China to set up a satellite network system for space exploration

China's new satellite systems acts as a communication bridge between missions to the moon and beyond and ground operations on Earth.

Chinese official media stated on Wednesday that China will begin developing relay satellites that, by 2030, will serve as a communication link between missions to the moon and beyond and ground operations on Earth. According to Wu Yanhua, the head designer of China's deep space exploration project, a pilot of the satellite constellation will support the country's continuing lunar research programme and the construction of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS).

A communications relay satellite between the far side of the moon and Earth will be launched in 2024 to support uncrewed lunar missions this decade. It is designated Queqiao-2, or Magpie Bridge-2, after a bridge built up of magpies in a Chinese folklore. China intends to launch the Chang'e-6 mission that year in order to collect lunar samples from a remote region on the moon.

The Chang'e-7 mission will take out around 2026 with the objective of examining the lunar resources in the South Pole of the moon in order to support long-term human habitation. After that, the Chang'e-8 mission will launch in 2028, at which point an ILRS prototype will be built. Russia and Venezuela have both agreed to participate so far thanks to China. By 2030, China hopes to be a significant space power after completing its first lunar landing in 2013.