China plans a constellation of communications/GPS-type satellites around Moon
The new colonial movement: According to a statement by one Chinese official on April 24th, China now plans to launch a constellation of communications/GPS-type satellites that will orbit the Moon and provide support for its unmanned and manned missions to the surface.
China will take the lead in demonstrating a small, lunar relay communication and navigation system, Wu Yanhua, deputy director of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), told Chinese media on April 24. The first launch for the small constellation could take place in 2023 or 2024, according to Wu, who added that countries around the world are welcome to jointly build it.
That first launch will likely be a relay satellite to support the first unmanned landers/rovers targeting the lunar south pole. It will also likely be the first of several satellites designed to provide service long term for China’s planned manned lunar base, what it has dubbed the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). Though announced as a project partnered with Russia, expect a large bulk of the work to be done by China.
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The new colonial movement: According to a statement by one Chinese official on April 24th, China now plans to launch a constellation of communications/GPS-type satellites that will orbit the Moon and provide support for its unmanned and manned missions to the surface.
China will take the lead in demonstrating a small, lunar relay communication and navigation system, Wu Yanhua, deputy director of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), told Chinese media on April 24. The first launch for the small constellation could take place in 2023 or 2024, according to Wu, who added that countries around the world are welcome to jointly build it.
That first launch will likely be a relay satellite to support the first unmanned landers/rovers targeting the lunar south pole. It will also likely be the first of several satellites designed to provide service long term for China’s planned manned lunar base, what it has dubbed the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). Though announced as a project partnered with Russia, expect a large bulk of the work to be done by China.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Will make targeted landings a lot easier.
Will be interesting to see people reaction when they beat us to the moon, and say, “This is our, go find your own Moon”.
SB,
sb,
You are correct. I mentioned this in an earlier post a while ago.
Since a lot of effort is going to be in prospecting for water and other recourses, being able to accurately map the locations for later access is critical.
Say you are a little robot in the bottom of a big crater. The only way to figure out where you are in real-time now is using celestial nav. The Moon doesn’t rotate as rapidly as the Earth so there’s a lot more error in the location solution. Since fuel is going to be a big issue, best to know exactly where you are and are headed to avoid excess fuel consumption searching around.
pawn
Do they use celestial nav for something as slow as a rover on the moon? I would think it would be near pointless on the near side, and that dead reckoning would be better.
The STELLA system the Navy developed years ago was accurate to an arc sec, or about 30 meters, which is more than enough on the Earth when in open sea. But for terrestrial that is not near enough. Dead reckoning, and a form of pilotage, or basic Land Nav would be sufficient.
The Moon is mapped pretty well by the LRO to a pretty good resolution.
Of all the corrections , Celestial, I cannot think of any that would be a problem for a slower rotation. If anything, being above the atmosphere, being computerized and access to more stars, there would be less error. And instead of using the upper or lower limb of the moon, they would be using the Earth.
sb,
Thanks for the info. I’ll check it out.
Having a map of where you are doesn’t help much in telling you where you are on the map unless you started out at some reference point and measured distance and heading. Compass won’t work.
I retract the comment about the apparent motion but I am pretty sure that it will affect the resolution so you might need a better clock that you would need on Earth for the same accuracy.
Nah, I’m completely wrong on this. Never mind.
China wants to Mine or Colonize the Moon and spread communism to other worlds
pawn,
All good. Made me break out my copy of Bowditch, and refresh a few things in my head.
However, if you are familiar with it, you always have an assumed point (read as assumed location) when working in Celestial Nav.