China on Sunday launched its first comprehensive solar probe, the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S), according to the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The satellite was launched atop a Long March-2D carrier rocket from northwest China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 7:43 a.m. Beijing Time and has entered the designated orbit. China launches its first comprehensive solar probe, the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S), atop a Long March-2D carrier rocket from northwest China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 7:43 a.m. Beijing Time, October 9, 2022. Wang Jiangbo/China Media Group ASO-S' study of solar physics The probe, dubbed Kuafu-1, a sun seeker in ancient Chinese mythology, will operate in orbit 720 kilometers from Earth, permanently facing the sun. Equipped with a trio of instruments, the 888-kilogram satellite will provide insight into the sun's magnetic field, the cause of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Solar flares and CMEs are two high-energy eruptions from the sun's atmosphere. While CMEs are relatively gentle expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields, solar flares produce bursts of electromagnetic radiation that travel at the speed of light, reaching Earth in just over 8 minutes. Both solar flares and CMEs can affect Earth when they reach and interact with our planet's atmosphere. Therefore, studying them can help researchers forecast such eruptions with data from ASO-S, minimizing the potential interference with navigation systems or power grid disruptions, according to astrophysicist Gan Weiqun from the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the mission's chief scientist. The data will be collected from a set of tools loaded on the satellites, which include an All-Solar Vector Magnetic Imager, a Lyman Alpha Solar Telescope and a Solar Hard X-ray Imager. "After the probe's initial commissioning phase, ASO-S's data will be open for anyone to access for free," said Li Hui, a researcher from the same academy and the chief scientific application systems engineer of the probe. The ASO-S is set to operate for four years, covering the 2024-to-2025 peak of the solar cycle, which normally lasts 11 years. "Today's launch will provide us the best window period for studying the sun," said Gan. "A four-year minimus life span of the probe can cover peak years; we can observe a lot of eruptions."