Despite launch setback, Chinese spacecraft may reach lunar orbit

Two Chinese spacecraft appear to have successfully reached their intended lunar orbits despite an initial launch issue that left them stranded in low Earth orbit. A slide attributed to the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization (CSU) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), recently posted on the Tieba Baidu social networking platform, indicates that the DRO-A and DRO-B spacecraft have successfully entered distant retrograde orbits around the Moon. The DRO missions are part of a pilot project run by CAS.

“[DRO] Satellites A, B, and L have been powered on and are operating stably in orbit, with their working status normal,” the slide reads. The mission is not critical to China’s immediate lunar plans. However, this successful recovery, if confirmed, would bolster the country’s deep space capabilities and demonstrate resilience in overcoming in-orbit challenges. China has yet to provide an update on the mission following a short report of a launch anomaly back in March.

The DRO satellites are technology and orbit-testing spacecraft that could play a role in China’s wider lunar ambitions. These include establishing lunar navigation and communications infrastructure to support lunar exploration.

China has yet to provide any formal update on the mission since that terse statement. However U.S. space situational awareness has provided insights. Data from the U.S. Space Force’s 18th Space Defense Squadron (18 SDS) initially confirmed an object associated with the launch in low Earth orbit (LEO). Later data indicated that operators were attempting to save the mission, using spacecraft propulsion to raise their orbit.

18 SDS later tracked the spacecraft in a 525 x 132,577-kilometer, highly-elliptical, high Earth orbit. It was later detected in a 971 x 225,193-km orbit on March 26. 18 SDS data for the object has not been updated since March. (Space News)