ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL SPACE SCIENCE CENTER OF THE CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ON MARCH 25, the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as the overall Einstein probe (EP) satellite project, organized a summary of the development of the first sample of the satellite and a review meeting of the prototype design in Beijing. The review committee agreed to pass the review and move to the stage of legitimate development.
IT House learned that the official introduction said that the Einstein Probe (EP) satellite project is one of the space science satellites deployed by the Strategic Pioneering Science and Technology Special Space Science (Phase II) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which was approved by the Chinese Academy of Sciences on December 29, 2017, and is scheduled to be launched by the end of 2022, with an on-orbit life of not less than 3 years.
EP satellite is a scientific exploration satellite oriented to time-domain astronomy and high-energy astrophysics, and its mission is to carry out large-field time-domain sky survey monitoring in the soft X-ray band, aiming to systematically discover the high-energy temporary celestial bodies in the universe, monitor the activity of celestial bodies, and explore their essence and physical processes.
EP satellites aim at the merger of black holes and various other celestial bodies, the distribution, formation and evolution of black holes in the universe, gravitational wave source electromagnetic counterparts, early universes, supernovae, compact celestial activity and other major scientific issues to carry out scientific research, including all-day X-ray timing panoramic images, X-ray spectra of celestial bodies and time-varying data and other time-domain astronomical observation data, providing valuable data accumulation for the development of time-domain astronomy. At the same time, EP satellites, for the first time, have silent (inactive) black holes as research objects, which will open up a new field of research in which black holes devour stellar events.
Ep satellites have a large uniform field of view and extremely high detection sensitivity, which will be able to detect rare X-ray transient sources and have the ability to detect unknown types of X-ray transient objects and phenomena. Ep satellites are expected to make important scientific discoveries in time-domain astronomy and its multiple intersections with astrophysics and cosmology.
Academician Wang Chi, head of the space science (phase II) pilot project and director of the space center, pointed out that the EP satellite is a very important satellite project of the space science (phase II) pilot project, and it is also a project that the international astronomical society is very concerned about, and the passage of the formal design review marks the establishment of the technical baseline of the prototype development, and the follow-up needs to further strengthen the seriousness of the technical state and plan; strengthen quality management and risk control, and formulate a guarantee plan in advance for international cooperation risks and epidemic risks. Ensure that the satellite project completes the research and development task on time and with quality.