2016年CRI China's Dark Matter Satellite Working Well

 

Since launching in December, China's Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) Satellite "Wukong" has detected 460 million high energy particles, and sent about 2.4 Terra Bytes of raw data back to Earth.

Chinese Academy of Sciences senior satellite engineer Li Huawang says Wukong has performed even better than expected.

"After 4-years of research and development, our product has met the advanced international standard in terms of the energy range, resolution ratio for energy, and direction measurement. The satellite completed all set tests, with all its technical indicators¹ reaching or exceeding expectations. It provides us with a good operational platform for future research."

"Wukong" has four main features - a plastic scintillator array detector², a silicon³ array detector, a Bismuth Germanium Oxide⁴ calorimeter, and a neutron⁵ detector.

It was designed for a three-year mission, scanning space nonstop in all directions for the first two years and then focussing on areas where dark matter is most likely to be observed.

Dark matter is a hypothetical substance that is widely believed to account for around eighty five per cent of the matter in the universe, although it has not been directly observed asyet.

The dark matter hypothesis plays a central role in state-of-the-art modeling of cosmic structure formation and galaxy⁶ creation and evolution.

DAMPE chief scientist Chang Jin says the project is very exciting.

"Dark matter is at the leading edge of current science. It tops the basic frontier projects of science listed by the US, Europe, China, and Japan. Based on the laws of known physics, we had predicted and proved the existence of 61 kinds of basic particles, yet dark matter doesn't fit the characteristics of any of them. So any progress in dark matter research will probably bring a breakthrough in physics."

But at the same time, Chang Jin says there may be a long wait before the final results come out.

"So far, the satellite has worked in space for 85 days. All the devices on board won't start working until next week, measuring electrons and gamma protons. And it will take some time to collect enough high-energy particles before we can tell whether we have detected dark matters."

China has listed research into the origins of the universe as part of its 13th Five Year Plan.

In its own development plan, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has promised "major progress and breakthroughs" by 2030 in research into the formation and evolution of the universe.

1 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。

2 detector   

n.发觉者，探测器

参考例句：

• The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
• Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。

3 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

4 oxide   

n.氧化物

参考例句：

• Oxide is usually seen in our daily life.在我们的日常生活中氧化物很常见。
• How can you get rid of this oxide coating?你们该怎样除去这些氧化皮？

5 neutron   

n.中子

参考例句：

• Neutron is neutral and slightly heavier than the proton.中子是中性的，比质子略重。
• Based on the neutron energy,the value of weighting factor was given.根据中子能量给出了相应的辐射权重因子的数值。

6 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。