China

Growing up in the 50's we baby boomers were given an impression that China was a very backward rudimentary country.

They were all just some farmers living in a very basic existence and that there were a lot of them.

Nothing could be further from the truth...

  China's Dark Matter Particle Explorer Satellite Wukong, named after the fictional character Monkey King, was successfully launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu province on Thursday. 

The probe will be in service for three years to observe the direction, energy and electric charge of high-energy particles in space in search of dark matter.

 Two further missions will blast off next year: the world's first quantum-communications satellite and an X-ray telescope observing in a unique energy band.

 Together, these missions mark a new start for space science in China which previously focused on non-science missions, says Wu Ji, director-general of the National Space Science Centre (NSSC).