China Launches Relay Satellite as It Preps to Explore Dark Side of the Moon
Tang Shihua
DATE:  May 21 2018
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
China Launches Relay Satellite as It Preps to Explore Dark Side of the Moon China Launches Relay Satellite as It Preps to Explore Dark Side of the Moon

(Yicai Global) May 21 -- China successfully launched a relay communication satellite today as it prepares to send Chang'e-4, an explorer destined for the dark side of the moon, into orbit later this year.

Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan launched the satellite at 5.28 a.m., state-owned news agency Xinhua reported. The relay craft, Queqiao, broke from its launch vessel and its solar panels and communications antenna properly deployed, the report added.

"The launch is a key step for China to realize its goal of being the first country to send a probe to soft-land on and rove the far side of the Moon," said Zhang Lihua, manager of the relay satellite project. The satellite also houses a low-frequency radio detector developed in the Netherlands to conduct in-orbit scientific experiments, he added.

As only one side of the moon is ever visible from Earth, Chang'e-4 will not be able to directly communicate with the control station at home, said Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar exploration project. Queqiao will act as a relay to allow data transmission between Earth and Chang'e-4.

Queqiao is set to lock into a halo orbit on the L2 Lagrange point of the Earth-Moon system, meaning it will orbit fairly stably with respect to the planet and its natural satellite. Queqiao will be the first satellite ever to follow an L2 orbit.

Two twin microsatellites for research, Longjiang-1 and Longjiang-2, were launched alongside Queqiao to conduct ultra-long-wave astronomical observations of the sky at low frequencies.

Editor: James Boynton

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Keywords:   Moon Landing,Science,Space,Aerospace,Queqiao