Longjiang
Longjiang
Longjiang launched into space on
May
21st,
2018
and
has now completed its mission.
Its primary destination
was
,
which
it arrived at on
May
25th,
2018
.
Wherever Longjiang goes, it carries its trusty
amateur radio communications system, camera, and polarization antennas.
Longjiang often chats with humans from
Harbin Institute of Technology.
Longjiang (龙江一号/二号), meaning “dragon river” and also known as DSLWP (Discovering the Sky at Longest Wavelengths Pathfinder) A1 and A2, are small twin space probes sent on a mission to observe solar radio bursts and conduct interferometry while they orbit the Moon. Unfortunately, Longjiang-1 failed to reach the Moon’s orbit, but Longjiang-2 continues to orbit the Moon, snapping photos with its optical camera. LongJiang-1 has the ability to chat with amateur radio operators on Earth, who can ask the space probe to take and share images of the Moon with them. The space probe hopes to help future missions by faithfully testing out the technologies it carries on board.
Worth Exploring:
- orbital data for Longjiang-2
- how to communicate with Longjiang-2 as an amateur radio operator
(top image: the Earth as seen from the orbit of the Moon by Longjiang-2, CNSA/CLEP/KACST)