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The lack of finality to the current answer to Was Queqiao in a halo or Lissajous orbit? Why do sources disagree? is due in part to the difficulty of finding good, clear, reliable scientific sources that discuss CNSA (China National Space Administration) deep space missions in English.

So I've asked this to see if sources can be identified. They could be twitter feeds, blogs, news sites or even CNSA websites or something else. They just need to be somewhat authoritative and scientific, rather than purely "popular" in nature.

Having substantial personal experience, I can say that google translate from Chinese to English, especially when a mixture of vernacular and technical terms are present, is frustrating and at times hilarious due in part to the very different natures of the two languages and the dearth of dual-language material that Google translate learns from.

Here are other questions that could potentially benefit.

These are examples I'm currently aware of, if you know of others that fit, please feel free to add.

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    $\begingroup$ I'll step up once I'm at HSK6 ;-) $\endgroup$
    – Ludo
    Commented Oct 9, 2020 at 7:55
  • $\begingroup$ @Ludo wow kudos to you! I can't tell if you're just speaking figuratively, or if you're seriously on your way. $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Oct 9, 2020 at 17:29
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    $\begingroup$ I’m at level 3, but it’s an exponential scale... got some years to go still. $\endgroup$
    – Ludo
    Commented Oct 9, 2020 at 17:43
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    $\begingroup$ @DrSheldon hmm... it's been so long I can't remember what I'd meant (humor) In the future please feel free to just go ahead and fix errors like that; after all it's correct in the previous sentence and the second flows from the first. $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Feb 28, 2021 at 6:18

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Update: This Chinese Journal of Space Science has journal articles in English and it has a lot of technical info and it's incredibly good kuish. Thank you @LarryTeds. Woo. (side note: with this under the belt, there are probably other journals like this, so search something like Chinese Journal of Space Technology might get you a hit.)

Aside from that honestly there is a lack of technical information in English on Chinese spaceflight. Occasionally there are conference papers which can cover a lot of good info in English, but they are relatively rare and not helped by stuff like this. There is a significant amount of good analysis done on Chinese spaceflight, most notably by the US military however generally this is lacking in technical info.

In regards to twitter, I generally use this search as a baseline search for Chinese spaceflight stuff.

I know that you're asking for English sources, but because most of the good info on Chinese spaceflight is on Chinese website and is where I source most of my info from. Chinese spaceflight journals in my experience provide useful information, though website functionality can sometimes be lacking. (note; there is a generally an English translated abstract to help as well and I mean the abstract is really the only important part of any paper anyway)

For reference, in regards to Queqiao orbit, the Journal of Deep Space Exploration has a couple of papers on it, for example: this paper.

Forums are temperamental and a trek to navigate, but can be good source of info and graphics and NSF forums and Spaceflightfans forums are my go to ones. This Chinese military forum has a lot of good info, but requires an account to get access to media in posts and hyperlink technology, which in turn requires a Chinese phone number, which is difficult to source. (I tried using online Chinese phone numbers to no avail) This forum has a lot of technical information and papers, but it's a bit weird to use and I think it has an economy.

Also can we quickly take a moment to remember GBTimes. Some of Andrew Jones better articles were located in that beautiful website. (you can still access it with wayback machine, so if you find a GBTimes article you want to read use that). In general, Andrew Jones is my go to China spaceflight news person. He posts articles on most of the major space news websites.

In regards to Chinese news sites, Xinhua post news on Chinese spaceflight events in English. The Weibo for the Chinese Lunar Exploration program covers most deep space news. I also rate Spaceflightfans. There are several others; generally a google search for key terms is better than individual sites, especially for the most individual blog type posts like this

Empty forks builds good rockets.

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  • $\begingroup$ I enjoyed being transported back to circa 1979/1980 pop music and spent some time listening to and watching Kool & the Gang and others (1, 2), returned here and realized that (at)LarryTeds was a Twitter handle rather than a Stack Exchange user name, but I'm curious how that Twitter account should be thanked for English articles appearing in the Chinese Journal of Space Science. Is it possible to elaborate? Thanks! $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Dec 6, 2020 at 5:06
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    $\begingroup$ @uhoh A tweet of his pointed me in the direction of the journal. Of course it was also posted on NSF which I discovered later, but I give him credit now. twitter.com/LarryTeds/status/1331804663486717953?s=20 $\endgroup$
    – Barry Jenakuns
    Commented Dec 6, 2020 at 7:15

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