China plans to launch the world's largest and most advanced
space solar telescope (SST) into orbit circling the earth in 2008,
Ai Guoxiang,?head of?the National Astronomical
Observatories said on Friday.
Via this telescope, said Ai Guoxiang, Chinese scientists will be
able to engage in the study of one of the most difficult global
scientific enigmas, or research on solar physical frontiers.
The SST, with a calibre of 1 meter, will be carried into the
735-kilometre-high earth synchronous orbit, Ai, also academician of
the Chinese
Academy of Sciences (CAS), said in an exclusive interview with
Xinhua.
The SST will be used to study the solar magnetic field, fine
structures of the sun surface, the energy accumulation and release
of solar flares and sun-earth interaction, Ai said.
The solar magnetic field, which dominates solar activities, is
very hard to be measured. British Journal of Physics listed
observation of the solar magnetic field among the four most
difficult physical issues of the 21st century, together with quanta
gravitation, fusion-related energy and pyro-superconductivity.
Before building space telescopes, global scientists gazed at the
sun via earth surface-based telescopes. However, the observation
from the earth will be affected by the aerosphere, which makes some
key scientific data not so accurate.
Japan and the United States are now jointly developing an SST,
coded as SOLAR-B. With a diameter of 0.5 meter, SOLAR-B has half
capability in optical resolution than that of the Chinese-made
solar telescope.
The scheduled launch of SOLAR-B into space in 2005 has been
delayed for some technical reasons, according to sources.
The CAS and the Chinese Research Institute of Space Technology
have been developing the first Chinese SST since 1992. They include
five parts such as main optical telescope, super-ultraviolet
telescopes, wide-band spectrograph, helium spectrum telescope and
radio spectrograph.
The SST body, costs 80 million yuan (US$9.66 million), and can
be used for three years in space.
Jin Shengzhen, principal investigator for the project, said the
Chinese SST will be round, with a diameter of 70 kilometers, on the
solar surface.
As a fixed star nearest to the earth, the sun is the only source
of light and heat for the earth. Scientists regard solar research
as the key to unraveling the evolution of the solar system and even
the whole cosmos.
Solar research labs in developed countries said Chinese
astronomers could?get treasured solar data with this ambitious
plan.
Experts estimate the total investment into the project at 1
billion yuan (US$120 million). They, however, say it is
worthy?of improving technologies in remote sensing, global
positioning and satellite data processing in China.
The United States, Japan and a few other developed countries
launched more than 130 spacecraft in solar observation, 20 out of
which are still running in space.
By 2010, the United States plans to tunnel US$1.5 billion, the
biggest budget in the same period funded by the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration,?to space solar
observation.
(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2004)