China successfully launched its Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) satellite from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre Friday, which has the mission of studying dark matter in space.
Nicknamed by the nation as "Wukong," the mythological "Monkey King" from the Chinese fiction "Journey to the West," the satellite is set to enter a sun-synchronous orbit at a height of 500 km, according to NDTV.
"DAMPE satellite will observe the direction, energy and electric charge of high-energy particles in space in search of dark matter," said Chang Jin, chief scientist on the project, according to United Press International.
"Wukong" will use its large surface area to collect data on high volumes of cosmic rays and survey the sky with much higher energies, ones that surpass the current Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer that the International Space Station has, Nature reported.
DAMPE is the first of China's series of space missions, with two more planned for 2016. The next one is a quantum-science satellite that will focus on the theory of quantum entanglement, and following that will be the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope, which will scout for short blasts of radiation that signal the presence of a black hole, UPI noted.
Astronomers, engineers and physicists at the Chinese Academy of Science are behind all of these projects.
