The Global Times learned from the China's Deep Space Exploration Lab (DSEL) on Thursday that the Taindu-2 communication and navigation technology test satellite has transmitted back pair of latest images of moon, showing clear landscape features of the Earth's natural satellite. 

The first photo taken by Tiandu-2 satellite camera at 6:44 am on February 28, 2025 Photo: China's Deep Space Exploration Lab

Taken by Tiandu-2 satellite camera at 6:44 am on February 28, 2025, from 2,379 kilometers above the lunar surface, the first far infrared photo showed visible lunar features include the Tsiolkovsky crater, Fermi crater, Gregory chain craters, and Levi-Civita crater. The center of the image is positioned in the Moon's far-side equatorial region, according to the lab. 

The second photo taken by Tiandu-2 satellite camera at 5:02 am on March 14, 2025 Photo: China's Deep Space Exploration Lab

The second picture was captured at 5:02 am on March 14, 2025 from an altitude of 1,768 kilometers. The center of the image is in the northern part of Mare Nubium (Sea of Clouds) on the lunar surface. Visible lunar features in the image include the Straight Wall (Rupes Recta), Rima Birt (Birt Rille), the Apelles-Telgis crater, the Brill crater, and other lunar surface characteristics. 

As the first satellites ever developed by the DSEL, the two satellites were sent into space together with the Queqiao-2 relay satellite on March 20, 2024. They entered their target circumlunar orbits on March 29 and separated on April 3, according to the Xinhua News Agency. 

The Tiandu-1 and Tiandu-2 navigation and communication technology test satellites have conducted a series of new technological experiments for lunar communication and navigation. These experiments effectively validated key technologies related to lunar communication and navigation, providing strong support for the design and construction of the subsequent International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) and the Queqiao integrated navigation, communication, and remote sensing constellation system, according to the DSEL.