my country's comprehensive solar exploration satellite "Kuafu-1" was successfully launched
will carry out observations with "one magnet and two storms" as the scientific goal
" Kuafu-" in ancient mythology
Carry the most primitive human
The desire to explore nature
For thousands of years, we have always looked up to
"Cheer with the Sun" romance and tenacity
has also been passed down from generation to generation
One Dream 5,000 years Starting again every day
"Kuafu One" is not only the sun
but also the China's aerospace persistent ideal
Although the journey is far away, it is far away but never stops
meaning
It took 5 years from the project approval to launch and launch
. It opened a new era of comprehensive solar observation in China.
hardware
equipped with magnetic imager , telescope and imager are technically realized. The first time
mission
observes "one magnet and two storms" through telemetry and remote sensing means
that is, solar magnetic field , solar flare and coronal material ejection
value
detect and crack the mystery of solar energy release
Be a good space disaster weather "forecaster"
■ Yesterday morning, my country successfully launched the "Kuafu-1" comprehensive solar detection satellite
■Sun synchronization at about 720 kilometers high Observation of Sun in orbits
■ satellite Chief scientist interprets the three major questions about "Kuafu"
Ancient China, as famous as " Chang'e Running to the Moon", has now become a reality in the world of China. At 7:43 on October 9, China's comprehensive solar exploration satellite "Kuafu One" (Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory, English-abbreviated ASO-S) was successfully launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center , officially embarking on the journey of "Catching the Sun". What are the abilities of this "explorer"? What are the characteristics and advantages of satellite payloads? What are the scientific goals? How to implement "day-by-day" detection?
1. Why do we have to "Kafu" to chase the day?
The sun is the largest celestial body in the solar system, about 150 million kilometers away from the earth (one astronomical unit ). It is the closest star to the earth and closest to humans. The solar life span is approximately 10 billion years and is currently in its prime. The diameter of the sun is 1.39 million kilometers, 107 times that of the earth, and its mass is 330,000 times that of the earth, accounting for 99.87% of the total mass of the entire solar system. The role of the sun on the evolution of the earth and the development of human civilization is indispensable. At the same time, the impact of the sun on the earth is also omnipresent.
Some people wonder, there are more than 70 special solar exploration satellites or related satellites in the world, and China is already at the forefront of the world in solar physical ground facilities and research on publishing academic papers. Why do we still need to independently develop special solar exploration satellites? The chief scientist of the
"Kuafu-1" satellite and a researcher at Gan Weiqun, the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out that most of the observation data used by Chinese scientists to publish research papers are from the data, software and data shared by solar satellites internationally. "As a scientific researcher and as a Chinese solar physicist, do you think you are the world's leading? It is in this context that we must launch our own (solar exploration) scientific satellite." From this perspective, the proposal to develop and launch the Kuafu-1 satellite plan emphasizes that China should make important contributions to the source of solar physics research data internationally.
He said that the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory has undergone pre-research, background models, comprehensive project approval and demonstration. At the end of 2017, it obtained the approval for the project approval. After five years of engineering development, it has broken through many key technologies and overcome many difficulties such as the epidemic. Now it has finally been successfully launched. "So we define 'Kuafu-1' as opening a new era of comprehensive solar observation in China." As China's comprehensive solar exploration special satellite, "Kuafu-1" will achieve a leapfrog breakthrough in China's solar satellite exploration.
2. What are the abilities of this "Kuafu"?
It is understood that the "Kuafu-1" satellite has a design life of 4 years. What innovations does it have? In this regard, Ganwei Group summarizes it as "three firsts": First, for the first time in the world, the first time in the world, the scientific goal of "one magnet and two storms" is used as the satellite and the corresponding load combination is configured. In order to achieve this scientific goal, the Kuafu-1 satellite is equipped with three distinctive payloads: the full-sun surface vector magnetograph (FMG), the Lehmann Alpha solar telescope (LST) and the hard X-ray imager (HXI), which observes the solar magnetic field, coronal matter ejection and solar flare respectively; Second, for the first time in the world, the full-sun surface vector magnetic field, solar flare non-thermal radiation imaging, the sun surface formation and recent surface propagation of coronal matter ejection on a near-Earth satellite platform; Third, for the first time in the world, the full-sun surface and near coronal seamless simultaneous imaging observation is achieved in the Lehmann Alpha spectral band.
Space "Attack Warden"
"The core scientific goal of 'Kuafu One' is 'one magnet and two storms', that is, the solar magnetic field, and the two most violent explosion phenomena on the sun - solar flares and coronal matter ejection." Gan Weiqun said that he will take advantage of the peak year of the 25th week of solar activity (expected from around 2024 to 2026) to observe and study the formation, interaction and relationship of "one magnet and two storms". Such a design is not only to study the core physical phenomena of the sun more deeply, but also to be a good "early warning officer" for mankind. Relying on detection in multiple bands, "Kuafu-1" can observe and track the entire process of the sun's outbreak more continuously, providing support for space disaster weather forecasts that affect human space and navigation and other high-tech activities.
magnetic field "scout"
magnetic field is called the "first observation" in solar physics, and most of the solar activities are directly dominated by the solar magnetic field. If the compass is placed on the sun, a very strange phenomenon will occur: in different areas, the compass points differently; even in the same area, the compass points differently at different times. The reason for this is that the solar magnetic field is much more complex than the earth magnetic field . "When the sun bursts, the all-day vector magnetograph equipped on Kuafu One can perform high-precision imaging of the all-day magnetic field every 18 minutes, which helps to fully and accurately record the changes in the solar magnetic field, and then reconnaise and crack a series of mysteries of the release of solar energy." Zhang Haiying, chief designer of the all-day vector magnetograph load, said.
Observation of "multi-faced"
When we imagine the sun, a yellow dazzling sphere will always appear in our minds. In fact, the sun's "face" is much richer, and it releases all wavelengths of light. In addition to visible light that can be seen by human eyes, there are gamma rays with shorter wavelengths, X-rays, ultraviolet rays, and infrared rays with longer wavelengths, radio waves, etc.
To see the "true face" of the sun, you need to use telescopes of different bands. "Kuafu One" is a versatile player who observes the sun. It is equipped with a Lehman Alpha solar telescope and a solar hard X-ray imager, which can observe the sun from ultraviolet, visible light and X-ray bands. The solar hard X-ray imager is like a precision "compound eye" that can accurately capture X-ray information from the sun; the Lyman Alpha solar telescope can simultaneously observe the Lyman Alpha light at the near corona within the full sun surface and 2.5 solar radius.
Scientific research "workaholic"
From the earth, the sun rises and sets in the east, and only half of the time it takes to show its face. The "Kuafu-1" flying on the sun-synchronized morning and evening orbit about 720 kilometers high is in working condition for more than 96% of the year, which is a real "workaholic".
Normally, the load on the star is imaged every few seconds to minutes. During the solar explosion period, it can become imaged once in 1 second, recording the entire process of solar activity in detail. According to Gan Weiqun, "Kuafu No. 1" can observe Japanese 24 hours a day during most of the year. From May to August every year alone, there will be a short period of time entering the shadow of the earth every day, and the longest day of "rest" does not exceed 18 minutes.
data volume "Master"
"Kuafu-1" has a total weight of about 859 kilograms. It is "medium" in solar detection satellites, but it is a "big eater" in throughput data. "Every day, it will accumulate and return about 500GB of data, which is equivalent to sending tens of thousands of 'high-definition large images' of the sun to the earth." Huang Yu, deputy chief chief of satellite science application systems, said that if processing and processing are included, the data produced every day will "fille" the hard drive of a home computer, which is also the "first echelon" among the global solar exploration satellites.
After these data are received and restored, they will be packaged and sent to the satellite data analysis center located at the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The data accumulated by satellites in orbit in the next four years will be stored here and will be "translated" by scientific researchers to become images and materials for scientific research.
3. What is the difference between "Kuafu" and "Xihe"?
What is the relationship and difference between the latest "Kuafu-1" solar exploration satellite successfully launched by China, and the "Park" solar exploration satellite launched by the United States in 2018, and the " Xihe " solar exploration satellite launched by China in 2021? Gan Weiqun pointed out that the scientific goals of "Kuafu-1" and "Park" are different, and the two are complementary; "Xihe" is a scientific experimental satellite, while "Kuafu-1" is a space science satellite specially developed for solar observation.
He said that the Parker is a satellite dominated by the United States and is the first time in history to fly to the sun for observation. Its orbit is a large ellipse, and the nearest perihelion can reach about 10 solar radii, which means it is very heated by the sun and it is impossible to observe it against the sun. It can only add a thick heat shield in front of it. Therefore, this very advanced satellite can only detect particles and magnetic fields near the sun, and cannot directly "look" on the sun. The Kuafu-1 satellite directly "looks" at the sun, observes the sun through telemetry and remote sensing, and images the sun. The scientific goals of "Park" are mainly aimed at solar wind and the surrounding environment of the sun. The scientific goals of "Kuafu-1" are "one magnet and two storms", which directly "look" on the sun, so the scientific goals of the two satellites are different, and they are completely complementary.
China's "Xihe" satellite was launched in June 2019. It is a solar exploration science and technology test satellite. It mainly technically verifies a satellite platform called "Double Super" aiming to conduct an experiment through the two indicators of high-precision pointing and pointing stability. The telescope equipped with "Xihe" is in the hydrogen alpha (Hα) band, which can also be observed on the ground, but it has great benefits in space. It can continuously observe the sun and overcome a series of problems caused by the jitter of the earth's atmosphere. It can scan the entire lunar surface in a short time, and every spectral point can be imaged in the scanned wavelength range, thereby making a very good "diagnosis" of the atmospheric dynamics of the entire chromosphere of the sun and conducting related research.
Gan Wei Group said that the Kuafu-1 satellite is not only completely different from the Xihe satellite in terms of "one magnet and two storms" scientific goals, payload observation bands, observation objects, etc., but also "Kuafu-1" is a space science satellite specially proposed for solar observation and completely traction with scientific goals. Comprehensive
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