China seeks to launch its first large telescope in late 2023 to explore the sky, bring new information about distant galaxies, and unravel the mysteries of black matter and dark forces.
The Chinese Space Station Telescope (CSST) is an optical and ultraviolet space observatory with a 6.6-foot-diameter (2 meters) lens, which makes it comparable to the prestigious Hubble Space Telescope. Although China’s telescope decision will be similar to Hubble’s, CSST’s viewing area will be 350 times larger, Liu Jifeng, deputy director of the National Astronomical Observatories of China, told China’s state headquarters Xinhua, according to a statement.
This means that CSST will be able to see the vast expanse of space during the 32-year-old Hubble and explore 40% of the sky with its 2.5 billion-pixel camera over a planned 10-year life, according to documents from -the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
On the other hand, NASA has introduced Hubble’s replacement, the James Webb Space Telescope, which, by comparison, has a magnitude of 21.3 meters (6.5 m).
The CSST will handle four additional mapping tools for Milky Way galaxies, locating fast objects such as comets and asteroids, studying large black holes, and directly photographing exoplanets.
The telescope is also known as “Xuntian,” translated as “explore the heavens.” It will work the same way as the country’s Tiangong space station, allowing the telescope to stand in outer space for repairs, repairs, and upgrades.
China plans to end Tiangong by the end of this year, paving the way to launch a space telescope a year later.
