China has released the second batch of science and technology results collected from the first spacecraft of the country's Innovation X satellite series, which achieved multiple national and international firsts such as the first solar transition zone image, as well as the brightest Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) ever recorded, the Global Times learned from developers on Thursday.
The spacecraft code-named SATech-01 was developed by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellite of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and it has been orbiting the Earth for five months.
According to the academy on Thursday, the 46.5-nanometer extreme-ultraviolet imager or Solar Upper Transition Region Imager (SUTRI), a China-developed space-borne solar camera studying the solar transition region onboard the spacecraft, was the first solar imager in the world to work at a wavelength of 40 to 110 nm based on a multilayer narrow-band filtering technique.
With the help of the SUTRI, China achieved the country's first solar transition zone image, and it will offer a clear look into the region's system and structure. The SUTRI's performance met the developers' expectations.
Since becoming operational on August 30, 2022, the SUTRI has obtained 1.6 trillion bytes of observation data and according to the academy, the data will be open and accessible for peer researchers in China and abroad.
Also mounted in the SATech-01 was the High Energy Burst Searcher (HEBS) payload, and it captured the most powerful GRB ever recorded on October 9, 2022, simultaneously with China's space-borne "Insight" Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT) as well as the Large High Air Altitude Shower Observatory in Southwest China's Sichuan Province.
The precise data collected by the HEBS showed that the GRB is more than 10 times brighter than the second in observation history, and it will be very important in helping the world to better understand the origin and working principle of the GRB.
SATech-01 also managed to obtain a global magnetic field image, per the spacecraft's developers.
The spacecraft also verified the technology of combining a versatile camera and payload of different uses onboard altogether, space observers told the Global Times.
The SATech-01 was launched into orbit in the Lijian-1 (ZK-1) solid propellant rocket's maiden flight on July 27, 2022. The 2.65-meter-diameter and 30-meter-long rocket was developed by the CAS.
"These exciting science and technology fruits showcased our expectations of the Innovation X series, which stands for innovation without limits," Zhang Yonghe, the deputy chief designer of the Lijian-1 project who oversaw the satellite system, told the Global Times in a statement the CAS provided.
Multiple research institutes participated in the program. The National Astronomical Observatories of the CAS, Peking University, Tongji University and the CAS Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics, participated in the solar camera development, and the Institute of High Energy Physics of the CAS in the HEBS.
Volker Turk has warned that efforts to advance reparatory justice are facing resistance in “certain quarters,” and urged countries to back Africa’s push.
Reparatory justice for historical crimes, including colonialism, enslavement, and the trade in enslaved Africans, is crucial to dismantling systemic racism, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has said.
Speaking at the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent on Tuesday, Turk linked present-day discrimination against people from the continent to the enduring legacy of colonialism and enslavement.
”Racism and dehumanizing rhetoric continue to permeate public institutions, communities, and online platforms,” he said, according to the UN Press Service. Turk noted that “digital technologies, including AI, are reproducing and amplifying existing biases against people of African descent.”
The remarks come weeks after the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade “the gravest...
The US VP had to defend President Trump’s Gaza policy at a rally on a Georgia college campus.
US Vice President J.D. Vance was forced to defend Washington’s policy in Gaza after he was booed and heckled at a key MAGA event on Wednesday.
Co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is a conservative student group that has long been seen as a strong support base of President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement but is now showing apparent cracks.
Less than 15 minutes into a TPUSA event at the University of Georgia on Wednesday, Vance was interrupted by hecklers over US policy in Gaza, with one audience member shouting, “Jesus Christ does not support genocide!” As he attempted to respond, others shouted, “You’re killing children!” and “You’re bombing children!”
Vance replied by referring to Trump’s achievements as president, including securing a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, something he said the previous administration of Joe Biden failed to do.
“I ...
Sergey Shoigu has cautioned Finland and the Baltic states against allowing Kiev to use their airspace for attacks on Russia.
Russia would have the right to retaliate if Finland and the Baltic states are deliberately allowing Ukrainian drones to pass through their airspace, Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu said on Thursday.
“Recently, there has been an increase in Ukrainian drone strikes against Russia via Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia,” Shoigu told journalists. “As a result, civilians are suffering and significant damage is being caused to civilian infrastructure.”
Either Western air defenses are proving ineffective, or these four countries “deliberately provide their airspace, thereby becoming open accomplices in aggression against Russia,” he added. In the latter case, Moscow has the right to self-defense in response to an “armed attack” under Article 51 of the UN Charter, the security chief stressed.
In recent weeks, Kiev has intensified drone strikes on ...
