China launches new relay satellite for communications between Earth and Moon - Xinhua

2024-03-20 03:08:00

(Xinhua/Yang Guanyu)

WENCHANG, March 20 (Xinhua) — China on Wednesday launched a new relay satellite to provide communication services between the Earth and the Moon, a key step for its future lunar exploration missions such as retrieving samples of the dark side of the moon.

A Long March-8 carrier rocket, carrying the satellite named Queqiao-2, or Magpie Bridge-2, rose into the sky at 8:31 a.m. from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China’s Hainan Province ).

After 24 minutes of flight, the satellite separated from the rocket, and entered the planned Earth-Moon transfer orbit, with a perigee at 200 kilometers and an apogee at 420,000 kilometers. The satellite’s solar panels and communications antennas have been unfolded, according to the China National Space Administration. END