HELSINKI — China is set to launch its Queqiao-2 communications relay satellite to support upcoming moon missions late March 19.
A Long March 8 rocket was vertically transferred to a launch pad at Wenchang Satellite Launch Center early March 17. The rocket will launch Queqiao-2 towards the moon in preparation for the Chang’e-6 lunar far side sample return mission in May.
Queqiao-2 has a mass of 1,200 kilograms and is equipped with a 4.2-meter parabolic antenna. Its elliptical orbit will allow it to maintain communication with both Earth and lunar far side, which never faces the Earth.
The satellite has a mission lifetime of over eight years. It is intended to support not only Chang’e-6 but also the later Chang’e-7 and Chang’e-8 missions to the lunar south pole.
Chinese authorities have not openly announced a time and date for launch, but airspace closure notices reveal two launch windows. These are 8:21-8:47 p.m. and 9:45-10:16 p.m. Eastern March 19 (0021-0047 and 0145-0216 UTC, March 20).
Queqiao-2 is intended to enter a highly elliptical, frozen lunar orbit inclined by 55 degrees. The satellite will make its closest approach to the moon at roughly 300 kilometers altitude while over the northern hemisphere. It will then head out to an apolune, or farthest point from the moon, of 8,600 kilometers.
The moon is tidally locked to the Earth, meaning that one hemisphere of the planetary body always faces our planet. Queqiao’s orbit will see it have line of sight to both Chang’e-6—which is targeting Apollo crater in the southern hemisphere of the far side—and Earth for a large portion of its orbital period.
Queqiao-2 will use X and UHF bands to communicate with Chang’e spacecraft, and S and Ka-bands for communications with Earth. It features multiple data rates and reconfigurable software.
China conducted its first lunar sample return mission, Chang’e-5, in 2020. That mission saw 1,731 grams of nearside lunar…
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