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Sources of information
CCTV: Decoding "Queqiao": the world's first communication satellite operating at the Earth-Moon Lagrange L2 point
Preface
The United States has repeatedly stated in public that China and the United States are in competition for manned lunar landings, and for this reason they have long begun to restrict the development of China's space technology, banning the export of even American-made satellite parts to China.
However, although China started late in this field, it clearly has a "late-mover advantage", and in the morning of March 20, China's original Queqiao-2 relay satellite was shockingly launched, which means that the mainland has entered a new stage of lunar exploration.
Although this incident is gratifying, it has also reminded many people of the mainland's consent to the United States using our relay satellite.
So why did the mainland agree to the use of the United States in the first place, and what mission did the Queqiao-2 shoulder?
鹊桥二号
The weight of Queqiao No. 2 is about 1.2 tons, which is much larger than that of Queqiao No. 1.
First of all, let's introduce the role of these two brothers, first of all, to make it clear, that is, from ancient times to the present, we see only one side of the moon, just like a mirror, we can only see its front, not the back, so it will be very difficult for the spacecraft to fly to the opposite side.
It's like inside the wall and outside the wall, if the spacecraft lands on the side facing the Earth, it can receive the signal very easily, but in order to fly to the backside, the signal must penetrate the entire moon, which is obviously impossible.
It is precisely because of this problem that none of the world's space powers have ever reached the far side of the moon, and even the United States, which is very technologically advanced, does not have any strength now.
Since we can't chisel through the moon, let's think of another way, our wireless signals on the earth are achieved by sending satellites into space, so scientists have also thought of a similar way, that is, to send relay satellites around the moon to convey signals.
Although the solution was conceived, it was more difficult to achieve, and the United States had the most say in this point, because they had repeatedly launched relay satellites to the moon, but in the end they all ended in failure.
Through unremitting research and efforts, mainland scientists successfully launched the Queqiao-1 relay satellite, which marks a big step forward in the human lunar exploration project, and also means that it is possible for a human spacecraft to successfully land on the far side of the moon.
The first mission of the successful launch of Queqiao-2 is to help Chang'e-6 collect the soil on the back of the moon, which can be said to be unprecedented, so it is of great significance.
In addition, Queqiao-2 will also flexibly change orbit and relay Queqiao-1 to continue to provide stable relay communication services for Chang'e-4, Yutu-2 and the future Chang'e-7 and Chang'e-8, so that their exploration journey on the far side of the moon can be unimpeded.
In addition, Queqiao-2 also shoulders a more ambitious scientific mission, it is like an early explorer, first to explore the secrets of the moon, and accumulate valuable data and experience for the mainland's future manned lunar missions.
Moreover, Queqiao-2 is also regarded as the cornerstone of the mainland's construction of a deep space network system, and when Queqiao-3 is launched, China will be able to achieve communication coverage between the Earth, the Moon, Venus, and Mars.
With advanced Q/V band communication technology, the data transmission rate of Queqiao-2 can reach 10Gbps per second, which is like an interstellar highway and greatly improves the data transmission efficiency of continental deep space exploration.
It is worth mentioning that the successful development and application of Queqiao-2 has made China the only country in the world with such relay satellite technology.
Therefore, if the spacecraft of other countries want to reach the far side of the moon, they need to borrow our relay satellites, and in 2023, many countries have submitted applications to the mainland to use the "Magpie Bridge", including the United States.
The mainland is also very generous, directly unifying the applications of these countries, and it is precisely because of this that many netizens began to ridicule the United States on the Internet for not being hard-mouthed and began to bow to us.
The reason why I say this is because as early as 2011, the US House of Representatives passed the "Wolf Clause", you must know that the purpose of this clause is to stifle the development of the mainland in the aerospace field in the cradle.
The "competition" between China and the United States in the space field
When it comes to this "Wolf Clause", we have to mention Frank Wolfe, who submitted this clause to the US House of Representatives on the grounds of so-called "national security" to prohibit the US space agency from cooperating with the Chinese government.
More extremely, in order to curb China's development in the aerospace field, they also proposed to ban Chinese aerospace researchers from participating in international conferences in the aerospace field, but the unreasonable demands of the United States were dissatisfied with the unreasonable demands of many countries and jointly boycotted them.
It can be said that this "Wolf Clause" is an international ban on China's aerospace by the United States, and as long as it is about cooperation in the aerospace field, no US organization can cooperate with China.
Although the United States established this clause in the form of laws and regulations in 2011, the United States' plan to block China's aerospace began to be implemented as early as 1999.
At that time, China's space industry was just starting, but in order to restrict China's development in this field, the United States issued a decree prohibiting satellites made in the United States and containing American components from being used for China's launches.
And China is just like the old saying: "Sailing against the current, if you don't advance, you will retreat." "China has not been deterred by external pressure, but has become more determined to do its own research and development.
Time flies, China's aerospace industry has forged ahead in difficulties and obstacles, and the Queqiao-2 relay satellite is the brilliant crystallization of this struggle.
Queqiao-2 is unique in the world, and is the lifeline of the probe connecting the Earth and the far side of the Moon, and is the key support for the fourth phase of China's lunar exploration program and even deep space exploration.
In the face of this core technological advantage, the United States, which originally intended to blockade it, fell into an embarrassing situation, and when it realized that it could not independently complete the mission of exploring the far side of the moon, it was not ashamed to take the initiative to seek cooperation with China.
In fact, as early as when Chang'e-5 brought back lunar soil, the United States showed a strong interest, and in order to conduct research, American scientists did not hesitate to bypass the Wolf clause and achieve the purpose of participating in research by joining international organizations or at their own expense.
In recent years, China has shown an unprecedented attitude of openness, whether it is agreeing to the United States and other countries to use the Queqiao relay satellite, building a lunar scientific research station with Russia, or carrying multinational payloads and satellites on the Chang'e-6 mission, all of which reflect China's vision and sincerity of cooperation in the field of space.
In contrast, the contradictory behavior of the United States in restricting U.S.-China space cooperation while desperately seeking to leverage China's scientific and technological achievements is undoubtedly a travesty of its own isolationist policy.
Now that the International Space Station is about to be decommissioned, and China's space station has become the only force of mankind in the earth's orbit, NASA has forgotten its previous ugly face and began to call on Congress to remove the restrictions of the Wolf clause and strive to achieve the goal of cooperation with China in Chang'e-5 lunar soil research and other aspects.
But even at this point, some in the United States still cling to their zero-sum game mentality, fearing that China will dominate the development of the moon.
Former NASA Administrator Nelson has also said in public on many occasions that China and the United States have always been in competition in the field of lunar exploration, and they still insist that whoever lands on the moon first is whose mind.
Compared with the United States, the continent's aerospace path has always adhered to the concept of openness and inclusiveness, whether it is accepting foreign scientists in the Chang'e-5 lunar soil research or promoting international cooperation on a global scale.
The mainland's position is very clear: as long as there is sincerity and conditions are met, China's aerospace industry is willing to work hand in hand with other countries to share the achievements of space and jointly write a new chapter in mankind's exploration of the sea of stars.
At present, after years of development, the mainland has gradually narrowed the distance between itself and the United States in the field of aerospace, and has even surpassed it in some fields.
This also indicates that in this space race between China and the United States, China is gradually winning the initiative and showing its hard and soft power.
epilogue
The successful launch of Queqiao-2 marks the official launch of the fourth phase of the mainland's lunar exploration program, and it also means that the mainland's aerospace industry is exploring deep space.
I believe that in the future, there will be more breakthroughs on the continent's space road, the universe is very vast, and human beings are very small.
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