Scientists from China and Europe are working together to create an exceptionally sensitive space telescope aimed at monitoring the universe’s most violent explosions. This collaborative project, known as the Polar-2 mission, involves scientists from Switzerland, Poland, Germany, and China, with the ultimate goal of delivering this advanced telescope to China’s Tiangong space station in 2025.
The primary objective of the Polar-2 mission is to closely observe gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), which are highly energetic flashes of light resulting from some of the most powerful cosmic explosions since the Big Bang.
Despite being discovered over five decades ago, GRBs remain poorly understood. As Nicolas Produit, a physicist from the University of Geneva, explained at the International Astronautical Congress in Baku, Azerbaijan, one theory suggests that GRBs originate from the core of explosions triggered by events like the formation of a black hole or the collision of dense, spinning cores of collapsed stars. However, the random nature of GRBs in terms of their occurrence in the universe and location has made studying them a formidable challenge.
The Polar-2 mission builds upon the success of its predecessor. The earlier mission was a joint effort among researchers from Switzerland, China, and Poland, with a focus on shedding light on the structure, magnetic fields, and emission mechanisms of GRBs. This mission developed a GRB polarimeter that spent six months aboard China’s Tiangong-2 space lab. It was tasked with measuring the rotation angle of light particles detected by a gamma-ray detector.
Polar-2 retains similar technologies but operates on a much larger scale than its predecessor. This collaborative effort aims to provide invaluable insights into the enigmatic world of gamma-ray bursts, advancing our understanding of some of the most cataclysmic events in the universe.
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