China's Space Program News Thread

[siegecrossbow]

Wouldnt a cleaning system for solar panels be relatively trivial to be developed for the Mars' Rover?

Zhurong has such a system. It could tilt the solar panels till they are vertical so the dust could come off.

 

[caudaceus]

Zhurong has such a system. It could tilt the solar panels till they are vertical so the dust could come off.

Isn't dust adhesive to the panel?

 

[siegecrossbow]

Isn't dust adhesive to the panel?

The surface is treated to be dust resistant. I assume that they fall off easily.

 

[Overbom]

Zhurong has such a system. It could tilt the solar panels till they are vertical so the dust could come off.

The surface is treated to be dust resistant. I assume that they fall off easily.

That's neat. So you tilt the solar panels (maybe shake them a bit) and dust comes off? Cool stuff

 

[ougoah]

Another Chinese project uses compressed air to blow away dust but mostly for cameras I think or other critical components that are easier to keep dust free than massive panels.

 

[escobar]

China, on the other hand, has observed the U.S.’s use of space since it came into play in the Gulf War, and “has truly built a capability and a counter space capability,” making it “truly the challenge” from the Space Force’s perspective.

“I mean, it’s incredible to see,” Lauderback said. “It’s not just about their counterspace—that does threaten us—but it’s also how they use their space capabilities, their intelligence collection capabilities. Because what are they using that for? Of course, they’re using that to track us.”

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[taxiya]

About the dust cleaning coating of Zhurong.
The research paper in Chinese

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The English version

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Note, according to the paper wind on Mars is too weak most of time to be effective in cleaning dust. Any mechanical device would add more weight and risk of failure.

 

[taxiya]

That's neat. So you tilt the solar panels (maybe shake them a bit) and dust comes off? Cool stuff

also to @siegecrossbow

Yes, that is the idea for the two panels on the side. The two panels at the rear are fixed once deployed and can not be cleaned by tilting.

No, shaking is intentionally avoided due to the added risk of jamming and malfunctioning. From the research, it is believed that the current solution is sufficient enough, we shall see, after all Zhurong is the first, so it is also an experiment for further improvement.

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

About the dust cleaning coating of Zhurong.
The research paper in Chinese

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The English version

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Note, according to the paper wind on Mars is too weak most of time to be effective in cleaning dust. Any mechanical device would add more weight and risk of failure.

I worked on something like this way back in the day (surface coatings for solar panels). I didn't think siloxane coatings would be applicable to Mars which is a near water free environment.

 

[siegecrossbow]