China has scheduled for Sunday, October 9, the launch of its first solar observatory. The aim is to study how the solar magnetic field creates massive coronal mass ejections, flares, and other solar eruptions, and to improve predictions of potentially Earth-threatening space “weather” (geomagnetic storms and other phenomena) that could affect GPS systems. , terrestrial telecommunications. satellites and electrical networks.

A $126 million observatory called ASOS-S (Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory) or Kuafu-1 (a giant from Chinese mythology that tried to “tame” the Sun) will be launched from the Jiuquan Space Center in northern China. It will be placed in orbit at a distance of 720 kilometers from the Earth, constantly facing the Sun.

Chinese scientists have been waiting for such a space science satellite for a long time. They were originally proposed in the 1970s, according to astrophysicist Weiqiong Gang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Nanjing, the new mission’s chief scientist. “We’ve always wanted to do something like this,” he told Nature magazine.

Astronomers know that the Sun’s magnetic field causes various explosions on its surface, but the exact mechanisms are complex and not well understood. Three scientific instruments ASO-S, which will operate at different wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum, will shed more light on what is happening.

The mission will last at least four years, covering the expected peak of the 11-year solar cycle in 2024-2025, when many solar flares are predicted. According to astrophysicist Jean-Claude Vial of Paris-Saclay University in Paris, the spacecraft’s data will be freely available, and the Chinese researchers say they are open to international collaboration.

The two most famous active solar observatories are the American Space Agency’s (NASA) Solar Parker probe, launched in 2018, and the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Solar Orbiter, launched in 2020. the observatory will complement the data on the Sun and its hot and explosive atmosphere, which are collected by other space missions.

Source: RES-IPE