鹊桥
China’s lunar exploration blueprint includes Queqiao-2, CE-6, CE-7 around 2026, CE-8 around 2028, a crewed lunar landing before 2030, and an ILRS moon base in the 2030s.
China launched the Queqiao-2 lunar relay satellite and a pair of small experimental lunar communications and navigation satellites in March 2024.
China launched the Queqiao-2 lunar communications relay satellite on March 19, 2024 on a Long March 8 rocket.
Queqiao-2 entered lunar orbit on 2024-03-24 and achieved its intended elliptical, 24-hour-period orbit on 2024-04-02.
Queqiao-2 will improve communications between Earth and spacecraft operating at the lunar south pole while conducting its own science with onboard payloads.
Queqiao-2 completed function and performance tests in lunar orbit ahead of China's Chang'e-6 lunar far side sample return mission.
Queqiao-2 conducted a communication test with the Chang'e-6 spacecraft on 2024-04-08-9, 2024 while Chang'e-6 remained on Earth.
The original Queqiao satellite facilitated China's Chang'e-4 mission, which achieved the first-ever lunar far side landing in 2019 with a lander and rover.
Tiandu-1 and Tiandu-2 were launched aboard the same Long March 8 mission as Queqiao-2.
Queqiao-2 has been deployed to relay signals between Earth ground stations and Chang'e-6 on the lunar far side.
Queqiao-2 will shift its orbit into a 12-hour period to support the 2026 Chang'e-7 mission and later Chang'e-8 mission.
Queqiao-2, also known as Magpie Bridge-2, is a more capable follow-up to the original Queqiao satellite launched in 2018.
Queqiao-2 completed on-orbit communication testing in April 2024.
China launched the Queqiao-2 lunar communications relay satellite to facilitate the Chang’e-6 lunar far side sample return mission and to support later Chang’e-7 and Chang’e-8 missions to the lunar south pole.
Queqiao-2 will facilitate the Chang’e-6 lunar far side sample return mission launching in May and will later support the Chang’e-7 and Chang’e-8 lunar south pole landings.
The Queqiao-2 lunar communications relay satellite launched on 2024-03-19 as a precursor to the Chang’e-6 lunar far side sample return mission.
China launched the Queqiao-2 lunar communications relay satellite last week and it entered an initial 200 x 100,000-kilometer orbit 112 hours after launch.
DFH Satellite, a unit of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, indicated in 2023 that Queqiao-2 could provide relay communication services for other countries’ lunar landing missions at the lunar south pole or lunar far side.
Queqiao-2’s 24-hour-period frozen orbit will provide simultaneous direct line-of-sight with both ground stations on Earth and the lunar far side for large portions of the orbit.
Queqiao-2 is expected to support the ongoing Chang’e-4 lunar far side lander and rover mission after assisting Chang’e-6.