Sheikh Mohammed: UAE Receives First Message from Rashid Lunar Rover
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) has confirmed a telemetry lock with the rover today, followed by a two-hour operation where all the subsystems were checked to confirm the health of the rover.
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The rover is officially in good health and is set for landing after the four-month cruise phase.
Following the telemetry lock, which represents a fixed signal for data transmission, the team at the MBRSC Mission Control Centre will receive telemetry data once every 30 seconds throughout the operation. The telemetry data has confirmed that each subsystem has been powered on. A thermal reading revealed that the subsystems are in good internal health.
The mission has entered the Cruise Phase, which could last up to 140 days. Throughout the cruise, the operators will contact the rover almost daily for 10 minutes to perform basic health checks and coordinate with the lander ground control team to ensure the battery charging status of the rover is consistent.
This will be followed by the Nominal Surface Operations phase, the main part of the mission. For 10-12 days, the Rashid rover will be engaged in continuous surface research and image capture.
من على بعد 440 ألف كيلومتر من سطح الأرض .. أرسل المستكشف راشد قبل قليل أول رسالة لمركز الفضاء بالخوانيج .. جميع أجهزة وأنظمة المستكشف تعمل بشكل سليم .. وبدأ بدخول مدار القمر تمهيداً للهبوط خلال الأشهر القادمة باذن الله ..
— HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) December 14, 2022
The final two phases after the lunar day, which lasts 14 earth days, are hibernation, followed by decommissioning. The rover then prepares for the lunar night, which also lasts 14 earth days. When the secondary communication is activated, all information captured is downloaded.
The mission will make every effort to ensure that it does not miss any information before the start of the hibernation phase. The chances of the rover restarting are slim. However, if the rover is activated after the lunar night, the mission will be extended to operate throughout the second lunar night, which ends with the decommissioning phase.