China launches pulsar navigation satellite XPNAV-1

•  China has successfully launched experimental X-ray pulsar navigation satellite XPNAV-1. It is the world’s first pulsar navigation satellite or spacecraft.
• It was launched on board of Long March 11 solid-fuelled rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China’s northwest.

About XPNAV-1:

• The satellite operates in a Sun-synchronous orbit and will conduct in-orbit experiments using pulsar detectors to demonstrate new technologies.
• While in orbit, the satellite will undergo tests on its detector functions and space environment adaptability. It weighs more than 200 kilogrammes and carries two detectors.
• X-ray pulsar navigation is an innovative navigation technology in which periodic X-ray signals emitted from pulsars are used to determine the location of a spacecraft in deep space.
• The satellite and the rocket were designed by academies affiliated with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
• The X-ray pulsar navigation will help reduce the spacecraft’s reliance on ground-based navigation methods and is expected to lead to autonomous spacecraft navigation in the future.

What are pulsars?

• Pulsars aren't really stars — or at least they aren't "living" stars. Pulsars belong to a family of objects called neutron stars that form when a star more massive than the sun runs out of fuel in its core and collapses in on itself. This stellar death typically creates a massive explosion called a supernova. The neutron star is the dense nugget of material left over after this explosive death.
• Neutron stars are typically about 12.4 to 14.9 miles (20 to 24 kilometers) in diameter, but they can contain up to twice the mass of the sun, which is about 864,938 miles (1.392 million km) in diameter.
• The gravitational pull on the surface of a neutron star would be about 1 billion times stronger than the gravitational pull on the surface of the Earth.
• The only object with a higher density than a neutron star is a black hole, which also forms when a dying star collapses.

By: Vishal