Chinese researchers are pushing ahead with the research work on the Chang'e-7 lunar exploration mission, planning to send a flag that can flutter in a very thin and tenuous atmosphere after its predecessor Chang'e-6 brought back the first-ever samples from the far side of the moon last year.
At China's deep space exploration laboratory, researchers from Beijing and Anhui Province are working together to study popular science payloads, including an innovative idea of raising a fluttering flag that originated from a group of pupils.
The lab, co-established by the China National Space Administration, Anhui Province, and the University of Science and Technology of China, started operation in June 2022. It is headquartered in Hefei, the capital city of Anhui, and has a branch in Beijing. The laboratory aims to promote the long-term development of deep space exploration regarding the moon, planets, asteroids, and the edge of the solar system.
On the moon, there is no air to breathe, no breezes to make a flag flutter. So the researchers are trying to use the interaction of electromagnetic fields to fly a flag on the moon. "We know that the moon is vacuum with no air, so it is difficult to make a flag flutter by wind like on Earth. What's the primary school students' solution? That is to arrange closed loop wires on the surface of the flag with access to two-way positive and negative currents, and make the flag flutter through the interaction of electromagnetic fields," said Zhang Tianzhu, deputy head of the institute of future technology at the lab.
If all goes well, this will be the first flag to flutter on the surface of the moon.
"Now, in order to complete the development of our popular science test payload in February, we are motivated and divided into different groups to advance this task," said Zhang.
China plans to send its Chang'e-7 probe to find traces of water and ice at the moon's south pole around 2026.
Currently, researchers are also proceeding with the argumentation work for the following Chang'e-8 mission and international lunar research station.
"Our goal is to establish a sustainable and scalable comprehensive scientific experimental facility on the lunar surface and in lunar orbit, capable of long-term autonomous operation and short-term human participation, and to basically build an international lunar research station by around 2035," said Zhang.
Chinese researchers pushing ahead with Chang'e-7 lunar mission
