Recently, recommended by Chinese Society of Astronautics, after two rounds of voting by the International Astronautical Federation, as excellent representatives of the Chang'e-4 mission team, Wu Weiren, chief designer of the Chinese lunar exploration program and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Yu Dengyun, deputy chief designer of Chinese lunar exploration program, deputy director of the Science and Technology Committee of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, Sun Zezhou, the chief designer of the Chang'e-4 probe system and a researcher of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation,won the 2020 "World Astronautical Award", the highest award of the International Astronautical Federation. It is alsothe first time in 70 yearsthat the international organization has awarded the prize to Chinese space scientists.

In January 2009, the Chang'e-4 probe, which was developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, successfully realized the first soft landing and patrol probe on the far side of the moon.

▲ Chang'e-4 Lander and Inspector

The Chang 'e-4 mission has created manyworld firsts:

It was the first time to land and patrol the far side of the moon for a human probe.

For the first time, continuous and reliable relay communication between the far side of the moon and the Earth was realized by using relay communication satellite operating at Lagrange L2 point of Earth-moon.

The first lunar scientific exploration and low-frequency radio astronomy observation on the far side of the moon...

▲Some members of the Chang'e-4 mission team

At present, Chang'e-4 has been working efficiently for 18 moon days, surviving on the lunar surface formore than 500 days, making it the world's longest working human probe on the lunar surface. The Chang'e-4 mission has made fruitful scientific achievements and filled many gaps in the field of lunar exploration.

The "Yutu 2" lunar rover has a cumulative mileage of 447.68 meters and is currently about 292 meters from the lander. During this period, scientific detection tests such as rock detection, rut detection, and impact crater detection were carried out;

The geological stratification structure within 40 meters underground of the landing area on the far side of the moon is revealed for the first time by using in-situ detection data, and its material composition and evolution mechanism are described.

The material composition of the far side of the moon was revealed successfully by using the in-situ spectral detection data of the infrared imaging spectrometer, which verified that the lunar mantle is rich in olivine, deepening the understanding of the formation and evolution of the moon.

The energy flux spectrum of energy neutral particles on the lunar surface is obtained by using the neutral atom detector to detect the environmental energy neutral atoms on the lunar surface, which proves that the energy of energy neutral particles has a strong correlation with the velocity of the incident solar wind......

Prior to this, the Chang'e-4 mission team won theRoyal Aeronautical Society's only team gold award in 2019. This isthe first time that the Royal Aeronautical Society has awarded the award to the Chinese project since its establishmentin 153 years; and it was awarded theonly gold award for spaceflight in 2020 by theUS Space Foundation; and the team was awarded the first outstanding lunar mission award by the International Moon Village Association since its inception.

This time, the outstanding representative of the Chang'e-4 mission team won the “World Astronautical Award”, the highest award of the International Astronautical Federation. This demonstrates once again that China's achievements in lunar exploration have great significance and far-reaching impact, and have been fully recognized by authoritative international space agencies and exerted great international influence.

Sources: Official Wechat of China Lunar Exploration Project