Last year, President Xi Jinping offered France a sample of lunar samples taken during a previous space mission. This time, cooperation between China and France goes further. The Chang’e – 6 probe is due to leave on May 3 with several instruments on board, including DORN, a tool designed by French scientists.
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DORN for “ Detection of outgassing Radon »or in French “Detection of radon degassing”.
The instrument was designedIRAP, the Astrophysics Research Institute of Toulouse.
It is as big as two sheets of paper. It will allow us to study how radon, a noble gas, moves on the surface of the moon.
Why measure such a phenomenon? Because we find something on the Moon that is of great interest to space agencies: water
Pierre-Yves Meslin, researcher at the astrophysics and planetology research institute, is one of the designers of DORN. “ What interests us is to know how gases can migrate to the polar regions, where ice can form since we know that there are water reservoirs in the polar regions. By better understanding how gases migrate from warm to cold regions, we will better understand what causes water ice to accumulate at the poles.he explains on the microphone of Victor Costa-Mounier, of the Science department.
DORN will board Chang’e – 6, China’s space vehicle. This is the first time that the French and Chinese will work together for a deep space mission, outside Earth’s orbit.
“ We learned to work together, to know each other better, to overcome the cultural difficulties of project management, which are a little different, with different working methods therefore… For the future, this could open the door to other collaborations.
Takeoff of the Chang’e – 6 mission with DORN on board this May 3. Moon landing scheduled for June 2.
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