As the world's only monolithic spacecraft to land on the moon, the configuration of the Dawning spacecraft is basically the same as that of the Apollo spacecraft half a century ago.

The "Full Moon" lander is located in front of the command module of the Dawning spacecraft, and is connected to the counterpart of the command module with a fixed port at the bottom.

That is to say, like the Apollo spacecraft, when astronauts land on the moon, the lander needs to separate first, and then turn around 180 degrees to dock with the command module again before the astronauts can climb into the lander.

The purpose of this is because if the ascender of the lander is docked with the command module when it is launched from the ground, its carrying capacity and overall structural strength of the interface cannot meet the safety standards, and the bottom must be fixed with an explosive bolt and separated again in lunar orbit.

Half a century on the moon has been challenging, but it's no longer a risky challenge.

The only difference between the Aurora lander is that it uses a single engine as the recoil power for landing, instead of multiple small engines like the Apollo spacecraft, so the fixed structure is longer.

At this time, in the footage of the global live broadcast, the camera of the command module/return module is aimed at the lander in front, and as the separation command is given, the screen shakes slightly after about 3 seconds, which is the vibration caused by the explosion bolt.

The four RCS of the "Full Moon" carefully pushed the lander away from the command module and stopped at a distance of about 10 meters.

It then slowly turns around under the regulation of the ejected gas, aligns the pair of the ascender with the command module, and prepares for docking.

Although it is an unmanned mission, it will dock, separate, and automatically open the interface hatch again like a manned person, simulating the whole process of astronaut entry.

This process took almost 30 minutes, and everything was automatically controlled by the on-board computer of the Aurora spacecraft, and there was no intervention on the ground.

When the Full Moon separated again, it was provided with position guidance services by three Laurel resource exploration satellites, as well as a bunch of probes on the ground, which was unthinkable in the Apollo era.

The Explorer series of lunar probes are the brightest beacons in the dark, and it is almost impossible to find the wrong location for the "full moon".

In the third hour of the start of the landing, the space control center sent the landing command.

The "Full Moon" first began to slow down and degrade according to the predetermined route, and in order to save fuel, it took about an hour to ignite several times.

Claire Borden looked at the countdown displayed in the upper left corner of the stream, and temporarily switched back to her own Isis 1 landing live.

At the same time as he cut over, the Isis's online viewership was skyrocketing.

So...... Everyone is waiting for Dawn 2 to come over through the gap?

However, Isis 1 had already landed for two hours, and was rushing to the Qom crater while the angle of the sun was changing!

It turns out that NACA still has the technology, and although it has not been a lunar surface exploration mission for many years, the Sky Crane originally designed for Mars by Isis-1 is still working perfectly, gently lowering the rover and flying to the side as a mass of garbage.

The Isis 1 landing site is only 17 kilometers away from the Qom impact crater, and at its speed, it is only half a month to travel 10 hours a day, which is actually a reasonable month.

So now there are 9 detectors around the Qom crater......

Now Isis 1 is stubbornly turning its wheels and moving at a speed of more than 160 meters per hour.

……

"Old Shen, you said that this Isis No. 1 is coming, should we go and say hello?"

Shen Zuozhou: "I don't think it's necessary. ”

"It's not a mess, if you think about two probes from 380,000 kilometers away, Explorer II can bring them a piece of ice as a gift."

The resident representative from Xinyuan opened his mind and vigorously thought of "welcome" Isis No. 1.

"Also, Isis 1 is too slow to come, let Explorer II run over for a maximum of one day, we can follow it, carefully study its structure, and have experience in building a Mars rover in the future."

Shen Zuozhou: "But isn't 'Firefly' already in the selection of models?" ”

"Firefly" is the code name of the nuclear-powered Mars rover project last planned by the Aviation Development Commission, which is a kind of general-purpose nuclear-powered wheeled self-propelled patrol platform that plans to build four units.

The current indicators are 2.1 to 2.7 tons, with a power generation capacity of more than 5KW, and a variety of comprehensive detection capabilities.

At present, there are 4 configurations that are being compared with each other, and it is expected to officially enter the development and construction stage before May.

But no matter what the configuration, it is much more powerful than the Curiosity platform.

Shen Zuozhou also participated in a configuration plan, but his confidence was not too high.

The two passed the time with such small talk, checking the status of the "full moon" from time to time, and an hour passed quickly.

The laser rangefinder on board the Yutu-3 lander is pointing at the "full moon" at this time, guiding the latter to correct its course.

The powerful YF75M engine swings its nozzle under precise control, and the lander continues to descend in altitude at a rate of 15 meters.

At this time, those with stronger eyesight can already see the two small black dots below from the footage transmitted by the lander camera, which are the Yutu 3 and Explorer 6 robots.

When approaching the lunar surface at an altitude of less than 30 meters, the throttle valve of the YF75M was opened to the maximum, and the strong thrust force made the lander close to zero when it was only two or three meters away from the lunar surface, and then descended the last few meters under the action of the recoil current.

The engine was turned off, the four landing legs were heavily inserted into the lunar soil, and the "Full Moon" landed perfectly at the intended landing site.

Yutu 3 and Explorer 6 were both more than 100 meters away, and they were both walking on four legs at this time, and the other four feet were holding large pieces of ice fragments or moon rocks, which they collected from farther away and brought over.

There is a cylindrical storage tank in the ascending part of the lander, which needs to be climbed in by the robot itself to take it out, put the samples it collects into it, and then dig up some lunar soil on the spot, seal it and put it in the ascender, and finally through several docking and transfer, it is expected to be sent back to Earth in 10 days.

However, while waiting for the robot to arrive, the lander was not idle, and the two lunar rovers hanging on the side were being unfolded and lowered.

This is a real lunar rover, with no special features, and is simply a lunar rover made for astronauts to move quickly on the lunar surface.

The name of the lunar rover is "Lu", which means that it is very fast, the maximum speed of the lunar surface can reach 45 km/h, and the cruising range can reach 70 kilometers (not false).

Instead of solid rubber wheels or woven metal mesh tires, the tires of the "Lu" are pneumatic tires with internal pressure of 10 kPa, which are more technically difficult but offer higher speed and better comfort.

With a weight of 220 kg, it can carry 2 astronauts, carry up to 480 kg, use traditional chemical batteries, and have a maximum power of 950 watts.

(End of chapter)