Space Source‑Tracing Scientific Satellite Program: China to Launch Space Source‑Tracing Scientific Satellite Program to Search for the Origins of Life in the Universe

Key Points

Quick takeaway — Space Source‑Tracing Scientific Satellite Program

Space Source‑Tracing Scientific Satellite Program is China’s new national push to use satellites to trace the origins of the universe, space weather, and life.

This program is led by the National Space Science Center (NSSC, Zhongguo Kexueyuan Guojia Kongjian Kexue Zhongxin 中国科学院国家空间科学中心) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS, Zhongguo Kexueyuan 中国科学院).

The initiative was announced at a press briefing on November 24, 2025.

The goal is to move from running alongside international peers to leading in multiple space‑science directions.

Program scope and flagship missions — what’s included

The NSSC will organize and deploy a suite of missions under the Space Source‑Tracing Scientific Satellite Program.

Flagship efforts include the Hongmeng Plan (Hongmeng 鸿蒙计划), Kuafu‑2 (Kuāfù èr hào 夸父二号), an exoplanet Earth‑like survey, and an enhanced X‑ray time‑domain and polarization space observatory.

The program aims to deliver breakthroughs on topics like the Universe’s dark ages, solar magnetic‑activity cycles, and detection of Earth‑like exoplanets.

Why this matters — strategic goals for China’s space science

The program intends to produce more foundational, original, and leading scientific results.

It aims to strengthen China’s technological self‑reliance at a high level while promoting coordinated development across space science, technology, and applications.

For investors and founders this signals multi‑year demand for advanced spacecraft platforms, high‑sensitivity detectors, calibration tools, and data‑analysis systems.

For technologists and engineers it signals opportunities in payload integration, optics, X‑ray instrumentation, and mission governance innovations.

Recent breakthroughs under the space science lead project

Since 2011, China has designed and launched eight scientific satellites under the space science pilot project.

• Wukong (Wùkōng 悟空号, DAMPE — DArk Matter Particle Explorer)
• Shijian‑10 (Shíjiàn shí 实践十号, SJ‑10)
• Mozi (Mòzǐ 墨子号, QUESS — Quantum Experiments at Space Scale)
• Insight (Huìyǎn 慧眼号, Insight‑HXMT — Hard X‑ray Modulation Telescope)
• Taiji‑1 (Tàijí yī hào 太极一号)
• Huairou‑1 (Huáiróu yī hào 怀柔一号)
• Kuafu‑1 (Kuāfù yī hào 夸父一号)
• Tianguan (Tiānguān 天关)

These missions produced a string of original results, many Chinese firsts, and several world‑first measurements.

The program has become China’s first systematic national effort to support space‑science research and has moved the field onto a faster innovation track.

Four directions of scientific expansion — where the science deepened

Over the past 15 years the project expanded along four complementary axes.

• Extreme macroscopic scale: producing the world’s first all‑sky X‑ray map.
• Extreme microscopic precision: obtaining the most precise global spectra to date for cosmic‑ray electrons, protons, helium nuclei and boron nuclei, revealing fine structures.
• Extreme conditions: directly measuring the strongest magnetic fields in the cosmos and detecting high‑speed jets very close to black holes for the first time.
• Extreme interdisciplinarity: achieving high‑level integration of science, technology and engineering.

Platform and payload technology advances — hardware that powers discovery

The program overcame technical challenges such as accurate star‑to‑ground optical path alignment.

Teams built China’s first internationally competitive X‑ray calibration beamline.

Researchers developed a lobster‑eye X‑ray telescope with a very large field of view and high sensitivity that outperforms many peers by 1–2 orders of magnitude on some metrics.

Integrated platform‑payload design approaches improved scientific capability and mission efficiency.

New mission management and talent development — building people and process

Organizers adopted a governance model described as “chief scientist + two engineering chiefs.”

This approach helped train a cohort of leading scientists and engineering teams and accelerated responsibility for capable young researchers.

The program has created a structured talent pipeline and strengthened China’s space‑science discipline system and laboratory infrastructure.

International collaboration — how China is working with global partners

The program pursued wide‑ranging, multi‑level international cooperation and established new collaboration models.

For example, the “Smile” satellite was the first deep, full‑lifecycle, mission‑level cooperation between the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the European Space Agency (ESA).

The Tianguan (Tiānguān 天关) satellite was led by China with ESA, Germany and France participating, and marked ESA’s first participation in a Chinese space‑science mission as an “opportunity mission.”

Through international science teams and open data sharing, China increased the global scientific impact and benefit of its scientific satellites.

Selected scientific highlights — concrete discoveries to watch

New transient X‑ray sources and compact‑object science

Tianguan discovered a new class of X‑ray transients, EP241021a, offering clues about mysterious transient objects.

It also detected a weak X‑ray burst within our galaxy (EP240904a), opening new paths to find stellar‑mass black holes.

The first transient autonomously triggered and followed up (EP240801a) raises questions for traditional gamma‑ray burst classification.

Insight‑HXMT (Insight, Huìyǎn 慧眼号) advanced measurements of Earth‑atmosphere density, outburst mechanisms of Galactic black‑hole accretion events, radiation and surface magnetic fields of accreting millisecond pulsars, ignition sites of neutron‑star surface nuclear burning, and sub‑millisecond variability in the brightest gamma‑ray bursts.

Huairou‑1’s discoveries

Huairou‑1 found a new subtype of gamma‑ray bursts produced by compact‑star mergers.

It revealed a previously unknown magnetar eruption mode and discovered unique periodic particle‑precipitation events that deepen knowledge of near‑Earth orbital radiation environments.

Wukong (DAMPE) and cosmic‑ray boron spectrum hardening

Wukong (Wùkōng 悟空号, DAMPE) precisely measured the secondary cosmic‑ray boron spectrum above 1 TeV/nucleon.

With 8σ confidence, it discovered a spectral hardening in boron.

The change in the boron spectral index is about twice the amplitude observed in primary cosmic rays such as protons and helium, which suggests the hardening may originate from propagation effects.

This is an important clue for understanding cosmic‑ray transport in the galaxy.

Kuafu observations of solar eruptions

Kuafu‑1 (Kuāfù yī hào 夸父一号) observed that high‑energy C‑class solar flares have a far lower association rate with coronal mass ejections (CMEs) than classical models predict.

Out of 127 high‑energy C‑class flares studied, only five were accompanied by CMEs, and those were narrow CMEs produced by jets.

These observations offer new insight into solar eruption mechanisms and the origin of high‑energy particles.

What this means for investors, founders, and builders

This program signals a stable, strategic commitment by China to long‑range scientific missions and advanced payload development.

Expect growing demand for precision optics, X‑ray detectors, on‑orbit calibration services, and mission data platforms.

Open data and international collaboration models lower barriers for global researchers to leverage Chinese mission data.

Entrepreneurs and startups building tools for satellite data processing, machine learning on astrophysical time series, and mission‑level hardware integration can find entry points here.

For investors, the program points to medium‑to‑long term commercial opportunities in ground segment services, mission analytics, and component manufacturing that support high‑sensitivity science payloads.

Outlook — where the next decade could go

The Space Source‑Tracing Scientific Satellite Program builds on 15 years of focused investment and demonstrable scientific output.

With upcoming missions and deeper international partnerships, China is positioned to push for major discoveries about the origins and evolution of the universe, high‑energy processes, and possible pathways to the origin of life.

That creates an evolving landscape for collaboration, commercialization, and scientific competition.

Space Source‑Tracing Scientific Satellite Program is now a defined national priority and a platform to watch for new missions, data releases, and technology spin‑outs.

References

• 我国将开展太空探源科学卫星计划 探寻宇宙生命起源 – 央视新闻客户端
• 国家空间科学中心发布 – 中国科学院国家空间科学中心
• Chinese Academy of Sciences – Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)