IT home January 29 news, according to china science newspaper reported that the mainland's first X-ray astronomical satellite "Huiyan" design life of 4 years, but its operating state is normal, the satellite platform standby resources are intact, so on January 14, scientists held a satellite life extension meeting, decided to let it work for two more years.
At 11:00 on June 15, 2017, the mainland successfully launched the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT) "Wise Eye" with the Long March 4B carrier rocket at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
"Huiyan" is the first large X-ray astronomical satellite independently designed by the mainland, with a design life of 4 years, the total weight of the satellite is 2500kg, it will run in a low-Earth circular orbit of 550km, the satellite is equipped with high-energy, medium-energy, low-energy X-ray telescope and space environment monitor 4 kinds of payloads, with large-area sky survey scanning observation and high-precision fixed-point observation capabilities, can observe the X-ray / hard X-ray in the energy range of 1~250keV of celestial bodies, and monitor the hard X-ray / hard X-ray / 200keV~3MeV Soft gamma-ray burst phenomenon.
Through the three working modes of sky survey observation, fixed-point observation and small sky area scanning, wide-band, high-sensitivity, high-resolution X-ray space observation can be realized. After the successful launch and normal operation of the satellite, it will enable the mainland to have the international advanced dark and weak variable source sky survey capability and the unique multi-band rapid light observation capability in X-ray space observation, and promote the mainland's high-energy astrophysical research into the world's advanced ranks.
IT House learned that the objects of study after the HXMT satellite entered orbit are mainly dense objects and explosive phenomena such as black holes, neutron stars and gamma-ray bursts; through the observation of the galactic surface, new high-energy sources and new activities of known high-energy objects are discovered; through fixed-point observations and analysis of the light change and spectral properties of high-energy objects such as black holes and neutron stars, deepening the understanding of dynamics and high-energy radiation processes in the strong gravitational field of dense objects and black holes; and in hard X-rays / The soft gamma-ray energy region obtains energy spectra and time-varying observation data of gamma-ray bursts and other explosive phenomena, and studies the formation of black holes caused by the death of massive stars and the merger of neutron stars in the depths of the universe. The satellite's launch and operation will advance continental astronomy research and deepen understanding of the extreme physical processes of the universe.