Scientists from China, Europe to target gamma rays from Tiangong space station
- The multi-country Polar-2 mission aims to learn more about the most powerful cosmic explosions since the Big Bang
- Collaboration includes researchers from Switzerland, Poland and Germany, with launch planned for 2025
The project’s technical manager Nicolas Produit, a physicist from the University of Geneva, said the telescope will be mounted on the Tiangong’s exterior to look for gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) – energetic light particles from the most powerful cosmic explosions since the Big Bang.
Speaking at the International Astronautical Congress in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Wednesday, Produit said Polar-2 is expected to detect around 200 GRBs every year, for at least two years.
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GRBs were first discovered more than five decades ago, but where they come from and how they are produced remain poorly understood, he noted.
One hypothesis is that they are launched from the centre of explosions caused by events such as the birth of a black hole or the collision of the dense, spinning cores of collapsed stars.
