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A Long March 11 rocket lifts off from the Xichang space base with the GECAM mission. Credit: CAS
Two small Chinese satellites designed to detect gamma-ray bursts associated with gravitational waves launched Wednesday on a Long March 11 rocket, beginning an astrophysics research mission to study black holes and neutron stars.
The Gravitational Wave High-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor, or GECAM, mission was developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences on a rapid timeline of a little more than two years.