China extends lead in lunar orbital infrastructure, gets an edge over the US in sustaining future crewed Moon missions

Plus: Examples of how Western media narratives of Chinese lunar activities misjudge capabilities and intent

Ling Xin reports that on May 22, China moved the Tiandu 1 lunar orbiter from its Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO) to a 3:1 resonance orbit. This move comes after the small 61-kilogram (at launch) spacecraft helped China achieve the first ever daytime Earth-Moon laser distance measurements using an orbiter earlier this year. In its new orbit, Tiandu-1 loops around Earth thrice for every revolution of the Moon around our planet. It’s a stable orbit, requiring minimal maintenance. It reminds me of how in 2023, ISRO pulled Chandrayaan 3’s propulsion module from lunar orbit to Earth orbit, demonstrating a small but key capability that will be required to pull off a robotic sample return mission in the future with Chandrayaan 4.

Coming back to China, as per graphics shown by CAS and subsequently reported by others, China also made the DRO-B lunar satellite depart its DRO orbit in April and enter a 3:2 resonance orbit — a world first. When in DRO, the 277-kilogram (at launch) DRO-B and its twin craft DRO-A demonstrated automated navigation at the Moon in tandem with the Earthbound DRO-L satellite. The three satellites tracked each other without relying on Earthly ground stations.