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China plans to launch a pair of spacecraft, Tiandu-1 and Tiandu-2, to the Moon along with the Queqiao-2 satellite repeater, which will be used to support the upcoming Chang’e missions. This was reported by SpaceNews.
The Tiandu-1 and Tiandu-2 satellites are to be placed in lunar orbit. With their help, the Chinese side hopes to conduct a number of navigation and communication experiments – in particular to test laser and microwave localisation methods between the Moon and Earth.
The main purpose of the spacecraft is to test technologies that will later be used in the deployment of the Queqiao constellation.
