天问一号暂与地面失联进入日凌阶段

10/05/2021

由于日凌现象的出现，中国火星探测器“天问一号”、火星车“祝融号”已经暂时与地球失去联系。

9月下旬开始，地球、火星逐渐运行至太阳的两侧且三者近乎处于一条直线上，太阳电磁辐射干扰逐渐增强，器地通信受到干扰，出现不稳定甚至中断，这种现象称作“日凌”。

据“中国探月工程”微信公号报道，日凌期间探测器与地面“失联”是预期的正常状态，“失联”不是“失踪”。为安全度过日凌期，日前火星车和环绕器先后完成相关状态设置，停止科学探测工作并持续进行状态监视。

日凌将于10月中旬结束，探测器将恢复与地面的通信，继续开展科学探测。

天问一号是由中国航天科技集团公司下属中国空间技术研究院研制的探测器，负责执行中国第一次自主火星探测任务。天问一号于2021年2月到达火星附近，实施火星捕获；5月择机实施降轨，着陆巡视器与环绕器分离，软着陆火星表面，火星车驶离着陆平台，开展巡视探测等工作。

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China’s Mars probes suspend explorations due to sun outage

Xinhua

10/05/2021

Photo released on June 11, 2021 by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) shows a selfie of China’s first Mars rover Zhurong with the landing platform. [CNSA/Handout via Xinhua]

BEIJING – China’s Mars rover and orbiter have suspended explorations since mid-September, to wait out a period of sun outage, the China National Space Administration said on Tuesday.

A sun outage refers to a phenomenon when Mars and the Earth move to either side of the sun and the three are almost perfectly aligned. During this period, the solar electromagnetic radiation will increase and disrupt the communications between the probes and the Earth.

The sun outage will end in mid-October, and the two probes will resume communications with the Earth and continue scientific explorations on the red planet, said the administration.

China’s Tianwen-1 mission, comprised of an orbiter, lander and rover, was launched on July 23, 2020. The rover Zhurong drove down from its landing platform to the Martian surface on May 22.

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