On Sunday, China successfully launched the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S), the nation’s first all-encompassing space-based solar observatory. The observatory is known as Kuafu-1 after a giant from Chinese legend who aspired to catch and tame the Sun, according to Sputnik, which cited the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
From the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, it was launched using the Long March-2D carrier rocket. During the ‘solar maximum,’ or its most active period, which is anticipated to peak around 2025, the mission, which is planned to last four years, will enable scientists to take and examine hitherto unheard-of photographs of the Sun.
The ASO-S telescope is China’s first large-scale device for studying the star nearest to Earth. It is also the first solar telescope in orbit, according to Zhu Cheng, chief engineer of the ASO-S platform system, that can concurrently monitor solar flares and coronal mass ejections. Kuafu-1 will circle the Sun 720 kilometres (447 miles) above the surface of the Earth and will collect crucial data on the sun’s two most ferocious activity.
According to China Daily, it would also offer information on the powerful magnetic and radiation fields produced by these occurrences and aid scientists in understanding how they influence delicate technology on Earth and in space, such as satellites, electronics, power grids, and internet services. The Parker Solar Probe from NASA and the Solar Orbiter from the European Space Agency are two more satellites that have been launched to observe the sun. India intends to launch Aditya-L1, a comparable mission, by the end of the next year (2023) in order to explore the solar environment.
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