Scientists reported on Monday, Dec. 21, that China’s ground stations received data from its first satellite dedicated to investigating dark matter.
A Kashgar station situated in Xinjiang tracked and obtained data from “Wukong,” officially known as the Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) Satellite, last Sunday, Dec. 20 at 8:45 a.m., taking around seven minutes to receive and record the data.
The information signifies that a transmission link was successfully established between DAMPE and ground stations. It was then transmitted to the National Space Science Center, reported the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in a statement.
The satellite also sent data to ground stations in Miyun District, Beijing and in Sanya in the province of Hainan.
CAS announced that the data received is in the right format and of good quality.
DAMPE Probe
China launched DAMPE to seek high-energy particles to learn further about dark matter, the mysterious and unseen force believed to make up a majority of the mass of the universe. It was dubbed “Wukong” (Monkey King) to honor a character from the classic novel “Journey to the West.”
Carried into orbit by a Long March 2D rocket of the country, DAMPE is a collaborative project led by CAS, the University of Geneva and various academic institutions from Italy.
DAMPE boasts of a massive surface area, not only capably observing high cosmic ray volumes but also surveying the sky at high energies. It uses four instruments for capturing the high-energy particles and tracing them back to their origin: a BGO calorimeter, a plastic scintillator detector, a neutron detector and a silicon-tungsten tracker.
The particle sources are believed to be dark matter collisions, possibly giving scientists new insight into the dark matter.
Elusive Dark Matter
“[It’s] an exciting mission,” said Princeton University’s David Spergel of the DAMPE mission.
A recent study in the Astrophysical Journal proposed that the solar system might be growing dark matter “hairs,” speculated to exist and sprout from Earth.
Dark matter has evaded over three decades of research but has indirect proof in the cosmos, such as a powerful gravitational pull in action.
"When gravity interacts with the cold dark matter gas during galaxy formation, all particles within a stream continue traveling at the same velocity," explained study author Gary Prézeau.
Dark matter can potentially help scientists follow a wealth of scientific pursuits, including studying oceanic depths on icy moons and mapping out layers of celestial bodies.
Chinese Missions In Space
DAMPE is part of the CAS program called Strategic Priority Program on Space Science, where China is launching four other space missions.
The four-year initiative will launch two new satellites in 2016, one of which is touted as the first satellite for quantum communications and will probe if photos from Earth can be utilized as part of a quantum network.
Another mission will situate an X-ray telescope with one-of-a-kind energy band sensing ability into orbit, aimed at monitoring black hole radiation.
