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Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

China Callisto Orbiter

The Moon or world is of Astrobiological interest and it is speculated that there could be life in Callisto's subsurface ocean

https://twitter.com/AJ_FI/status/1572710332455591936

Long March 5 rocket and will use a Venus flyby and two Earth flybys to fling the spacecraft on a trajectory for the outer solar system.

The mission referred by media as name 'Tianwen 4' in a white paper titled 'China's Space Program 2021 Perspective,' released early this year, the country outlined its plans for spaceflight and exploration. Wang Qiong of Chinese Lunar Exploration said CNSA was earlier considering a lander as part of the Callisto-focused mission profile, but Wang says that the latest concept includes an orbiter but no lander, "Tianwen," named for the poem "Heavenly Questions" attributed to the ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan born around 2,300 years ago, he considered to be the first patriotic poet to compose romantic poems in Chinese history.

More CO2 and Water?

The surface pressure (7.5 pbar) corresponds to the vapor pressure of CO, ice at 75 K ( I @ , prompting speculation that the
atmosphere may be buffered by deposits of CO, ice in cold, permanently shadowed regions.
While this is plausible, there are other mechanisms that can influence the CO, concentration. The concentration of CO, in water ice and the sublimation rate of H,O may limit effusion of CO,
from the surface.

https://web.archive.org/web/20090318142 … 9-0186.pdf

A Pair of Spacecraft one arrives at Jupiter while another a gravity assist to head for a flyby of Uranus.  The Uranus Neptune mission concept was also being developed as a potential large strategic science mission for NASA, the Moons Puck, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon have been of interest since Voyager. Surface pressure is estimated to be 7.5 picobar (0.75 μPa) and particle density 4 × 108 cm−3 such a thin atmosphere would be lost in only about 4 days by atmosphere escape it must be constantly replenished, the ancient surface of Callisto is one of the most heavily cratered in the Solar System. NASA conducted a conceptual study called Human Outer Planets Exploration (HOPE) regarding the future human exploration of the outer Solar System. The target chosen to consider in detail was Callisto.
PDF
https://web.archive.org/web/20120119170 … bethke.pdf
NASA reported that a crewed mission to Callisto might be possible in the 2040s

Adequate radiation and cold temperature protection enable up to 15 3-hour excursions during a 30-day Callisto surface stay

'Brayton nuclear reactor
- Power system can deliver 400 kWe power at a mass of 30kg/kWe'

'What tasks will need to be completed on Callisto’s surface?'

Why Look at A Crewed Mission Beyond Mars?

Callisto is  99% the diameter of the planet Mercury, Callisto is the second-largest moon of Jupiter, after Ganymede. It is the third-largest moon in the Solar System after Ganymede and Saturn's largest moon Titan. On Callisto they have scanned water ice, carbon dioxide, silicates, and organic compounds. Callisto is colonized in the 1950 short story "U-Turn" by Eric Frank Russell the 1970s books Callisto series by Linwood Carter, there were plans for an Xbox PlayStation Sci-Fi horror video game 'The Callisto Protocol' as another work of entertainment fiction.

China is more free today or is it still communist with gulags? Perhaps the first city there will be New-Beijing or people can work in the mines https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=2086

Several close flybys of Callisto are also planned by upcoming NASA and ESA missions.

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-09-24 16:57:43)

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: China Callisto Orbiter

China Plans a 2-in-1 Mission to Jupiter and Uranus
https://gizmodo.com/china-missions-jupi … 1849575036
For the Tianwen-4 mission, two spacecraft will attempt to launch aboard the same rocket and then embark on separate trips to the outer solar system.

Gan De - mission to Callisto

Some reports say they might study the possibility of a Mission to Include Callisto Landing

PDF
https://app.dimensions.ai/details/grant/grant.8968494
,
https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org … 20179.html
,
https://presentations.copernicus.org/EG … tation.pdf

The white paper published in late 2016 stated that China will “conduct further studies and key technological research on the bringing back of samples from Mars, asteroid exploration, exploration of the Jupiter system and planet fly-by exploration.”
http://english.www.gov.cn/archive/white … 159496.htm
,
https://www.planetary.org/articles/2017 … turn-plans
,
https://spacenews.com/china-is-moving-a … -missions/

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: China Callisto Orbiter

Astronomers have a new theory for why Uranus spins on its side: The ice giant once had a large moon that migrated outward, which slowly flipped Uranus sideways.
https://astronomy.com/news/2022/10/astr … n-its-side

China will launch two spacecraft to Jupiter and Uranus to study the origins of the solar system
https://www.independent.co.uk/space/chi … 74027.html

tahanson43206

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Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,263

Re: China Callisto Orbiter

Topic created by Mars_B4_Moon about Callisto
(th)

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: China Callisto Orbiter

Thanks for the bump Tahanson, I did not find this topic when search and did not see much of an update on Callisto. NASA and ESA shouldbe exploring Europa soon. I think Andrew Jones AJ_FI is one of the better sources for China missions on twitter.

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: China Callisto Orbiter

Chinese scientist proposes solar system-wide resource utilization roadmap
https://spacenews.com/chinese-scientist … n-roadmap/

The proposal is not an approved government plan, but is an indication of some of the current thinking on long term visions for space exploration and exploitation in China.

It envisions initially constructing water-ice resource development facilities on the moon. Water can be separated into hydrogen and oxygen and used as propellant. These capabilities would be used to expand to near-Earth asteroids, Mars, main-belt asteroids and the moons of Jupiter.

The project would establish supply routes and chains using gravitationally balanced nodes at Earth-Moon Lagrange point 1, Sun-Earth L1 and L2, Ceres and Sun-Jupiter L1.

China is building a reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle which could facilitate space infrastructure missions. Chinese startups including Origin Space are engaged in plans for asteroid mining.

Jupiter Trojans were talked of in another thread, the L4 point, existing 60° ahead of the planet in its orbit, or L5, 60° behind.

From the perspective of the planet Jupiter the L1 point lies on the line defined between the two large masses Jupiter M1 and the Sun M2. It is the point where the gravitational attraction of the Sun M2 and that of Jupiter M1 combine to produce an equilibrium.

NASA's Genesis probe collected solar wind samples at Earth's L1 point and ESA's LISA Pathfinder a Gravity Wave mission, the Chang'e 5 Lunar mission changed its position to an L1 orbiter.
http://www.spaceflight101.com/change-5- … dates.html

5261 Eureka Martian L5 is the first Mars trojan discovered and Asteroid 121514 1999 UJ7 is a small asteroid orbiting near the L4 point of Mars

China's mission near-Earth asteroid 4179 Toutatis went by the L2 point, the joint NASA, ESA and CSA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is currently at L2

Queqiao relay satellite has been at Earth–Moon L2

Lagrange Points
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/ … ange-point

Lagrange points are positions in space where objects sent there tend to stay put. At Lagrange points, the gravitational pull of two large masses precisely equals the centripetal force required for a small object to move with them. These points in space can be used by spacecraft to reduce fuel consumption needed to remain in position.

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-09-05 08:03:46)