Einstein Probe

Launch Success

Liftoff Time (GMT)

07:03:00

Tuesday January 9, 2024

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Official Livestream

Mission Details

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Einstein Probe

The Einstein Probe (EP) is a Chinese Wide-Field X-ray astronomy observatory for detecting high energy flashes of cataclysmic cosmic events. These includes tidal disruption events (stars pulled apart by supermassive black holes), supernovae, and high-energy, electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave events. The spacecraft, weighing ~1400 kilograms, will be launched into a 600-kilometer-high, low-inclination orbit. The probe's instruments include a Wide-field X-ray Telescope (WXT) with a field of view of 3,600 square degrees, employing cutting-edge "lobster eye" optics to view X-ray events more deeply and widely than previously possible, and a Follow-up X-ray Telescope (FXT), developed in collaboration with Europe, that performs follow-up detailed observations as soon as WXT detects an X-ray event. The Einstein Probe mission is managed by the NSSC, with participation from the CAS's NAOC, the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP), the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics (SITP), and the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites, a spacecraft manufacturer that has previously produced space science and Beidou navigation spacecraft. The European Space Agency is contributing to the mission with a mirror module for the FXT instrument, as well as ground station and science management support. The FXT instrument is also supported by Germany's Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics.

Low Earth Orbit

1 Payload

1,450 kilograms

Rocket

Active
Long March 2C

Active Since 1982

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation logo

Agency

CASC

Price

$30.80 million

Rocket

Height: 42m

Payload to Orbit

LEO: 2,850 kg

GTO: 1,000 kg

Liftoff Thrust

2,962 Kilonewtons

Fairing

Diameter: 3.35m

Height: 8.37m

Stages

2

Launch Site

LC-3

Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China

Fastest Turnaround

16 days 15 hours

Stats

Long March 2C


75th

Mission

1st

Mission of 2024

2024


7th

Orbital launch attempt