol detected the kinds of lunar materials and mineral components in the patrol area, and the cumulative working time was about 8.8 hours. By the end of the normal working task of the instrument in the second month, four lunar soil celestial bodies were spectrally detected, and 840 frames of visible near-infrared (spectral range from 450 nm to 950 nm) spectral image data and 2,240 frames of short-wave infrared (spectral range from 900 nm to 2,400 nm) spectra were obtained.
Particle excited X-ray spectrometer: obtaining energy spectrum data.
The particle-excited X-ray spectrometer (energy range 0.5~20keV) carried by Chang 'e III has been working on the lunar surface for about 4 hours. The chemical composition of lunar soil samples from two locations was analyzed, and 20,965,438+0 frames of energy spectrum data were obtained. It provides data for the inversion study of elemental composition near the landing site.