A satellite carrying an Ultra Fast Flash Observatory Tracking Space Telescope, developed through an international collaboration of scientists led by Professor Il Hong Park from the Department of Physics at SKKU, was successfully launched on April 28. The telescope will be observing gamma-ray bursts (GRBs).
GRBs are known to be the largest explosion in space, and they occur about two to three times a day in different places around the universe. Bursts can last from ten milliseconds to less than a minute. The burst is hard to detect, since not only does it happen in a random place, but also it disappears within a short span of time.
The space telescope used in the past took about a minute to capture a burst and analyze it, which made the observation of GRBs barely feasible. However, with the new space telescope, it is expected that GRBs can now be effectively observed, as it takes less than one second to locate and inspect the burst.
By observing GRBs, scientists will be able to investigate earlier periods of the universe and could set a new standard distance measure that could be used in space alongside the lightyear.
This achievement is the first instance for a Korean team to lead development in the space science field, and it is expected to make great progress on the research of GRBs, an area where investigation to this point has been minimal.