China’s ASO-S Satellite is Finally Ready to Explore the Sun and Space Weather

China launched the ASO-S satellite to research solar and space weather in what seems to be one of the most challenging space missions the country has developed.

The Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S) satellite was launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia on Saturday, October 8. Read out below for all the intriguing details.

China’s New Daring Mission: What to Expect?

To better understand the Sun and space weather forecasts, China launched a spacecraft into orbit. The mission is one of the most challenging the country has seen recently. The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) reported that the Chinese heliophysics community originally suggested the ASO-S mission in 2011.

On Saturday (October 8), at 7:43 PM EDT, the satellite was launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia.

According to the state-run media agency Xinhua, the ASO-S spacecraft, also known as Kuafu-1, was safely launched into its intended orbit, a sun-synchronous route roughly 450 miles (720 km) above Earth.

FUN FACT: Kuafu is a giant in Chinese legends who chased the Sun.

Mission insights

In order to study the magnetic field of the Sun and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), some enormous blasts of superheated plasma that speed away from the Sun at millions of miles/ hour, the 1,960-pound (888 kg) probe will employ three sensors.

CAS explained the mission’s goal as:

[…] to understand their connections and formation mechanisms.

That means the ASO-S will perform simultaneous observations of flares and CMEs. Also, the spacecraft will investigate how the Sun’s atmosphere’s many layers transmit energy and how the solar magnetic field influences the growth of flares and CMEs.

Another intriguing thing is that ASO-S is made to run for at least four years and produce up to 500TB of data every day. Quite impressive, isn’t it?!

More details about this bold space mission will be available soon!