Estimation of the Thermodynamic Equilibrium Temperature of Chandrayaan-2 Rover Solar Panel during Long Lunar Nights

摘要

The rover proposed in the mission Chandrayaan-2, to primarily carry out in-situ scientific experiments on Moon surface, is planned to land near lunar South Pole where the number of sunlit days and nights vary with different lunar site latitudes. Extent of lunar night/s can be from 15 earth days (at 60° south latitude landing site) to 20 earth days at 88° south latitude. Thus, rover solar panel will be undergoing a continuous cold lunar night spanning 20 earth days unlike 72 minutes of peak eclipse duration for Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) spacecrafts. Thus, an analysis is carried out to evaluate the thermodynamic equilibrium temperature of Chandrayaan-2 rover solar panel during these long lunar nights for different landing sites and results are presented.