China has announced its plans to launch two probes that will go beyond the solar system. This will also make China only the second country after the United States to ever launch an interstellar space mission.
As per The Houston Chronicle report, the two probes will cross into interstellar space during the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic Of China in 2049, announced Wu Weiren, the designer behind China’s Lunar Exploration Program.
China to create history
To meet that deadline, the Chinese space agency will have to launch the probes in the next three years. If things go as planned, China will create history by becoming the second nation to leave the Solar System. The probes will be the sixth and seventh interstellar objects to be launched from earth.
The probes are said to travel around 100 astronomical units (1AU is the distance between the Earth and the Sun), by China’s 100 anniversary in 2049. It means that the mission’s success won’t only be scientifically historic but will also put China on the global map as a prominent nation in space exploration.
New chapter in space exploration
There’s more than just setting a record here. The border between the heliosphere and interstellar space is around 100 astronomical units, notes The Houston Chronicle. So crossing that mark will allow the Chinese space agency to study the space between stars, helping them understand the galaxy better.
China is also working on launching its Tiangong-3 space station soon. The pieces of the space laboratory will be placed into orbit soon. Besides, China also claimed that the new orbital observatory will feature Hubble Space Telescope-like imaging abilities.
The Chinese Space Station Telescope (CSST) telescope will have Hubble’s resolution but with a field of view 300 times larger, It will allow the scientists to survey 40 percent of the sky in 10 years.
Moreover, The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology also recently demonstrated the potential for suborbital point-to-point transportation. It involves launching vehicles from Earth into suborbital space and landing them halfway around the globe in less than 60 minutes.
