3rd Ld-China Focus: New satellite to shed light on invisible dark matter

China on Thursday sent into space the country's first space telescope in a fresh search for signals of dark matter, invisible material that scientists say makes up most of the universe's mass.

The Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) Satellite, which has been given the moniker "Wukong" after the character the Monkey King, from the Chinese classical fiction "Journey to the West," which has penetrating eyes, was launched at 8:12 a.m. Thursday on a Long March 2-D rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

It will enter a sun-synchronous orbit at a height of 500 kilometers to observe the direction, energy and electric charge of high-energy particles in space.

The satellite is designed to undertake a three-year space mission, but scientists hope it could last five.

During that period, scientists hope the 1.9-tonne desk-sized satellite could help shine more light on the hypothetical mass.

Dark matter, which does not emit or reflect enough electromagnetic radiation to be observed directly, is one of the huge mysteries of modern science.

Theorized by scientists who could not understand missing mass and strangely bent light in faraway galaxies, dark matter has become widely accepted in the physics community even though its existence has never been concretely proven.

Scientists now believe that only around five percent of the total mass-energy of the known universe is made up of ordinary matter -- protons, neutrons, electrons -- whereas dark matter and dark energy make up the rest.

Exploration of dark matter could, therefore, give us a clearer idea about the past and future of galaxies and the universe, and will be revolutionary for the world of physics and space science, said Chang Jin, chief scientist on the project.

Hints of the true nature of dark matter have already emerged from some previous observations, including those conducted by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer onboard the International Space Station and by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN physics research center near Geneva, Switzerland.

China also runs an underground dark matter lab in the southwest province of Sichuan, some 2,400 meters under the earth's surface.

The new DAMPE satellite will help scientists look for evidence of dark matter annihilation or decay.

"This is like tracking down the 'son' of dark matter -- if you cannot find the father, you go to the son and you could learn about at least some properties of his father," said Chang.

Wukong will scan space in all directions in the first two years and focus on sections where dark matter is most likely to be observed afterward.

More than 100 scientists will study the data. Initial findings will be published in the second half of 2016.

Chang said Wukong has the widest observation spectrum and highest energy resolution of any dark-matter probe in the world.

The new satellite's observation spectrum is approximately nine times wider than the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer onboard the International Space Station, while its energy resolution is at least three times higher than its international peers, according to Chang.

However, he cautioned, there is no guaranteed success in the mission.

"We have not entirely figured out the physical properties of dark matter, so no one is one hundred percent sure that the satellite can find it," Chang said.

"As long as Wukong keeps working, it will open a new window for our search," he said, adding that the satellite could also serve as a cosmic ray telescope and be used to study the origin, transportation and acceleration of cosmic rays.

Wukong is first of four scientific satellites under a Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) space program.

The other three satellites -- one for quantum science experiments, another for microgravity research and space life science, and a hard X-ray telescope which will observe black holes, neutron stars and other phenomena -- will be launched next year.

Wu Ji, director of the National Space Science Center under CAS, said development of the other three satellites is going well.

"China [...] should not only be the user of space knowledge, we should also be the creator," Wu sa