A Mission To Pave Far Side Of The Moon

While we are reading this writing The Queqiao relay satellite is on its way to Earth-moon Lagrange point-2, a gravitationally stable spot about 40,000 miles (64,000 kilometers) beyond the lunar far side.  China has launched a spacecraft that will help to pave the way of a historic mission to the far side of moon by the late of this year.

The satellite will set up shop there and wait for China's robotic Chang'e 4 lander-rover spacecraft, which is expected to launch in November or December. If the plan goes right Chang’e . If the plan goes right Chang’e  will create history by being the first craft ever to touch down on the far side of the moon.  We the people are only able o see the near side of the moon as the moon is ‘tidally locked’ to our planet.  Queqiao will relay commands and data between the Chang'e 4 lander and its handlers here on Earth — a job the lander and rover can't do for themselves, because all that moon rock would get in the way.  With Queqiao two micro satellites called the ‘Longjiang-1’ and ‘Longjiang-2’  are riding to space as well. These are along with the craft for some radio-astronomy research. "Queqiao" means "bridge of magpies" and is a nod to a Chinese folktale. In this story, "magpies form a bridge with their wings on the seventh night of the seventh month of the lunar calendar to enable Zhi Nu, the seventh daughter of the Goddess of Heaven, to cross and meet her beloved husband, separated from her by the Milky Way," China's state-run Xinhua news service explained.

By: Shruti Anand

Content: https://www.space.com/40646-china-queqiao-moon-relay-satellite-launch.html