A diverse volcanic region on the near side of the Moon could become the landing site for China’s first manned lunar mission, according to a new study.
China aims to land its first astronauts on the Moon before the end of the decade. Over the past year, the nation has been testing hardware for this ambitious effort, including Moon landing and launch simulations. and crew Spaceship abort and rocket tests.. Now, a team of scientists has carried out a detailed assessment of a priority candidate landing zone, providing new insights into the historic mission’s planning and its potential scientific benefit.
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Rimae Bode is located near the Sinus Aestuum volcanic plains on the near side of the moonnot far north of the lunar equator, and is one of 14 possible astronaut landing sites selected from 106 initial candidates. These had to meet the engineering constraints for a safe lunar landing, including being on the near side for communications purposes, relatively flat terrain, and being at a low latitude to ensure enough power from the sun.
According to the researchers, the Rimae Bode region also provides access to multiple types of lunar material within a relatively small area, including ancient lava flows, rivulets (long, narrow, channel-like formed by ancient lava flows), and ejecta from nearby craters. Since the mission will include a depressurized mobile vehicleAstronauts will be able to access different geological units to carry out sampling. Overall, the researchers identified four feasible landing sites in the region, each with slightly different sampling priorities.
The Rimae Bode region stands out as a leading candidate for China’s first manned landing as it is a “geological museum”, combining scientific potential and engineering safety, Huang said. space.com. “It offers a diverse landscape of volcanic plains and ancient highlands, allowing astronauts to sample everything from volcanic ash gushing from the deep lunar interior to remains of ancient massive impacts within a single traversable area,” Huang said.
Perhaps most intriguingly, Rimae Bode could offer insight into the moon’s deep interior.
“The most innovative discovery from the Rimae Bode region would likely come from dark mantle deposits, which consist of volcanic ash and glass beads that violently erupted from the moon’s deep interior billions of years ago,” Huang said. “These samples act as ‘messengers’ for the lunar mantle, offering a rare opportunity to directly analyze the chemical composition of the moon’s deep core, information that is normally hidden beneath miles of crust.”
Examining this material, along with that from the region’s complex network of lava channels, could help scientists reconstruct the moon’s volcanic history. The samples could tell us how the moon cooled and what triggered its most massive eruptions. “This would transform our understanding not only of the history of the Moon, but also of how all rocky planets, including Earth, cooled and evolved after their birth,” Huang said.
Huang noted that astronauts selected for the mission must undergo intensive geological training before landing. China’s astronaut corps recently completed analog training in a cave environment in preparation for future lunar missions.
“Astronauts act as our expert eyes and hands on Earth,” the researcher said, noting that they must distinguish ordinary rocks from “scientific gold,” such as small volcanic glass beads that may contain clues to the moon’s deep interior. Solid training would help them detect important clues hidden among ordinary-looking gray rocks, identify the best places to place sensitive scientific instruments and navigate complicated terrain, Huang said.
Huang did not reveal the next steps in selecting the site for China’s first manned moon landing mission, but the process will continue, including the expected launch of a Lunar satellite dedicated to remote sensing to provide more data. and the next generation Mengzhou spacecraft It could make its first full orbital flight later this year, on the new Long March 10A rocket.
When Chinese astronauts land on the moon, they will not be mere visitors but deep space detectives seeking to solve geological puzzles, Huang said.
