China is fast approaching the launch of a large space telescope that will orbit together with its Tiangong station, and scientists have meanwhile successfully completed a full observing simulation to test its real-world capabilities.
The bus-sized telescope, officially named the Chinese Space Station Telescope, also known as Xuntian, which means “watching the heavens”, is planned for launch as early as 2027. It is equipped with a primary mirror with a diameter of 2 meters, which makes it slightly smaller than the Hubble Space Telescope, but this does not mean that it is weaker in terms of overall capabilities.
Wider field of view than Hubble and a camera of 2.5 billion pixels
According to Chinese space officials, Xuntian will be a far more powerful tool for systematic sky imaging. The telescope uses a camera with as many as 2.5 billion pixels and has a field of view about 300 times larger than Hubble. Observations will cover the spectrum from ultraviolet to near-infrared radiation, with high spatial resolution.
As preparations for the launch approach the final stage, the Chinese research team has developed a complete “end-to-end” simulation system, which has made it possible to make simulated observations for the telescope’s optical and other instruments. The goal was to reproduce as faithfully as possible the expected instrumental and observation conditions, and to evaluate the overall efficiency of the system. The results of this research were published at the beginning of January in the scientific journal Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics.
According to the estimates of researchers from the National Astronomical Observatories, who led the study, Xuntian will make a significant contribution to fields such as cosmology, the study of galaxies, the evolution of the Milky Way, as well as the origin and development of stars and planets. The telescope could also yield new insights into dark matter and dark energy.
After launch by a Long March 5B rocket, Xuntian will orbit independently in low Earth orbit, but synchronized with China’s Tiangong space station. As shown in footage from China’s state television CCTV, the telescope will be able to dock with the station, allowing astronauts to venture into open space to maintain, repair or even upgrade instrumentation, similar to NASA’s Hubble servicing missions between 1993 and 2009.
If everything goes according to plan, Xuntian could become one of the most important space observatories in the world already at the end of this decade, reports Space.