The European Space Agency reported that the tests confirmed the possibility of Mars Express in the mode of "blind collection" of radio waves
TASS, December 1. Chinese and European scientists have successfully conducted trial communication sessions between the Zhuzhong rover and the Mars Express probe, confirming the possibility of using the European mission to maintain contact with the Chinese rover. This was announced on Wednesday by the press service of the European Space Agency (ESA).
"In November, the participants of the Mars Express and Tianwen-1 missions conducted the first trial communication sessions on the use of the European probe as a repeater for communication of the Zhuzhong rover with the Earth. These tests were a complete success and confirmed the possibility of Mars Express operating in the mode of "blind collection" of radio waves," the report says.
The Zhuzhong rover is the central element of the Chinese Tianwen-1 Mars mission, which was sent to the fourth planet of the Solar System in July 2020. In February of this year, the rover reached the orbit of Mars, and in May it made a successful landing on the Utopia Plain.
At the beginning of October this year, the connection between the orbital part of the Tianwen-1 mission and the Earth was disrupted due to the so-called "connection" of the Earth, the Sun and Mars, which occurs every 26 months. This is what astronomers call a special situation in which Mars and Earth are located at such points in their orbits that the Sun is directly between them. This greatly interferes with the operation of interplanetary communication systems.
New communication channel
At the end of October, communication with Zhuzhong was restored, but these problems forced the mission participants to look for alternative options to maintain a connection between Earth and the rover. The solution to this problem was complicated by the fact that the existing European and American missions operate on a different set of frequencies that are not compatible with the receivers and transmitters of the Chinese rover.
As noted in the message, European and Chinese researchers managed to solve this problem due to the fact that the Mars Express probe has a MELACOM communication node capable of conducting a "blind collection" of radio waves. This, in theory, allows it to be used to capture a signal from the rover and then redirect it to Earth.
The problem was that this block of the Mars Express was turned off for more than 10 years after the Phoenix landing platform was completed and the Opportunity and Spirit rovers switched to other communication systems. For this reason, European experts were not sure that MELACOM was still operational.
These fears were not justified - ESA specialists and their colleagues from China successfully conducted several trial communication sessions between the orbital module and the rover at the end of November this year after updating the software on board the European probe and the Chinese rover. The creation of this communication channel, scientists hope, will reduce the likelihood of problems during the next connections of Mars, Earth and the Sun.
