What was the name of China's first lunar exploration satellite?

The name of China's first lunar exploration satellite is Chang 'e-1.

On June 24th, 2007, Chang 'e I was launched in xichang satellite launch center. On March 1 day, 2009, Chang 'e-1 completed its mission and hit a predetermined place on the moon's surface. Chang 'e-1 is the first artificial satellite in China's lunar exploration program, named after Chang 'e, an ancient mythical figure in China. The lunar exploration project is the third milestone of China's space activities after the artificial earth satellite and manned space flight.

Chang 'e-1 broke through and mastered a large number of core technologies and key technologies with independent intellectual property rights, making China one of the few countries with deep space exploration capabilities in the world, realizing the "first time" in China's space history and spacecraft: developing and successfully launching China's first lunar exploration satellite for the first time; For the first time, it realized the flight around the moon and scientific exploration; For the first time, the overall design idea and development process of deep space exploration mission were formed.

Technical breakthrough of "Chang 'e I"

In order to make Chang 'e-1 photograph the surface of the moon at any position in the orbit around the moon with the same resolution and stable orbit height, Chang 'e-1 chose the orbit around the moon pole with a height of 200 kilometers and an operation period of about 127 minutes. Chang 'e-1 needs the least energy to run in this orbit, and the risk of launching orbit change is the lowest, which has accumulated experience for China's lunar exploration project and the orbit design of deep space exploration thereafter.

Chang 'e-1 used the ultraviolet lunar sensor to observe the moon, which can meet the needs of various lunar phases, including the new moon, the first quarter moon, the full moon and the last quarter moon, and even work normally in the event of a total solar eclipse. Without the support of the ground station, the pitch angle and roll angle of the moon can be obtained directly, and whether the flight path of the lunar probe is parallel to the lunar surface can be determined.

Reference to the above content: Baidu Encyclopedia-Chang 'e No.1