China’s space tracking ship sails for new monitoring missions

Beijing, The Gulf Observer: China’s space tracking ship Yuanwang-3 set sail for a new round of monitoring missions from its home port in east China’s Jiangsu Province on Monday morning, according to China Science Daily.

The vessel has been preparing for the new missions since its return from its last mission as technicians completed the overhauling and testing of shipborne tracking and monitoring equipment and carried out operation drills.

Commissioned on May 18, 1995, the ship is China’s second-generation space tracking ship. It mainly carries out maritime tracking, monitoring, and communication missions for satellites, spacecraft, and space stations.

In the first seven months of this year, Yuanwang-3 sailed for more than 70 days and successfully completed three maritime monitoring missions, including that for the Shenzhou-14 manned mission.

It has undertaken more than 100 maritime tracking and monitoring missions, including Shenzhou spaceships, Chang’e lunar probes, and BeiDou satellites.