China set to launch a SMILE into space
Print Edition
CHINA will launch five new satellites over the next five years as part of its fast-expanding space program, the director of the National Space Science Center said yesterday.
The satellites, including a Sino-European joint mission known as SMILE, will focus on the observation of solar activity and its impact on the environment, an analysis of the Earth’s water cycle, and an investigation into black holes, Wu Ji said.
One of the five satellites, SMILE — Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer — is set to blast off in 2021.
It is designed to study the effects of the sun on the Earth’s environment and space weather by creating images of the interaction between solar winds and the Earth’s magnetosphere with X-ray and ultraviolet technology.
MIT — Magnetosphere-Ionosphere-Thermosphere coupling exploration — aims to investigate the origin of upflow ions and their acceleration mechanism and discover the key mechanism for the magnetosphere, ionosphere and thermosphere coupling.
And WCOM — Water Cycle Observation Mission — is a bid to better understand the Earth’s water cycle by simultaneous and fast measurement of key parameters such as soil moisture, ocean salinity and ocean surface evaporation.
The other two satellites are the Advanced Space-borne Solar Observatory (ASO-S) and the Einstein-Probe. The former will help scientists understand the causality among magnetic fields, flares and coronal mass ejections, while the latter is tasked with discovering dormant black holes over all astrophysical mass ranges and other compact objects via high-energy transients.
The ASO-S is China’s first solar exploration satellite, ending the nation’s history of depending on foreign solar observation data.
Although the missions may sound remote from ordinary people, Wu said they are of imperative importance for space science and improving lives.
“All these projects were selected according to their scientific significance by judging committees led by scientists in an effort to give a vent for their innovation potential,” Wu said.
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