China will launch relay satellite next year, will help in moon landing mission

This satellite will be sent in 2024 (Photo: National Air and Space Museum)

China is preparing to send a satellite for the upcoming robotic landing mission on the south pole of the Moon. The name of this satellite is Queqiao-2, which is planned to be sent next year. This satellite will be launched before the Chang'e-6 mission.

China will launch its Queqiao-2 communication relay satellite in 2024, which will help in future robotic landing missions on the south pole of the Moon.

Wang Qiong of the Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center, under the China National Space Administration (CNSA), informed that Queqiao-2 will launch before the Chang'e-6 mission in early 2024. Chang'e-6 is scheduled for late 2024 or early 2025.

This satellite will help in future missions (Photo: National Air and Space Museum)

Queqiao-2 is an upgrade to the first Queqiao satellite launched in 2018, which was launched to the Earth-Moon Lagrange Point 2 to support the Chang'e-4 Lunar Far Side Lander and Rover mission.

Queqiao-2, also known as Magpie Bridge-2. Its name is derived from the mythology of China. According to the report, Queqiao-2 will enter a Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO) to support Chang'e-6.

The Chang'e-6 mission will complete the mission's landing, sampling and ascent vehicle liftoff stages in about 48 hours. During the extended mission activities, China is believed to have used the service module of its first lunar sample return mission - Chang'e 5 mission of 2020 - to test the DRO.

Chang'e-6 will target the far side of the Moon, a crater inside the ancient South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin. Queqiao-2 will act as a communication relay between teams on the ground and remote parts of the Moon. A relay is needed because the Moon's hemisphere never faces Earth due to tidal locking.

This satellite and its 4.2 m-diameter parabolic antenna will also serve on the Chang'e-7 and Chang'e-8 missions to the Moon's south pole. Chang'e-7 will launch around 2026 and will consist of an orbiter, lander, rover and "mini flying detector" to study the lunar topography, materials and environment. Whereas, Chang-8 will be launched around 2028.