The First Laser Retroreflector on the Lunar Far Side Onboard China’s Chang’e-6 Lander
The Chang’e-6 (CE-6) lander-ascender combination softly touched down at the designated landing site in the Apollo basin within the South Pole–Aitken (SPA) basin on 2024 June 2. As one of the 4 international payloads onboard CE-6, the INstrument for landing-Roving laser Retroreflector Investigations...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | Space: Science & Technology |
| Online Access: | https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/space.0301 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850043805038804992 |
|---|---|
| author | Yexin Wang Simone Dell’Agnello Kaichang Di Marco Muccino Hongqian Cao Luca Porcelli Xiangjin Deng Lorenzo Salvatori Jinsong Ping Mattia Tibuzzi Yuqiang Li Luciana Filomena Zhizhong Kang Michele Montanari Zhanfeng Meng Lorenza Mauro Bin Xie Mauro Maiello |
| author_facet | Yexin Wang Simone Dell’Agnello Kaichang Di Marco Muccino Hongqian Cao Luca Porcelli Xiangjin Deng Lorenzo Salvatori Jinsong Ping Mattia Tibuzzi Yuqiang Li Luciana Filomena Zhizhong Kang Michele Montanari Zhanfeng Meng Lorenza Mauro Bin Xie Mauro Maiello |
| author_sort | Yexin Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Chang’e-6 (CE-6) lander-ascender combination softly touched down at the designated landing site in the Apollo basin within the South Pole–Aitken (SPA) basin on 2024 June 2. As one of the 4 international payloads onboard CE-6, the INstrument for landing-Roving laser Retroreflector Investigations (INRRI) was installed on the top panel of the lander. Developed by the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics–Frascati National Laboratory (INFN-LNF), with support from ASI (Italian Space Agency), this Italian instrument had already been deployed on Mars surface missions: ExoMars (ESA-ASI), InSight (NASA), and Perseverance (NASA). The piggybacking of this instrument came through the collaboration between Italian and Chinese scientists in response to an international Announcement of Opportunity issued by the China National Space Administration in 2018. To optimize its mounting on the CE-6 lander, adaptive design and environmental qualification tests were conducted to meet the requirements of surviving on the far side lunar surface environment. The INRRI retroreflector can be observed using the laser altimeter onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and future lunar orbiter missions (e.g., Chang’e-7). The successful landing of CE-6 establishes the first permanent location marker on the Moon’s far side, and it will serve as an absolute control point to support lunar surface positioning and mapping, and orbit determination and navigation of future lunar orbiters with laser ranging instruments. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d3397262bec541dcb684470a3b42760f |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2692-7659 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Space: Science & Technology |
| spelling | doaj-art-d3397262bec541dcb684470a3b42760f2025-08-20T02:55:07ZengAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)Space: Science & Technology2692-76592025-01-01510.34133/space.0301The First Laser Retroreflector on the Lunar Far Side Onboard China’s Chang’e-6 LanderYexin Wang0Simone Dell’Agnello1Kaichang Di2Marco Muccino3Hongqian Cao4Luca Porcelli5Xiangjin Deng6Lorenzo Salvatori7Jinsong Ping8Mattia Tibuzzi9Yuqiang Li10Luciana Filomena11Zhizhong Kang12Michele Montanari13Zhanfeng Meng14Lorenza Mauro15Bin Xie16Mauro Maiello17State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.National Institute for Nuclear Physics–FrascatiNational Laboratory (INFN-LNF), Frascati (Rome)00044, Italy.State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.National Institute for Nuclear Physics–FrascatiNational Laboratory (INFN-LNF), Frascati (Rome)00044, Italy.Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering, China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing 100094, China.National Institute for Nuclear Physics–FrascatiNational Laboratory (INFN-LNF), Frascati (Rome)00044, Italy.Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering, China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing 100094, China.National Institute for Nuclear Physics–FrascatiNational Laboratory (INFN-LNF), Frascati (Rome)00044, Italy.National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.National Institute for Nuclear Physics–FrascatiNational Laboratory (INFN-LNF), Frascati (Rome)00044, Italy.Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650216, China.National Institute for Nuclear Physics–FrascatiNational Laboratory (INFN-LNF), Frascati (Rome)00044, Italy.School of Land Science and Technology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China.National Institute for Nuclear Physics–FrascatiNational Laboratory (INFN-LNF), Frascati (Rome)00044, Italy.Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering, China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing 100094, China.National Institute for Nuclear Physics–FrascatiNational Laboratory (INFN-LNF), Frascati (Rome)00044, Italy.State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.National Institute for Nuclear Physics–FrascatiNational Laboratory (INFN-LNF), Frascati (Rome)00044, Italy.The Chang’e-6 (CE-6) lander-ascender combination softly touched down at the designated landing site in the Apollo basin within the South Pole–Aitken (SPA) basin on 2024 June 2. As one of the 4 international payloads onboard CE-6, the INstrument for landing-Roving laser Retroreflector Investigations (INRRI) was installed on the top panel of the lander. Developed by the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics–Frascati National Laboratory (INFN-LNF), with support from ASI (Italian Space Agency), this Italian instrument had already been deployed on Mars surface missions: ExoMars (ESA-ASI), InSight (NASA), and Perseverance (NASA). The piggybacking of this instrument came through the collaboration between Italian and Chinese scientists in response to an international Announcement of Opportunity issued by the China National Space Administration in 2018. To optimize its mounting on the CE-6 lander, adaptive design and environmental qualification tests were conducted to meet the requirements of surviving on the far side lunar surface environment. The INRRI retroreflector can be observed using the laser altimeter onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and future lunar orbiter missions (e.g., Chang’e-7). The successful landing of CE-6 establishes the first permanent location marker on the Moon’s far side, and it will serve as an absolute control point to support lunar surface positioning and mapping, and orbit determination and navigation of future lunar orbiters with laser ranging instruments.https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/space.0301 |
| spellingShingle | Yexin Wang Simone Dell’Agnello Kaichang Di Marco Muccino Hongqian Cao Luca Porcelli Xiangjin Deng Lorenzo Salvatori Jinsong Ping Mattia Tibuzzi Yuqiang Li Luciana Filomena Zhizhong Kang Michele Montanari Zhanfeng Meng Lorenza Mauro Bin Xie Mauro Maiello The First Laser Retroreflector on the Lunar Far Side Onboard China’s Chang’e-6 Lander Space: Science & Technology |
| title | The First Laser Retroreflector on the Lunar Far Side Onboard China’s Chang’e-6 Lander |
| title_full | The First Laser Retroreflector on the Lunar Far Side Onboard China’s Chang’e-6 Lander |
| title_fullStr | The First Laser Retroreflector on the Lunar Far Side Onboard China’s Chang’e-6 Lander |
| title_full_unstemmed | The First Laser Retroreflector on the Lunar Far Side Onboard China’s Chang’e-6 Lander |
| title_short | The First Laser Retroreflector on the Lunar Far Side Onboard China’s Chang’e-6 Lander |
| title_sort | first laser retroreflector on the lunar far side onboard china s chang e 6 lander |
| url | https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/space.0301 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT yexinwang thefirstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT simonedellagnello thefirstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT kaichangdi thefirstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT marcomuccino thefirstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT hongqiancao thefirstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT lucaporcelli thefirstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT xiangjindeng thefirstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT lorenzosalvatori thefirstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT jinsongping thefirstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT mattiatibuzzi thefirstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT yuqiangli thefirstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT lucianafilomena thefirstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT zhizhongkang thefirstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT michelemontanari thefirstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT zhanfengmeng thefirstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT lorenzamauro thefirstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT binxie thefirstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT mauromaiello thefirstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT yexinwang firstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT simonedellagnello firstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT kaichangdi firstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT marcomuccino firstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT hongqiancao firstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT lucaporcelli firstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT xiangjindeng firstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT lorenzosalvatori firstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT jinsongping firstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT mattiatibuzzi firstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT yuqiangli firstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT lucianafilomena firstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT zhizhongkang firstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT michelemontanari firstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT zhanfengmeng firstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT lorenzamauro firstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT binxie firstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander AT mauromaiello firstlaserretroreflectoronthelunarfarsideonboardchinaschange6lander |