The lunar mineral spectrum analyzer, also nicknamed "Eagle Eye", equipped on the lander of China's Chang'e-6 probe, is used for quick spectral detection, identifying the mineral composition of the sampling area and also detecting the lunar water, said a Chinese expert on space exploration.
The Chang'e-6 probe, comprising an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a returner -- like its predecessor Chang'e-5 -- was launched on May 3. Its lander-ascender combination touched down at the designated landing area in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin on June 2.
Multiple payloads were installed on the lander, including the landing camera, panoramic camera, lunar soil structure detector and lunar mineral spectrum analyzer, to help the sampling.
Shu Rong, payload commander for lunar and deep space exploration from the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the Chang'e-6 probe is designed to work around 48 hours on the far side of the moon after its touch-down there. The lunar mineral spectrum analyzer will start its work when the probe conducts surface sampling and it needs to take records of the spectral characteristics of the lunar soil respectively before and after the sampling.
On Thursday, the spacecraft finished its intelligent and rapid sampling work, and the samples were stowed in a container inside the ascender of the probe.
"When the sample is getting back later, its parameters or geologic setting when it was on the lunar surface will be known with the analyzer. People can know what the environment it was sampled in is like. We have sampled only part of it and nobody knows what kind of spectral characteristics the rest will have. With the analyzer, we can provide some background data for scientists to analyze the sample," said Shu.
Expert said that with the in-situ lunar surface spectral detection technology, the analyzer, for the first time in the world, conducted high-resolution real-time spectral detection on minerals at close range in complex lunar surface scenes without destroying the existing state.
The analyzer not only analyzes the distribution of mineral composition in the sampling area, but also pays special attention to whether the lunar soil contains lunar water. This will provide a unique new perspective for revealing scientific problems such as the origin and evolution of the moon, said expert.
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Chinese expert shares function of lunar mineral spectrum analyzer on Chang'e-6 probe