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17 Future Prospects of Lunar Lander Technology
the landing at concerned region. For lunar base construction, landing sites shall
be close to each other for different lunar landers in order to cooperate. The
landing accuracy can be improved to higher than 100 m by terrain matching
and beacon guiding, which makes landing at requirement feasible.
(2) Technology adapting to complex lunar terrain. The stable attitude after landing
is required for subsequent tasks. The capability of lunar lander adapting to
different lunar terrain shall be improved for steeper slope, more rocks and pits
in polar region. Technology such as lunar terrain identification and obstacles
avoiding, landing cushion are involved.
(3) Power supply technology in shadow region. The major water ice resources
are in Permanent Shadow Region (PSR) in the craters of lunar polar region.
The lunar lander will be commanded to operate in PSR to mining water ice
resources. The power supply is crucial for long term operation. Technologies
such as wireless power transmission and RTG may be the solution.
(4) Resources utilization technology. The important aim of lunar exploration is to
utilize lunar resources for human being. Technology shall be studied continuously such as how to implement resources utilization by deep drill, heating
and melting, how to construct basic components with lunar regolith, how to
construct high accuracy and large telescope on lunar surface, and etc.
(5) Environment protection technology. There are severe effects on structure, material and etc. of lunar lander by radiation, gravity and lunar dust when the lunar
lander is long term operated or astronauts work for a long time on lunar surface.
Therefore, environment protection technology shall be studied.
(6) Reusable and mobile lunar lander technology. Now the exploration range is
limited for the lunar lander because it can be landed once and cannot move. The
reusable and mobile lunar lander shall be developed to implement extensive
exploration in different location and acquire more benefits in the future.
More accurate, intelligent and adaptable lunar lander technology will be developed
along with increasing requirement. At the same time, the improvement of lunar lander
technology may be directly applied in landing missions on Mars, asteroids and other
celestial bodies, which will prompt further deep space exploration of human being.
References
1. Ouyang Z et al (2002) Moon: the first stop of the humanity towards space exploration[M].
Tsinghua University Press, Beijing
2. Chu G, Zhang H (2007) Technology of lunar probes[M]. China Science and Technology Press,
Beijing
3. Zhang H (2007) Soaring the empire: from artificial satellite to lunar probe[M]. Shanghai
Scientific and Technological Education Publishing House, Shanghai
4. Wang J (2007) Beyond the moon: fascinating prospect of lunar exploration[M]. Shanghai
Scientific and Technological Education Publishing House, Shanghai
5. Ouyang Z (2005) Introduction to lunar science[M]. China Astronautic Publishing House,
Beijing
17 Future Prospects of Lunar Lander Technology
the landing at concerned region. For lunar base construction, landing sites shall
be close to each other for different lunar landers in order to cooperate. The
landing accuracy can be improved to higher than 100 m by terrain matching
and beacon guiding, which makes landing at requirement feasible.
(2) Technology adapting to complex lunar terrain. The stable attitude after landing
is required for subsequent tasks. The capability of lunar lander adapting to
different lunar terrain shall be improved for steeper slope, more rocks and pits
in polar region. Technology such as lunar terrain identification and obstacles
avoiding, landing cushion are involved.
(3) Power supply technology in shadow region. The major water ice resources
are in Permanent Shadow Region (PSR) in the craters of lunar polar region.
The lunar lander will be commanded to operate in PSR to mining water ice
resources. The power supply is crucial for long term operation. Technologies
such as wireless power transmission and RTG may be the solution.
(4) Resources utilization technology. The important aim of lunar exploration is to
utilize lunar resources for human being. Technology shall be studied continuously such as how to implement resources utilization by deep drill, heating
and melting, how to construct basic components with lunar regolith, how to
construct high accuracy and large telescope on lunar surface, and etc.
(5) Environment protection technology. There are severe effects on structure, material and etc. of lunar lander by radiation, gravity and lunar dust when the lunar
lander is long term operated or astronauts work for a long time on lunar surface.
Therefore, environment protection technology shall be studied.
(6) Reusable and mobile lunar lander technology. Now the exploration range is
limited for the lunar lander because it can be landed once and cannot move. The
reusable and mobile lunar lander shall be developed to implement extensive
exploration in different location and acquire more benefits in the future.
More accurate, intelligent and adaptable lunar lander technology will be developed
along with increasing requirement. At the same time, the improvement of lunar lander
technology may be directly applied in landing missions on Mars, asteroids and other
celestial bodies, which will prompt further deep space exploration of human being.
References
1. Ouyang Z et al (2002) Moon: the first stop of the humanity towards space exploration[M].
Tsinghua University Press, Beijing
2. Chu G, Zhang H (2007) Technology of lunar probes[M]. China Science and Technology Press,
Beijing
3. Zhang H (2007) Soaring the empire: from artificial satellite to lunar probe[M]. Shanghai
Scientific and Technological Education Publishing House, Shanghai
4. Wang J (2007) Beyond the moon: fascinating prospect of lunar exploration[M]. Shanghai
Scientific and Technological Education Publishing House, Shanghai
5. Ouyang Z (2005) Introduction to lunar science[M]. China Astronautic Publishing House,
Beijing