China to Launch Its First Solar Probe in 2022

The Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S), China's first comprehensive solar probe, is to be launched in the first half of 2022, kicking off the country's solar exploration.

Consisting of a Lyman-alpha solar telescope, a full-disk solar vector magnetograph and a hard X-ray telescope, the probe will operate in a polar orbit about 720 kilometers above the Earth for at least four years.

The probe will be used to observe the sun's magnetic field and two kinds of eruptions on the sun, namely the solar flares and coronal mass ejections. The data collected will contribute to study of the solar activity and help humans avoid disastrous space weather.

A simulated image of the ASO-S satellite [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)