Longjiang-2, the 45-kilogram microsatellite that entered an elliptical lunar orbit using its own propulsion after hitching a ride on the launch of the Queqiao relay satellite back in May, is continuing its imaging and amateur radio work.

This is expected to end around August, however, when the satellite intentionally impacts the Moon to remove any potential threat to future lunar missions. A maneuver performed in late January reduced the satellite’s perilune.

Meanwhile, beyond the Moon…

Out at Earth-Moon Lagrange point 2 some 65,000 kilometers beyond the Moon, Queqiao has continued its communications relay role for Chang’e-4 but has also turned on the Netherlands-China Low-Frequency Explorer (NCLE) in preparation for its astronomy tasks.

NCLE project leader Marc Klein Wolt of Radboud University says that after an initial successful health check the instrument took its first science data, without the 3, 5-meter-long antennae deployed.

“After these first tests, we will perform a full month of observations with the antennas not deployed, so as to be sensitive to the electromagnetic interference from the spacecraft for calibration purposes," he said.

Wolt says the team will open the antennae to 0.5 meters for another full month of observations and then gradually deploy them to 2.5 and then 5.0 meters in the coming months.

“After that we will start with the first science observations, focussing firstly on the 'low-hanging fruits' like the solar and Jupiter emissions," he said.

Also this month the laser retroflector on Queqiao may be used to test ranging ability of the 1.2-metre telescope laser ranging system at the Yunnan Observatory at Kunming, which is operated by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.