China launches its first comprehensive solar probe, Kuafu-1
China launches its first comprehensive solar probe,from northwest China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 7:43 a.m. Beijing Time, October 9, 2022.
Beijing, The Gulf Observer: China on Sunday launched its first comprehensive solar probe, Kuafu-1 the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S), according to the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The satellite was launched atop a Long March-2D carrier rocket from northwest China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 7:43 a.m. Beijing Time and has entered the designated orbit.
The probe, dubbed Kuafu-1 (a sun seeker in ancient Chinese mythology), will operate at an orbit 720 kilometers from Earth, permanently facing the sun.
Equipped with a trio of instruments, the 888-kilogram satellite will provide insights into how the sun’s magnetic field creates coronal mass ejections and other eruptions. Its tools include an All-Solar Vector Magnetic Imager, a Lyman Alpha Solar Telescope and a Solar Hard X-ray Imager. It is set to operate for four years.
The launch is the the 442nd mission of the Long March series rockets.
