China is train to establish a new lunar relay satellite this Sunday , the forerunner to a daring charge to the far side of the Moon later this year .
The planet is calledQueqiao , which translates to “ magpie bridge ” . It will be launched at about 5 post-mortem examination EDT on Sunday , May 20 , on a Long March 4C garden rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center .
The satellite , part of the overall Chang’e 4 mission , will be placed at a decimal point of gravitational constancy beyond the Moon calledLagrange point 2 . From here , 64,000 klick ( 40,000 miles ) beyond the far side of the Moon , it will be capable to relay signals back to Earth .
Why is it being set here ? Well , by and by this year China is planning to launch a new lander and rover to the Moon as part of Chang’e 4 . This will be the first landing place ever attempted on the far side of the Moon , purport to disturb down in the Von Kármán volcanic crater in the South Pole - Aitken Basin , although thatcould commute .
Since the Moon is tidally interlock to Earth , one side of it always points towards us . Although it wobble slightly in its domain , we never see the far side . So to communicate with Earth from the far side , you postulate a satellite up above that ’s in peck of our major planet . Step forrard Queqiao .
On plank Queqiao will be a Dutchradio receivercalled the Netherlands - China Low - Frequency Explorer ( NCLE ) . In March 2019 , this will unroll three antennas , which will taste to hear frequencies from the dawn of the universe , solar flares , Jupiter ’s aurora , and more .
Landing on the far side open up some rather interesting scientific discipline , too . As it ’s out of mess of Earth , it means it ’s also out of sight of our radio signals . From here , you’re able to listen to the cosmos without any interference from Earth .
So the lander will include an instrumental role to probe the universe from this restrained location . It ’ll also admit a container withbiological materialinside , including potato seeds and silkworm eggs , to see if these can grow on the lunar surface . This experiment will be live - streamed back to Earth .
As for the rover , it ’ll be equip with some cameras and basis - penetrating radar to analyze under the control surface . This will be the second rover China has sent to the Moon , with the first – Yutu – touching downin December 2013 .
Before all that excitation , though , the Queqiao will have to successfully reach its intended orbit . If all goes to plan , though , we could see some major strides take in lunar exploration by China , as the US alsoeyes upa paying back to the moon presently . Both plan to place human beings there , too .
