Why China is planning to launch a 3D satellite chain
What's the story
China has started an ambitious international project to build a three-dimensional satellite network between Earth and the Moon. The main aim of this project is to monitor solar activity and investigate some of the universe's most powerful explosions. The Deep Space Exploration Laboratory, which will lead the project, has announced plans to launch 30 backpack-sized CubeSats into highly elliptical orbits around Earth over the next four years.
Global partnership
International collaboration on the project
The ambitious project has garnered international support from countries like Egypt, Indonesia, Senegal, Serbia, and Thailand.
The Deep Space Exploration Laboratory said this constellation of satellites would "fill a global gap in systematic observations of cislunar space."
Cislunar space is the region between Earth and the Moon, extending from low-Earth orbit to about two million kilometers away.
This area is considered a new frontier for human activity and future manned lunar missions.
Advanced observation
Advancements in understanding cislunar space
The proposed 3D satellite network will revolutionize our understanding of cislunar space, an area that has been largely unexplored due to reliance on individual spacecraft for studies.
With multiple satellites observing from different locations at once, scientists can track energetic particles and magnetic disturbances from the Sun as they sweep through this region.
This would give them a clearer picture of how space weather develops.
Lunar exploration
CubeSats to search for lunar resources
Apart from the Earth-Moon satellite network, another group of CubeSats will be launched into orbit around the Moon. Their main task would be to search for lunar resources. However, further details about this part of the project are yet to be disclosed.