Wukong Satellite
Text
China’s first dark matter satellite concludes in-orbit testing
Launched on December 17 last year on a Long March 2D rocket, “Wukong” was handed over to the CAS Purple Mountain Observatory on Thursday. The four major parts of the payload, a plastic scintillator array detector, a silicon array detector, a BGO calorimeter and a neutron detector, functioned satisfactorily. The satellite completed all set tests with all its technical indicators reaching or exceeding expectations, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. “Wukong” is designed for a three-year mission. It will scan space non-stop in all directions in the first two years and then focus on areas where dark matter is most likely to be observed in the third.
China’s dark-matter satellite launches era of space science
Against a purple morning sky, in a cloud of brown smoke, the Monkey King took off. China’s first space-based dark-matter detector — nicknamed Wukong (or Monkey King) after a warrior in a sixteenth-century Chinese novel — rocketed into the air on 17 December, marking the start of a new direction in the country’s space strategy. From Earth’s orbit, the craft aims to detect high-energy particles and γ-rays. Physicists think that dark matter — a substance thought to make up 85% of the Universe’s matter but so far observed only through its gravitational effects — could reveal itself by producing such cosmic rays as its constituent particles annihilate.
DAMPE (Wukong)
DAMPE (Dark Matter Particle Explorer) or Wukong is a powerful space telescope for high energy gamma-ray, electron and cosmic rays detection. It is one of five satellite missions in the framework of the Strategic Pioneer Research Program in Space Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The scientific objectives of DAMPE are to search for and study dark matter particles by conducting high-resolution observation of high-energy electrons and gamma rays, to study the origin of cosmic rays by observing the high energy electrons and heavy nuclei above TeV, and to study the propagation and acceleration mechanism of cosmic rays by observing high-energy gamma rays. DAMPE will operate at Sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude of 500 km and an inclination of 97.4° with 3-year lifetime. Its total mass is less than 1900 kg, and it will be launched from Jiuquan by a CZ-2D (2) rocket.
Knowledge Graph
Examples
1 China’s first space-based scientific satellite for dark matter search – “WuKong” or “Monkey King” was launched successfully from Jiuquan satellite launch center at 08:12 (China Standard Time) on Tuesday, December 17th.
2 The Long March-2D carrier rocket carrying Wukong, China's first dark matter probe satellite, blasted off at 8:12 a.m. Beijing time Thursday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, starting its mission to explore the darkness of the universe.
3 Сhina’s first dark matter probe satellite DAMPE (Dark Matter Particle Explorer), named Wukong, detected 1.6 billion particles by November 10 and has the largest observation scope and the best particle-resolving ability and energy resolution ratio, according to local media.