XI'AN, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- China has launched its first array of giant radio antennas to support missions to Mars and the moon, sources with the Xi'an Satellite Control Center said on Wednesday.
After nearly two years of construction, the deep-space antenna array system was built at the control center's Kashgar station in northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It consists of four 35-meter-diameter antennas, three of which are newly built. Its data reception capability is equivalent to that of an antenna with a diameter of 66 meters.