Off the wire
• Alibaba takes e-commerce into the fields  • China reaffirms balanced way to solve Korea nuclear issue  • Urgent: Japan launches X-ray observatory to study deep space  • 100 aid trucks to enter besieged Syrian areas  • Authorities begin water bird census in Indian-controlled Kashmir wetlands  • UAE energy minister urges CIS to diversify economies  • Roundup: Myanmar's political events in 100 days after election  • Roundup: Year of monkey ushers in "Monkey Market"  • ATP Marseille Open results  • No mass redundancies expected from China's economic restructuring: Official  
You are here: 　 Home

1st LD: Japan launches X-ray observatory to study deep space

Xinhua, February 17, 2016 Adjust font size:

Japan launched a new generation X-ray astronomy satellite on Wednesday, aiming to reveal the structure of the universe and physics at extreme conditions in space.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. launched the X-ray Astronomy Satellite (ASTRO-H) aboard the H-2A Launch Vehicle at 5:45 p.m. (0845 GMT) on Wednesday from JAXA's Tanegashima Space Center in Japan's southwestern Kagoshima prefecture.

The launch was scheduled for Feb. 12, but was postponed due to unfavorable weather conditions.

The ASTRO-H satellite is the sixth in a series of Japanese X-ray missions since 1979 and is the successor to the SUZAKU satellite currently in space.

ASTRO-H will "investigate the mechanisms of how galaxy clusters - the largest objects in space made of 'visible matter' - formed and influenced by dark energy and dark matter, to reveal the formation and evolution of supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies, and to unearth the physical laws governing extreme conditions in neutron stars and black holes," said JAXA.

With overall length of about 14 meters and total weight of 2.7 tons, ASTRO-H is equipped with four telescopes and six detectors to study both hard and soft X-rays and gamma rays.

ASTRO-H will orbit around the earth at an altitude of 575 km with an inclination angle of 31 degrees and complete one revolution every 96 minutes. Endit