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Long March 2C | Einstein Probe

CZ-2C | Einstein

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation · Long March 2C · Launch Complex 3 (LC-3/LA-1), Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation's 453rd launch · 1st this year · humanity's 6,596th orbital launch attempt

T− --:--:--January 9, 2024 · 07:03 UTCAdd to calendar
Success

The launch vehicle successfully inserted its payload(s) into the target orbit(s).

Window: Jan 9, 06:51 – Jan 9, 07:52 UTC

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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.

Astrophysics · Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

Booster

No booster details available.

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Updates

  • Launch success.

    Cosmic_Penguin · 1/9/2024 · source

  • Added launch window per NOTAMs; Identity of launch mission to this specific launch uncertain.

    Cosmic_Penguin · 1/5/2024 · source

  • Added launch.

    Cosmic_Penguin · 12/27/2023 · source

Pad — Launch Complex 3 (LC-3/LA-1)

Local pad time: Jan 9, 3:03 PM GMT+8

108 launches from this pad · 242 from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Map of Launch Complex 3 (LC-3/LA-1)Open in maps