China has successfully formed a communication and navigation network that spans from low Earth orbit to distant retrograde orbit, a region 310,000km to 450,000km from Earth. The DRO-L, DRO-A, and DRO-B satellites have created the first Earth-moon nav-com network, showcasing a record-setting 1.17 million km space-to-space communication link.
The area of interest is considered a potential staging point for missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond. This achievement marks several technical firsts, including demonstrating that satellites can track each other without relying on ground stations.
Researchers at the Centre for Space Applications Engineering and Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) led the project, with Wang Wenbin stating, “For the first time, we’ve shown that satellites can track each other instead of relying on ground stations.”
Source: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3307038/port-deep-space-chinas-hopeless-satellites-create-first-earth-moon-nav-com-network