Hong Kong Precision Space Instrument will launch with Russian spacecraft

A precision spacecraft “planetary surface preparation system” developed by a Hong Kong researcher will be launched on the Russian spacecraft on November 8 for a one-year space exploration tour. During this period, the Mars satellite will be landed for soil analysis and an attempt will be made to unveil it. The mysteries of Mars and the universe.

The space mission named "Phosphorus Soil" is the first strategic space program China and Russia have cooperated with. It is also the first time that humans have landed Mars' largest satellite, Phobos, in its history. The “planetary surface preparation system” designed by Rong Qiliang, deputy director of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, will play a key role in the plan.

Rong Qiliang said in an interview with reporters recently that if the instrument can successfully land on Phobos, it will help humans understand how Mars and the universe were formed. "We estimate that the surface of the Phobos may have come from Mars, and that there is a chance that it will be formed during the formation of Mars."

According to reports, if the plan goes smoothly, the Russian spacecraft carrying the “planetary topsoil preparation system” and the Chinese Mars Rover “Fireflies No. 1” will be near Mars in November 2012, and then they will be sent separately to look like a potato. The "Phobos" surface and the orbit of Mars.

The "planetary topsoil preparation system" was made at PolyU's industrial center. It weighed only 400 grams and was a little larger than a packet of cigarettes. It is able to grind and screen Phobos topsoil samples less than one millimeter in diameter and press it into columns for field analysis. The results are crucial to understanding how the universe and Mars are formed.

Rong Qiliang said that the R & D team of PolyU and Russia began to work together to conceive this Mars exploration instrument in 2003. The entire design passed through many stages, made many models, and was repeatedly tested and improved to ensure that the instrument can be at low temperature and vacuum, etc. Operating in extreme environments.

In the research and development process, the biggest difficulty that researchers must overcome is to allow the instrument to grind a sample that is as small as a few meters when it is not under heavy conditions, and then screen it. "This is very difficult to do without the gravity of the ground, because the debris of the sample will fly around." Rong Qiliang said.

It is understood that the space agencies of China and Russia signed a cooperation agreement in 2007 to jointly investigate Mars and its satellites. In addition to conducting field analyses, the entire mission will also bring soil samples back to Earth for research and study the effects of cosmic radiation on the microbes and bacteria in the capsule.

PolyU has extensive experience in research and development of precision space instruments and space research development. It was first traced back to the “Space Holding Tweezers” developed in 1995 and was later adopted by the Russian Space Agency. In 2003, a core sampler was developed. "I participated in the Mars exploration program of the European Space Agency.

Currently, Rong Qiliang is developing a "camera pointing mechanism system" for the second phase of the national lunar exploration project.