The telescope, dubbed Xuntian, will be installed by China’s Tiangong space station and will co-orbit with it, the Chinese Manned Space Agency said.
China announced plans to send a new telescope to probe deep into the universe as it prepared to launch the country’s next, three-member crew for its orbiting space station
The announcement came on the eve of the flight by three astronauts – Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin – who will replace a crew that has been on the station for six months.China has made major advances in its burgeoning space power and says it plans to send a crewed mission to the Moon by the end of the decade while also pursuing other ambitions in space.
China built its own space station after it was excluded from the International Space Station, largely due to US concerns over the control of the programme by the People’s Liberation Army, the military branch of the ruling Communist Party. China has broken out in some areas, however, bringing samples back from the lunar surface for the first time in decades and landing a rover on the less explored far side of the Moon.