Design and Realization of Recovery System of Chang’e-5 Reentry Spacecraft

On December 17, 2020, the Chang’e-5 reentry spacecraft landed safely and brought back the lunar sample without damage. This paper describes the recovery system that has critically contributed to the scientific success of the Chang’e-5 missions and presents the technical requirements and constraints of the recovery system for the Chang’e-5 reentry spacecraft and discusses the design process of the recovery system, including the system composition, working procedure, and some other key aspects. Finally, the ground cover rejection tests and air drop and flight tests were carried out to confirm the design configuration. The results showed that the Chang’e-5 reentry spacecraft recovery system was designed correctly, and its functions and performances met the design requirements. A breakthrough in the recovery technology of the reentry spacecraft was achieved for Chinese first lunar sample-return mission.

Localization of the Chang’e-5 Lander Using Radio-Tracking and Image-Based Methods

Chang’e-5, China’s first unmanned lunar sample-return mission, was successfully landed in Northern Oceanus Procellarum on 1 December 2020. Determining the lander location precisely and timely is critical for both engineering operations and subsequent scientific research. Localization of the lander was performed using radio-tracking and image-based methods. The lander location was determined to be (51.92°W, 43.06°N) by both methods. Other localization results were compared for cross-validation. The localization results greatly contributed to the planning of the ascender lifting off from the lander and subsequent maneuvers, and they will contribute to scientific analysis of the returned samples and in situ acquired data.