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China Launches Lunar Far Side Relay Satellite


Waspie_Dwarf

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Long March 4C sends Chang’e 4 relay satellite toward Moon

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Using a Long March 4C rocket, China launched the first spacecraft of its Chang’e 4 lunar mission along with two smaller satellites. The booster lifted off at 5:28 p.m. EDT (21:28 GMT) May 20, 2018, from Launch Complex 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the country’s Sichuan Province.

The rocket carried the Queqiao communication relay satellite planned to be delivered to the Earth-Moon L2 Lagrangian Point located some 280,000 miles (450,000 kilometers) directly “behind” Earth as viewed from the Sun, or some 37,000 miles (60,000 kilometers) beyond the far side of the Moon.

arrow3.gif  Read More: Spaceflight Insider

 

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This is edgy.

'Dark Side of the Moon', and all that.

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Maybe they're trying to find Syd ...

~

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  • 4 weeks later...

Chang’e-4 relay satellite enters halo orbit around Earth-Moon L2, microsatellite in lunar orbit

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The relay satellite which will facilitate China’s Chang’e-4 lunar far side landing mission late in 2018 has entered its intended halo orbit around Earth-Moon Lagrange point 2.

The Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center (BACC) sent commands for the spacecraft to fire its engines at 11:00 p.m. EDT June 13, with the burn complete at 11:06 p.m.

The satellite will now undergo on-orbit testing of its communications functions, while maintaining a complex Lissajous orbit, which is a three-dimensional irregular curve, rather than a two-dimensional halo.

arrow3.gif  Read More: SpaceNews

 

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