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<h1 style="box-sizing:border-box;font-size:16pt;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">Chang'e-4: Yuanwang 6 tracking vessel prepares for Moon relay satellite launch</h1><p style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">The<span> </span><strong style="box-sizing:border-box">Yuanwang 6</strong><span> </span>space tracking vessel has left port in preparation to support the launch of the relay satellite required for China's ambitious<span> </span><strong style="box-sizing:border-box">Chang'e-4</strong><span> </span>lunar far side landing.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><img src="https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/32215495_1856385227718321_8494424419236577280_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=465cfa9a614d7e0489a2b3090e26601d&oe=5B869C8A" width="100%" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; height: auto;"></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">The Queqiao communications relay satellite is scheduled to launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre on May 21 or later via a Long March 4C rocket, heading for an orbit beyond the Moon.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">Yuanwang 6 will track the spacecraft after launch from southwest China as it heads into orbit, observing its trajectory and providing survey and control capabilities.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">Yuanwang space tracking ships, whose name means 'long view' play a vital role in China's space tracking and data network, with systems aboard providing accurate information.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">A second ship, Yuanwang 7, is already sailing for an undisclosed location to support the launch, after assisting the launch of the Apstar-6C satellite from Xichang on Friday.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">The relay satellite is a precursor to the Chang'e-4 lander and rover mission, which will attempt the first-ever soft-landing on the far side of the Moon in late 2018.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">As the far side of the Moon never faces the Earth, due to tidal locking, the relay satellite is required to be in place beyond the Moon to facilitate communications between terrestrial ground stations and the Chang'e-4 lander and rover.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">Its intended halo orbit around the second Earth-Moon Lagrange point more than 60,000 kilometres beyond the Moon will make it accessible to both ground stations on Earth and the lander on the lunar far side at all times.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">As well as its main communications role, the relay satellite will carry the Netherlands-China Low-Frequency Explorer (NCLE) for low-frequency radio astronomy experiments, and two microsatellites, named Longjiang-1 and Longjiang-2, test low frequency radio astronomy and space-based interferometry, as well as carry an<span> </span><strong style="box-sizing:border-box">amateur radio</strong><span> </span>experiments.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">Read more here:<br style="box-sizing:border-box"><a href="https://gbtimes.com/change-4-yuanwang-6-tracking-vessel-prepares-for-moon-relay-satellite-launch" target="_blank" style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0,51,102);text-decoration:none;word-wrap:break-word">https://gbtimes.com/change-4-yuanwang-6-tracking-vessel-prepares-for-moon-relay-satellite-launch</a></p>
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