CHINA — China has deployed a relay satellite that's meant to bridge communication between Earth and a planned exploration on the far side of the moon.

According to Xinhua News Agency, Queqiao, or "magpie bridge", is named after a Chinese folklore in which magpies form a bridge to enable two star-crossed lovers to meet for one day.

The Queqiao satellite features a dish antenna and two solar arrays, and was launched atop a Long March 4C rocket from southwest China on Sunday morning.

Queqiao is expected to enter a halo orbit around the second Lagrangian Point, and would be the world's first communication satellite operating in that orbit.

Its main purpose is to establish a communication link between Chinese Mission control and the Chang'e 4 lunar probe, which will explore the moon's dark side. It's currently scheduled for a December 2018 launch.

Queqiao is also equipped with the Netherlands-China Low-Frequency Explorer, a radio scanner that will search for ancient radio signals dating back to the formation of the early universe.

The reason the satellite is able to do this is because it would be in the "shadow" of the moon, completely unaffected by Earth's interference.