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China's DRO-B satellite ultimately reached its designated orbit in Earth-Moon space after a launch upper-stage anomaly and now operates in Earth-Moon space maneuver orbits.
- Destinations
- Launch vehicle
- Long March-2C
- Launch site
- Xichang Satellite Launch Center
- Countries
- China
- Mission types
- Other
Chronology
Mission timeline
Milestone
An upper-stage anomaly caused DRO-A and DRO-B to fail to accurately enter their preset orbit
EarthLaunch
DRO-B launched on a Long March-2C from Xichang Satellite Launch Center
Xinhua quotes March13 20:51 Beijing time, converted toUTC at minute precision.
EarthOrbit insertion
The DRO-A/B dual-satellite combination ultimately reached its designated orbit
Chief scientist account gives July15 2024 in the China reporting context. The possibleUTCdate interval spansJuly14 16:00 toJuly15 16:00 exclusive; no unique preciseUTCarrival is inferred.
MoonMilestone
DRO-B established a K-band microwave inter-satellite measurement and communication link with DRO-L
The chief scientist reports successful three-satellite links onAugust30 2024. Native local calendar day has no original sub-day clock; no continuous navigation is inferred from link availability.
Moon
Mission architecture
Vehicles
DRO-B · Spacecraft
Destinations: Moon
Trajectory record
Time-dependent navigation trajectory
Source states place the model at the selected time. Reconstructed flight, estimates, predictions and historical mission plans are identified by interval; gaps remain visible.
Source records and sampling assumptions are retained with the repository data. Model attitude and surface appearance are illustrative.
- DRO-B: Project Pluto optical-fit DRO-B orbit estimate, 16–18 September 2024; other phases uncovered. · September 16, 2024 to September 18, 2024
Provenance
Sources
Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.
Data verified through October 11, 2026
- China's satellite launch suffers abnormality — Xinhua — OTHEROther · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- China Builds Three-satellite Constellation in Earth-moon Space — Chinese Academy of Sciences — OTHEROther · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- China's Experimental Satellite Constellation Lays Foundation for Future Lunar Exploration — Chinese Academy of Sciences — OTHEROther · Supports: mission claims
- CAS CSU: Chief scientist account of the actual DRO-A/B rescue — OTHERTechnical document · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- CAS AIR camera team: Original in-flight DRO-A damage image and camera operation — OTHERTechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- CAS Yunnan Observatory: Original DRO-A laser-ranging observation — OTHERTechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- Pu et al.: Space-based orbit determination for a proposed lunar low-energy transfer — OTHERTechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- DRO-B Project Pluto optical orbit fit — OTHERArchive · Supports: mission claims
- DE421 lunar mean-Earth and principal-axes frame specification — NAIFTechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- DE440 lunar mean-Earth and principal-axes frame specification — NAIFSpice · Supports: destination/body context
- IAU rotational elements and body radii (PCK 00011) — NAIFSpice · Supports: destination/body context
- LOLA global lunar height maps, LDEM_4 V3 original PDS source label — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- LOLA 2023 south-polar elevation, uncertainty and effective-resolution maps — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- Blue Ghost Lunar Lander Seen From Above: LROC site and terrain context — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- Moon Facts — NASAOther · Supports: destination/body context
- SLDEM2015 Blue Ghost region: original PDS elevation-grid label — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- JPL Solar System Dynamics Astrodynamic Parameters — JPLOther · Supports: destination/body context
- Planet Sizes and Locations in Our Solar System — NASAOther · Supports: destination/body context