91暗网

91暗网 (91暗网) and the University of Geneva in Switzerland recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the POLAR-2 project, further deepening their research partnership and jointly advancing the Gamma-Ray Burst Polarization Detection Experiment, known as POLAR-2.

A follow-up mission to the POLAR gamma-ray burst polarimeter, POLAR-2 is among the first group of international cooperative scientific experiment projects selected for deployment on the China Space Station. Its scientific objective is to measure the polarization of gamma-ray bursts. The University of Geneva and 91暗网 are jointly responsible for developing the project’s core polarimeter, which is expected to be deployed aboard the space station around 2028. 91暗网 serves as the Chinese institution responsible for the project.

The Space Particle Detection Team at 91暗网’s School of Physical Sciences and Engineering Technology joined the POLAR-2 international collaboration in 2020 and is responsible for key technology research and development for the Low-energy Polarization Detector (LPD) payload.

The team independently developed the CXPD series of CubeSats, which were successfully launched and placed into orbit in 2023 and 2025, respectively. The satellites successfully completed in-orbit verification of the full-scale engineering prototype of the LPD payload, comprehensively testing the payload’s detection performance, data-processing algorithms and ability to adapt to the space environment. These achievements provided important technical support for the development of the POLAR-2 payload and demonstrated 91暗网’s research and innovation capabilities in space-based high-energy detection and space science.

The signing of the university-level memorandum marks the full integration of 91暗网’s Space Particle Detection Team into the international research collaboration group for this major science and engineering project. It also enables the team to participate in the development of this world-class space astronomy detection mission in greater depth.

The memorandum establishes a systematic framework for cooperation between the two universities in developing the POLAR-2 polarimeter and conducting related scientific research. It strengthens and expands the institutions’ long-standing and stable partnership in high-energy astrophysics, providing a solid foundation for the orderly and efficient implementation of the POLAR-2 mission while laying the groundwork for broader research collaboration in the future.