China unveiled unprecedented space missions

The National Center for Space Science and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, are preparing to select a new batch of space missions for the period 2025-2030. These missions will be carried out within the framework of the Strategic Priority Program on Space Sciences (SPP), the third of its name. Thirteen missions are competing in four major areas of space science: astronomy andastrophysicsthem exoplanetsheliophysics and Solar system. Some of these missions are new, even very ambitious. They are also the sign of China’s very high ambitions on the international scene, which no longer appears as a ” outsider but as a space power not hesitating to enter into competition with other space powers.

Five to seven missions could be selected with a first launch planned for 2026. We briefly present the 13 missions in competition, some of which are new.

“Observe” the disintegration of dark matter

In the field of astronomy and astrophysics, four missions are in competition. The eXTP X-Ray Observatory (Enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry) will address key unresolved issues in basic science: theequation ofstate of matter ultra-dense cold, the effects of gravity strong field and physical of the magnetic fields the most powerful. It will also be used to better understand the gravitational waves and the sources of neutrinos. eXTP will be located in orbit around the Earth, 550 kilometers above sea level.

Dampe-2 (Dark Matter Particle Explorer-2) is a particle detection satellite from black matter which follows the great successes of the Dampe mission. These two missions are designed to track down the black matter. You should know that this matterwhich is assumed to be much more abundant than classical matter in theUniverse, can only be detected today by the force of gravity it exerts on the classical matter that surrounds it. Some models nevertheless predict that it is made up of particles which could annihilate from time to time by emitting classical particles of high energy. It is these particles that Dampe-2 wishes to detect.

The mission DSL (Discovering the Sky at the Longest Wavelength) consists of a network of small satellites placed in a lunar orbit. DSL must open a new window observation radio astronomical at frequencies below 30 MHz, with great potential for new and unexpected discoveries. New information is expected on various astrophysical processes in planets and starsthe Milky Waythem galaxies and the supermassive black holes.

In the field of exoplanets, we have already presented the two competing missions. There are Earth 2.0whose goal is to discover planets similar to the Earth in size, mass and constitution, and especially evolving in the habitable zone of their star. That is to say, planets that have many similarities with the Earth and therefore potentially habitable. The second mission in competition is Chess (Closeby Habitable Exoplanet Survey). It is more ambitious because it is designed to discover terrestrial-type habitable planets in the habitable zone around solar-type stars close to us. That is to say located more or less 32 light years from U.S. Both would operate at the Sun-Earth Lagrange 2 (L2) point.

The poles of the Sun seen from an unprecedented promontory

Heliophysics is a discipline that opens the way to a better understanding of the Sun and its interactions with the Earth, the Solar System and the interstellar medium, including the meteorology spatial. Four missions are proposed.

OR(Solar Ring) is a mission to monitor and study the Sun and theheliosphere internal with a 360° view in the ecliptic plane. Three satellites will be used and separated by 120° in an orbit at 1 AU of the Sun. The purpose of the mission is to study the origin of the solar cycle, the origin of solar flares and the origin of severe space weather.

The SPO satellite (Solar Polar-orbit Observatory) will directly image the Sun’s solar poles in an unprecedented way. It will perform an orbit around the Sun with a large inclination (≥ 80°) with respect to the plane of the ecliptic and low ellipticity. SPO will unveil the origin of the cycle of solar magnetic activity that shapes the living environment on Earth, to determine the mechanism of generation of high-speed solar wind. Its data will also be useful for constructing digital models heliospheric and space weather.

The Observatory of solar eclipses of terrestrial origin Eseo (Earth-occulted Solar Eclipse Observatory), is a satellite that will be installed at the second Lagrange point (L2). It will use theconcealment from the Sun by Earth to explore the inner corona and should reveal the early stage of solar flares in the inner corona and subsequently how the Earth’s magnetic tail responds to these flares.

Finally, the Chime satellite (Chinese Heliospheric Interstellar Medium Explorer) should provide the first steps in situ from gas and some interstellar dust. Chime will be installed in an elliptical orbit heliocentric with a perihelion at about 1 AU and a aphelion at about 3 AU.

Is there life in the clouds of Venus?

how the greenhouse gas do they influence the climate change and do they respond? What are the spatial and temporal variations of ocean dynamics at several scales? How can we trace the evolution of the dichotomous Solar System over the first 10 million years? The geological and thermal history of Venus, the mechanisms of the super-greenhouse effect, past and current habitable environments, and the possible existence of life on Venus. To answer these questions, four missions are in competition.

The ASR mission (Asteroid Sample Return) aims to bring back samples of the small asteroid type E 1989 ML (0.6 km in diameter) taken from three different sites. Completion of the entire mission will take approximately four years.

As for Voice(Venus Volcano Imaging and Climate Explorer), it is a mission to study Venus. The probe will evolve some 350 kilometers from its surface in a polar orbit. Its purpose is to study the geological evolution of Venus, the atmospheric thermochemical processes, the surface-atmosphere interactions, as well as to verify if Venus has a habitable environment and if there is life in the clouds.

Caces (Climate and Atmospheric Components Exploring Satellites) is a small mission that consists of two satellites in low orbit sun-synchronous which will focus on the observation of climatic variables and the composition of theatmosphere earthly. Caces promises to provide a deeper understanding of how greenhouse gases affect climate change and their role in weather disasters. This mission also aims to monitor and quantify the emissions of carbon in 2028. These measurements will be useful for the Chinese government to verify that China has indeed reached the carbon neutral by 2060as she promised.

Oscom (Ocean Surface Current multiscale Observation Mission) is an altimetry satellite dedicated to the study of the dynamics and energy of the oceans in order to better understand the exchanges of mass and energy between the ocean and the atmosphere. The satellite will focus its measurements on currents, waves and surface winds.

Beyond 2030, advanced research programs on future space mission concepts will be funded over the next five years or beyond. A first call for ideas was launched and more than 20 proposals were submitted, including a project for a gamma observatory, space weather, exploration of Ceres for example.