Human Mars exploration has significant values in terms of exploring extraterrestrial life, interplanetary immigration, promoting science and technology development, and the progress of human society. This paper summarizes the research progress on human Mars exploration and the corresponding proposed space transportation systems in the world, and analyzes the development trends. A preliminary scheme including the human Mars exploration mission architecture and corresponding space transportation system is then proposed, and the related key technologies are identified. The results can be a reference for future further research.

In the recovery process of the reusable rocket with vertical take-off and landing, it has to go through the active control process, such as power drop, hover and vertical landing. The key technology lies in the development of high-precision vertical recovery control algorithm. Therefore, a vertical take-off and landing reusable launch vehicle prototype is developed to verify the rationality of the flight control algorithm of rocket vertical recovery.
The vertical take-off and landing reusable launch vehicle prototype is 0.45 m long, 0.45 m wide, 0.6 m high, and has 23 kg take-off weight with a maximum thrust of 400 N jet engine as the power plant, through four gas rudders to achieve the aircraft pitch and yaw and roll-on control. The prototype focuses on the verification of the guidance and control algorithm of the vertical recovery algorithm. Therefore, it is equipped with the vector control capability, avionics and measurement system similar to that of the vertical recovery rocket. The prototype can be used for verification of the flight control algorithm.

China’s Chang’e 3 (CE-3) and Chang’e 4 (CE-3) missions made historic progress by sending rovers equipped with scientific instruments to the new sites on the nearside and farside of the moon, respectively. The same lunar penetrating radar (LPR) that uses pulses of electromagnetic energy to reveal the underground structure and properties of the lunar soil “regolith” covering most of the lunar surface was carried by the rovers. It provided for the first time the opportunity for in situ LPR measurements of the subsurface substrate in two geologically different places on the moon. 
At present, the Yutu rover of CE-3 mission traveled along a path of total length of about 114 m while the Yutu 2 rover of CE-4 has traversed over 1000 m and keeps going. This paper summarizes the fruitful results so far obtained by LPRs, including the physical properties and layered structure of the lunar regolith and shallow crust beneath the two landing sites. The regolith layer thickness at the CE-3 site is thinner than that at the CE-4 site due to its relatively young age. The penetration depth below CE-4 site is about 2.85 times (in terms of the forward and return path delay) deeper than CE-3 as indicated by their different loss tangent values (0.0039 ± 0.0002 vs. 0.013), which is probably due to the differences in abundance of ilmenite and rocks in the regolith. Other physical parameters including dielectric permittivity vs. depth profile, bulk density and electrical conductivity have been estimated using various methods. Thanks to the low signal loss, CE-4 LPR is able to present clear cross section views of two buried craters and the paleo-surface (ancient surface) of the landing site. The multiple stratums observed by the low frequency channel of LPRs indicate several episodes of lava eruptions occurred in the late stage of the formation of the nearside Imbrium Basin and the farside Von Kármán crater despite the asymmetric volcanisms distributed on two sides. 
The discoveries revealed by LPRs advance our knowledges on the formation process and roperties of lunar regolith, thickness of ejecta deposits caused by lunar impact events, the evolution of the nearside and farside volcanisms, etc. They also demonstrate the feasibility of applying ground penetrating radar for non-terrestrial explorations such as China’s first Martian mission, Tianwen 1 mission. 

In order to realize a high-precision and continuous working function of a star sensor, we propose a new 
optical system design. Considering the difficulty of the manufacturing process, the entire optical system uses a complicated Petzval structure. In this paper, the key design elements of the optical system applied for star sensors are presented and the most important performance parameters are given. The ground test results show that the system can maintain excellent detection performance on a near-surface atmospheric platform. This study provides an optical system design scheme for a high-precision and continuous operating star sensor, as well as the theoretical basis for future in-atmosphere and continuous star detection technology.

The indigenous developed global BeiDou Navigation System (BDS-3) was formally commissioned, marking the completion of the three-step BDS development strategy, and a new era for BDS to better serve people from all walks of life. In this paper, the recent progress and main characteristics of BDS technology fusion and industry integration are analyzed. The discussion on the latest development on “BDS+” application starts from “BDS+Technology”and “BDS+Industry”, through to the future prospective BDS applications.

In order to meet the urgent need for diversified and multi-functional deployable antennas in many major national aerospace projects, such as interstellar exploration, the fourth phase of lunar exploration project, and the industrial application of BeiDou, a deployable antenna structure composed of hexagonal prism and pentagonal prism modules is proposed. Firstly, the arrangement and combination rules of pentagonal prism and hexagonal prism modules on the plane were analyzed. Secondly, the spatial geometric model of the deployable antenna composed of pentagonal prism and hexagonal prism modules was established. The influence of module size on the antenna shape was then analyzed, and the kinematic model of the deployable antenna established by coordinate transformation. Finally, the above model was verified using MATLAB software. The simulation results showed that the proposed modular deployable antenna structure can realize accurate connection between modules, complete the expected deployment and folding functional requirements. It is hoped that this research can provide reference for the basic research and engineering application of deployable antennas in China.

Cure and decomposition reaction kinetics of typical organic materials in aerospace applications are introduced. From the data of dynamic differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) experiments, and based on changes of the peak temperatures (Tp) with different heating rates (β), a linear equation, Tp=T1+∆Tlnβ, has been obtained more reasonably. The above equation can be used to explain some laws of higher or lower of apparent activation energies (Ea), by which the apparent activation energy (Ea) is nearly equal to RT12/∆T. A number of kinetic investigations of typical thermosetting resins and energetic materials in aerospace applications were chosen to validate the above equations.

Noise characteristic is one of the important factors to be considered during the design of a launch vehicle system. In this paper, the acceptance conditions for the external noise environment of the instrument cabin are given based on multi-source data, including the measured data of the launch vehicle lift-off noise, the mechanical environment of the launch vehicle equipment, and the external noise environment of the instrument cabin deduced from empirical formula. Then an acoustic and vibration transfer model is established based on the response data of the instrument equipment used to conduct measurements in the noise test reverberation room. By using an external noise environment and a transfer model, the response of the instrument and equipment for the acceptance condition can be obtained. The acoustic and vibration prediction technology introduced in this paper can provide technical support in the environmental prediction analysis of heavy launch vehicles for the future.