According to SCMP, a pair of experimental technology satellites from China failed to reach their intended orbit on their way to the Moon. This marks a rare failure in the country’s recent space mission launch record.
The pair of satellites, DRO-A and B, were launched into orbit by the Long March-2C rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 8:51 PM on March 13. While the first and second stages of the rocket operated normally, the upper stage, known as Yuanzheng-1S, did not.
“The satellites have not been placed into their designated orbit, and work is underway to resolve this issue,” the Xinhua News Agency reported in a brief statement.
The Long March-2C rocket launches with satellites DRO-A and B from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on March 13. (Photo: Xinhua News Agency).
The initial plan was for both satellites to head towards the Moon and enter an orbit known as the distant retrograde orbit, or DRO. From there, they would fly in formation and operate alongside DRO-LEO, a third satellite successfully launched into low Earth orbit by the Smart Dragon-3 rocket last month, to test laser-based positioning technologies between Earth and the Moon, referred to as Cislunar space (the space between Earth and the Moon).
The DRO orbit is situated tens of thousands of kilometers above the Moon’s surface. It has a high degree of stability, allowing spacecraft to maintain their orbit for extended periods without the need for fuel, making it advantageous for research and exploration, according to Chinese scientists.
Proposed operational diagram of satellites DRO-A and B. (Photo: SCMP)
According to Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at Harvard who tracks rocket launches and space activities, the U.S. military and amateur researchers monitoring outer space have not yet identified the current orbits of DRO-A and B.
He stated: “The U.S. Space Force often takes time to detect objects in unusual orbits, especially at high altitudes.”
American experts noted that the statement from Xinhua seems to suggest that the satellites “are actually in an orbit around Earth, just not high enough to reach the Moon.”
The failed rocket launch on March 13 was unprecedented for the upper stage Yuanzheng-1S, which has been supporting the Long March rocket to place satellites, including the Beidou positioning satellites, into higher orbits since 2015.
An anonymous rocket engineer in Beijing indicated that Yuanzheng-1S may have experienced an engine malfunction. “Technically, there is still a chance for the satellites to use their own propulsion systems to ascend to a higher orbit, although that would significantly reduce the mission’s lifespan.”
All three DRO satellites were developed by the Academy of Micro-Satellite Innovation under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Shanghai. Detailed technical information about these satellites is still limited.
A Chinese article published in the journal Deep Space Exploration last year proposed a feasible scenario for achieving relatively precise navigation in deep space, based on communication between two satellites in the DRO orbit around the Moon and a third satellite in low Earth orbit using lasers.
A researcher from CAS mentioned that the DRO mission is designed to verify key technologies for communication and data transmission using lasers in deep space.
The researcher added that DRO is becoming increasingly important for China as the nation aims to place its next-generation space station into orbit around the Moon to support crewed lunar landing missions and material transport between the Moon and Earth.
Meanwhile, NASA plans to utilize a different orbit, known as the NRHO (Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit) around the Moon, to construct the Lunar Gateway station and support missions to the lunar surface, Mars, and beyond.
