https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202210/09/WS63421d0ea310fd2b29e7b61c.html China has successfully launched a satellite for observing solar activity that will be instrumental in predicting space weather, the country’s Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) announced on Sunday.
The satellite, which is called Advanced Space-Based Solar Observatory (ASO-S), was sent to space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on a Long March-2D rocket, CASC said. According to China Daily, the ASO-S is China’s first full-scale, dedicated instrument for studying the Sun.
The 859-kg probe will start operations at an altitude of 720-km to study how the solar magnetic field is linked with solar flares and coronal mass ejections – which are massive blasts of plasma. This is expected to help gather the data needed to better forecast space weather. Such information is of significant utility because various solar phenomena are capable of knocking out sensitive electronic equipment on Earth.
