ISTANBUL

China established the world’s first three-satellite constellation positioned on the Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO) in the Earth-moon region of space, according to state media.

This development paves the way for the exploration and use of space, as well as future manned deep-space missions, the Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.

DRO refers to a highly stable spacecraft orbiting a celestial body, such as a moon, that moves in the opposite direction to the body's own orbit around its planet.

DRO-A and DRO-B, two satellites developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and placed in the DRO, have “successfully” established inter-satellite measurement and communication links with DRO-L, a previously launched satellite in near-Earth orbit, according to the news agency.

This was revealed at a symposium on Earth-Moon space DRO exploration held in Beijing on Tuesday.

DRO provides a highly stable orbit where spacecraft require little fuel to enter and stay, serving as natural space hub connecting Earth, the moon and deep space, said Wang Wenbin, a researcher at the CAS' Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization.

Wang noted that the team will continue exploring the complex and varied orbits in Earth-moon space and studying the dynamics of the lunar space environment.

He said that scientists will conduct fundamental research in areas such as quantum mechanics and atomic physics by taking advantage of the long-term stability of the DRO