Bolong.id – China plans to launch a new X-ray astronomy satellite, Einstein Probe (EP), by the end of this year, said Yuan Weimin, principal investigator on the satellite project.
Reported from China.org (19/03/2023) Yuan, who is also a researcher at the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), revealed the latest progress of the EP project at the recent 35th National Symposium on Space Exploration.
“The satellite has entered the final stage of development,” he said.
According to the scientist, the probe is expected to catch the first light from a supernova explosion, help find and determine the source of gravitational waves, and observe mysterious transient phenomena in the universe.
Scientists have discovered that there are many transient and explosive sources in the universe, most of which can emit large amounts of energy in very short periods of time and exhibit complex brightness variations in X-ray bands, such as black holes devouring stars.
“These sources of fast transients are very important for cosmological and galactic studies, but are currently poorly understood by scientists,” said Yuan.
Further research requires a new generation of detection equipment with an extremely wide field of view, high sensitivity, high resolution and fast response capabilities, he added.
But the important question in this case is how to make the equipment.
Biologists discovered early on that lobster eyes differ from those of other animals. Lobster eyes consist of many small square tubes, leading to the same spherical center. This structure allows light from all directions to be reflected in the tube and converge on the retina, which gives the lobster a wide field of view.
Scientists then simulate lobster eyes to build telescopes to detect X-rays in outer space.
Through cooperation with other organizations, NAOC X-ray Imaging Laboratory started research and development of lobster eye X-ray imaging technology in 2010 and finally made a breakthrough.
The team performed technology validation tests on the Lobster Eye Imager for Astronomy (LEIA) telescope — a pathfinder of the EP instrument — launched in July 2022, and revealed the world’s first batch of large-field X-fields. Skylight snapshot captured by LEIA.
“Thanks to the technology of the lobster-eye telescope, the Einstein Probe will be able to monitor the currently little-known soft band of X-rays with a wide field of view and high sensitivity,” said Yuan.
“This technology will revolutionize X-ray sky monitoring, and the test module demonstrates the powerful scientific potential of the Einstein Probe mission,” said Paul O’Brien, head of Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester.
According to Yuan, EP will carry out systematic sky surveys to monitor high-energy transient objects in the universe.
The mission is expected to find enveloped black holes and map their distribution in the universe, as well as help us study their formation and evolution. The probe will also be used to look for X-ray signals accompanying gravitational wave events and determine them, Yuan said.
The satellite program, part of a space science project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has attracted widespread worldwide attention, with the European Space Agency, the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany and the French space agency participating.
