Published : 2025-01-30

China's first X-ray astronomy satellite "Insight" was officially delivered and put into use on January 30, 2018.

"Insight" was successfully launched on June 15, 2017, at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre. During its in-orbit operation, it successfully completed tests of the satellite platform, payload, and ground application systems.

The test results indicate that the satellite's functions and performance meet the overall engineering requirements and are ready for use.

The "Insight" satellite is China's first independently designed and developed large X-ray astronomy satellite, filling the gap in China's space X-ray detection satellites.

The implementation of "Insight" marks the beginning of a new phase of space observation for China's high-energy astronomical research. This is of great significance for enhancing China's international status and influence in the field of space science.

The "Insight" satellite project is a major independent innovation in space science, primarily researching frontier issues related to dense celestial bodies like black holes and neutron stars.

The development process of the "Insight" satellite overcame many design challenges, achieving numerous technological breakthroughs such as the integrated design and implementation of X-ray detection payloads and ground control and data transmission technology in an arbitrary inertial spatial attitude.

The "Insight" satellite further applied a direct demodulation imaging method pioneered by Chinese scientists, achieving wide-band, high-sensitivity, high spatial resolution X-ray sky surveys, fixed-point and small-area observations.

It possesses advanced capabilities for surveying faint variable sources and unique multi-band rapid optical variability observation capabilities, giving it advantages over existing X-ray astronomy satellites in the world.