CHINA — China has deployed a relay satellite that's meant to bridge communication between Earth and a planned exploration on the far side of the moon.<br /><br />According to Xinhua News Agency, Queqiao, or "magpie bridge", is named after a Chinese folklore in which magpies form a bridge to enable two star-crossed lovers to meet for one day.<br /><br />The Queqiao satellite features a dish antenna and two solar arrays, and was launched atop a Long March 4C rocket from southwest China on Sunday morning.<br /><br />Queqiao is expected to enter a halo orbit around the second Lagrangian Point, and would be the world's first communication satellite operating in that orbit.<br /><br />Its main purpose is to establish a communication link between Chinese Mission control and the Chang'e 4 lunar probe, which will explore the moon's dark side. It's currently scheduled for a December 2018 launch.<br /><br />Queqiao is also equipped with the Netherlands-China Low-Frequency Explorer, a radio scanner that will search for ancient radio signals dating back to the formation of the early universe.<br /><br />The reason the satellite is able to do this is because it would be in the "shadow" of the moon, completely unaffected by Earth's interference.
