Queqiao Mission
5/20/2018
The Chang’e-4 lunar far-side lander and rover mission required a communications relay satellite beyond the Moon that was scheduled for launch on 2018-05-21 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.
Queqiao will use X-band to communicate with the Chang’e-4 lander and rover on the lunar far side.
Queqiao will use a 4.2-meter parabolic antenna to relay telecommands from the ground to the Chang’e-4 spacecraft and to transmit data and telemetry back to Earth via S-band while using X-band to communicate with the lander and rover.
Queqiao provides line-of-sight communications between Chang’e-4 and Chinese ground stations at Kashi and Jiamusi as well as ground stations in Namibia and Argentina.
A Long March 4C launched the Queqiao relay satellite in 2018-05-01, which was a necessary precursor to the Chang’e-4 lunar far side landing on 2019-01-02.
Queqiao (Chang'e-4 communications relay satellite) was launched on May 20, 2018 by a CZ-4C (Y27) from XSLC, LC3.
The Queqiao relay satellite, equipped with a 4.2-meter parabolic antenna, was launched from Xichang on 2018-05-20 and entered a Lissajous orbit beyond the moon around the Earth–moon Lagrange point 2 on 2018-06-14.