Chapter 374

It is much more difficult for a probe to make a soft landing on the far side of the moon than it is on the front side of the moon.

One of them is the signal issue.

On the far side of the moon, it is impossible to receive wireless signals from the earth.

Therefore, as early as the beginning of this year, the China National Space Administration launched a relay satellite, Queqiao, to the Earth-Moon Lagrange L2 point.

It is used to maintain communication between the Earth Control Center and the Chang'e-4 probe.

But there is a certain delay in this.

As a result, when the Chang'e-4 probe landed on the moon, the technicians located in the earth control center were unable to control the landing orbit of the probe according to the implementation situation.

This is the complete equivalent of a blind landing.

The technical difficulty is more than one notch more difficult than the landing process that can be controlled in real time.

This requires Gu Lu to adjust every parameter to be extremely precise.

The minimum requirement is to be accurate to at least five decimal places.

Because the difference of a few milliseconds may cause the landing to fail, or to deviate a lot from the expected landing point.

This is extremely demanding for Gu Lu.

However, the inability of unlimited signals to be transmitted in real time is one of the difficulties.

But there is another challenge to achieve a soft landing on the far side of the moon.

That's the ideal landing spot for a probe.

Although the front of the moon is also lined with mountain peaks, the terrain is relatively flat enough for probes to land, which have been chosen by many previous human probes and astronauts to land on the moon.

But the far side of the moon is filled with ravines, canyons, craters and cliffs, making it difficult to find an ideal spot for a soft landing.

Again, this is a rather painful question.

Gu Lu took out the topographic map of the far side of the moon drawn by several scientists in a stack of documents, and studied it with a frown.

The areas that could be used as landing points were circled by Gu Lu with a red pen.

Then, Gu Lu used the big data provided by the research base here to comprehensively analyze the soil characteristics, environmental characteristics, uncertainties, and element distribution on the far side of the moon, and carried out multiple rounds of screening and iteration.

This work is no less cumbersome than the calculation of the parameters of the sixth phase of the moon fall.

Because this is a very difficult test for Gu Lu's eyesight.

In the end, Gu Lu, whose eyes were sour and swollen, finally chose the main and backup landing areas in the rugged and complex terrain on the far side of the moon, which were similar to the overall flatness of the Chang'e-3 Hongwan area, which maximized the reliability and safety of the landing.

If all goes well, Chang'e-4 will land in the Von Kármán impact crater in the Aitken Basin at the South Pole on the far side of the Moon.

The von Kármán crater is located in the middle of the SPA basin, with a diameter of about 186 km and a central coordinate of (44.8°S, 175.9°E).

Gu Lu's choice of this basin as the landing point has a deeper meaning.

The SPA basin is considered to be the largest and oldest impact crater in the solar system, preserving the rocks of the original lunar crust.

At the same time, the SPA basin is 13 kilometers deep, which is the deepest impact basin on the moon, which means that the impact event of that year is likely to dig up material deep in the lunar crust and even the lunar mantle, which may become the "key" for humans to study the internal composition of the moon.

Once the Chang'e-4 probe makes a discovery in this area, it may be even more exciting for China to completely solicit the moon!

Late at night.

The lights in most of the rooms throughout the research site have long since been extinguished.

But in Gu Lu's office, the lights were on until the early morning of the next day.

…………

Next.

Half past six in the morning.

After Wu Zheng finished washing, he was about to go to the cafeteria for breakfast while moving his body.

As if suddenly thinking of something, Wu Zheng turned around and returned to the researcher's accommodation area.

Knock knock~~

Wu Zheng came to the bedroom that was arranged by Gu Lu yesterday and knocked on the door.

"Professor Gu, are you awake, let's go have breakfast together!"

No one responded.

Wu Zheng knocked on the door again, but still no one responded.

"Haven't you woken up yet? ”

Wu Zheng shook his head and turned to leave.

From the accommodation area to the canteen, you have to pass by the office area where Gu Lu is located.

So, when passing by Gu Lu's office, Wu Zheng was keenly aware that the lights in the office were still on.

Wu Zheng thought that Gu Lu was in too much of a hurry last night and forgot to turn off the lights, so he prepared to go in and turn off the lights.

But what made Wu Zheng stunned for a moment was that the door of the office was not locked at all, and he opened it as soon as he twisted it.

In an instant, a guess flashed through Wu Zheng's mind.

No way......

Wu Zheng was a little unconvinced that the speculation would be true.

But after pushing open the door, Wu Zheng still saw Gu Lu's familiar figure, with slightly messy hair lying on a stack of scratch paper, carefully calculating the formula.

Wu Zheng was stunned for a moment.

Of course, Gu Lu heard the sound of the door opening.

Make a final formula on the scratch paper and circle the resulting number with a pen.

Gu Lu raised his head, his gaze fell on Wu Zheng, and then a smile opened on the corner of his mouth.

"Chief Engineer Wu, you came just in time, I have already calculated all the attitude adjustment and orbit change parameters of the probe's orbit and the moon landing stage!"

"Fortunately, I didn't lose my life!"

Wu Zheng looked at Gu Lu's face full of tiredness, and the happy smile on his face that was not mixed with any superfluous emotions at all, and his throat and eyes didn't know what was blocked.

"Professor Gu, are you ...... You didn't go back to sleep all night. Wu Zheng asked in a hoarse voice.

Gu Lu had a pair of dark circles under his eyes, and said in a casual tone, "Well, it's the so-called one drum, then decline, and three exhaustion." I took advantage of the momentum and got everything done in one go. ”

"Then your body ......"

"I'm still young and can bear it, and besides, as scientific researchers, how can we not stay up all night. Gu Lu waved his hand.

Wu Zheng was silent after listening.

Indeed, as a scientific researcher, it is indeed quite hard.

In the more than four years since he entered the Chang'e-4 project team, Wu Zheng has stayed up all night no less than 20 times.

In addition, Wu Zheng also achieved the achievement of sleeping only three hours in three days.

It's just that......

Gu Lu was just a mathematician who was called over to help, and if Gu Lu was allowed to stay up all night, Wu Zheng really didn't want to go in his heart.

Of course, at the same time, there is a lot of emotion.

Wu Zheng didn't expect that Gu Lu, as an outsider, would be so desperate for the Chang'e-4 project.

Sure enough, his father's praise and praise for Gu Lu was not unreasonable.

When Wu Zheng was thinking a lot, Gu Lu copied all the data obtained from the calculation into the USB flash drive.

Gu Lu got up, shook his body, walked in front of Wu Zheng, and handed the USB flash drive to Wu Zheng.

"Chief Engineer Wu, this is the orbit of the probe and the parameters of the attitude and orbit change of each stage of the moon landing, I suggest that you can immediately use the supercomputer to simulate the moon landing. Gu Lu spoke in a serious tone.

Wu Zheng nodded, a smile appeared on his face, "Okay, then since that's the case, we'll ...... it right away."

Before Wu Zheng finished speaking, he heard the sound of Gu Lu's stomach growling next to him.

Gu Lu touched his stomach, and his old face turned red.

"Look at your energy, I shouldn't have eaten yesterday's dinner. I'll talk about the moon setting simulation later, I'll take you to a meal first to supplement your nutrition!" Wu Zheng laughed and patted Gu Lu's shoulder.