Produced by: Manoj Kumar
Representative pic
China’s DSEL team hit a Moon-orbiting satellite with a laser in broad daylight—a feat once deemed impossible due to solar glare, now achieved with hair-splitting precision.
Representative pic
For decades, sunlight drowned out laser signals, limiting Moon-based ranging to nighttime. That changed in April 2024, when China cracked the code to beat the Sun at its own game.
Representative pic
Engineers compared the laser accuracy to striking a hair from 6.2 miles away—an extraordinary metaphor for the precise lock needed on a speeding satellite in cislunar orbit.
Representative pic
With daytime tracking now possible, China can gather orbital data around the clock, vastly improving positional accuracy and enabling smoother coordination with Moon-bound missions.
Representative pic
The Tiandu-1 satellite, launched in March 2024, now stands as the first to enable continuous Earth-Moon laser communication—even under full sunlight—marking a milestone for the Queqiao constellation.
Tiandu-1 is part of China’s future Queqiao network, a lunar relay system designed to support landers, rovers, and astronauts with navigation and real-time communications by the end of the decade.
Laser precision is key for future Moon landings, allowing autonomous craft to land within meters of their targets—essential for missions aiming at the rugged lunar south pole.
Representative pic
With solar interference no longer a limitation, one of the last “blind spots” in lunar mission planning has been removed—giving China a 24/7 window into Moon operations.
Representative pic
This breakthrough sets the stage for Chang’e-8’s ambitions: building a power-hungry Moon base by 2028, with small nuclear reactors and robotic infrastructure tested under Queqiao’s watch.
Representative pic