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After nearly two years of construction, China announced the launch of its first set of radio antennas from deep space, located in Kashgar. According to information from the Xi’an Satellite Control Center, the idea is that the new facility will support the tracking and monitoring of missions carried out on the Moon and Mars, including the Martian mission Tianwen-1 and Chang’e 5, launched yesterday. to collect lunar samples.
The set was built in the Kashgar station control center and has four 35 m diameter antennas, two of which were recently built. The data reception capacity of the installation is equivalent to that of a 66 meter diameter antenna. According to information from Li Sihu, director of the station, “the system can carry out high-precision monitoring and control of one or more ships.” In addition, this system works independently, being able to unite both local and country observatories for joint tracking missions and radio astronomical observations.
China’s first deep space antenna array system has been put into use at the Kashgar, Xinjiang ground station in northwest China. The system, consisting of four 35m diameter antennas, will support spacecraft tracking and monitoring missions, including Tianwen-1 and Chang’e-5. pic.twitter.com/5awDzegmur
– China Science (@ChinaScience) November 18, 2020
According to information from the center’s team, the system was developed to improve the monitoring range and sensitivity for receiving data from ground stations for deep space exploration projects, and has already been used to track the Tianwen-1 probe. , which will reach Mars in February 2021, as well as the Chang ‘e 4 probe, which explores the far side of the Moon.
The station will operate alongside deep space stations located in Jiamusi, also in China, as well as a station in Patagonia, Argentina, to conduct space tracking and control of the Tianwen-1 probe. Sources in the Xi’an center reported that other Chinese stations are prepared to support the Chang’e 5 mission, and have received training and equipment maintenance for this new mission, the most ambitious and complex since the launch of the Chinese space program.
Source: Spacedaily, Global Times, SCMP
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