Speed Measurement and Motion Analysis of Chang’E-3 Rover Based on Differential Phase Delay

• Published in: Chinese astronomy and astrophysics Vol. 40; no. 2; pp. 236 - 246
• Main Authors: Chao, Pan, Qing-hui, Liu, Xin, Zheng, Qing-bao, He, Ya-jun, Wu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.04.2016
• Subjects: Astronomy; Chinese spacecraft; Delay; Lander vehicles; Mathematical analysis; methods: analytical; methods: miscellaneous; Moon; Movements; Polynomials; Tasks; techniques: interferometric; techniques: miscellaneous; techniques: miscellaneous; methods: analytical; methods: miscellaneous; Moon; techniques: interferometric
• ISSN: 0275-1062; 1879-128X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chinastron.2016.05.009

On 14th December 2013, the Chang’E-3 made a successful soft landing on the lunar surface, and then carried out the tasks of separating the lander and the rover, and taking pictures of each other. With the same beam VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) technique to observe the signals transmitted by the lander and the rover simultaneously, the differential phase delay between them is calculated, which can reflect the minor changes of the rover's position on a scale of a few centimeters. Based on the high sensitivity of differential phase delay, the rover's speeds during 5 movements are obtained with an average of 0.056 m/s. The relationship between the rover's shake in the moving process and the lunar terrain is analyzed by using the spectrum of the residual of the differential phase delay after the first-order polynomial fitting.