The European Space Agency (ESA) supports China’s lunar sample return mission Chang’e-5, which was successfully launched from the Wenchang base on a Long March-5 rocket last night, by relaying signals from the spacecraft across the Solar System with its ground station network, the agency said.
ESA’s Estrack is a global network of ground stations for communication between spacecraft and ESA’s ESOC mission control center in Darmstadt, Germany. ESA will use ground stations in French Guiana and Spain. European support is furthermore provided by three components from Sweden, the Netherlands, and Germany to the Chinese lander. Germany and other countries also contributed to the Yutu-2 rover which China deployed to the far side of the Moon in January 2019.
