TheDark Matter Particle Explorer, orDAMPE, also known asWukong (Chinese:悟空), is aChinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) satellite which launched on 17 December 2015.^[4] The satellite was launched on aLong March 2D rocket from Launch Pad 603 at the LC-43 complex, also known as theSouth Launch Site, at theJiuquan Satellite Launch Center.^[4] It is China's first space observatory.

DAMPE is aspace telescope used for the detection of high energygamma rays,electrons andcosmic ray ions, to aid in the search fordark matter.^[4][6] It was designed to look for the indirect decay signal of a hypothetical dark matter candidate calledweakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs).^[7]

The project is the result of a collaboration among research institutions and universities in Italy, Switzerland and China under the leadership of thePurple Mountain Observatory (PMO) of theChinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

The scientific objectives of the mission are:^[4]

• the search and study ofdark matter particles by conducting high-resolution observations of high-energy electrons andgamma rays.
• the study of the origin ofcosmic rays by observing high energy electrons and heavy nuclei in theTeV energy range.
• the study of the propagation and acceleration mechanisms of cosmic rays through the observation of high-energy gamma rays.

The project is the result of a collaboration among research institutions and universities in Italy, Switzerland and China under the leadership of thePurple Mountain Observatory (PMO) of theChinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).^[8] The DAMPE mission is funded by the strategic priority science and technology projects in space science of CAS.^[9][10][11] The institutes that have been part of the collaboration are: IHEP (Institute of High Energy Physics), CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Beijing, China; IMP (Institute of Modern Physics), CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Lanzhou, China; NSSC (National Space Science Center), CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Beijing, China; PMO (Purple Mountain Observatory), CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Nanjing, China; USTC (University of Science and Technology of China), Hefei, China; INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) andUniversity of Perugia, Italy; INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) andUniversity of Bari, Italy; INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) andUniversity of Lecce, Italy; INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) andGran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI), L'Aquila, Italy; DPNC (Département de physique nucléaire et corpusculaire),University of Geneva, Switzerland.

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The first scientific result of DAMPE came in November 2017 as the direct detection of a break in thecosmicelectron pluspositronenergy spectrum at an energy of 0.9TeV.^[12][13]

In October 2019, DAMPE released its measurement of theproton component of cosmic rays, confirming previous results while also hinting towards new features in the energy spectrum.^[14]

The space observatory is namedWukong (Chinese:悟空) after theSun Wukong, who is the hero in the classic Chinese taleJourney to the West.Literally, "wu"(悟) means comprehension or understanding and "kong"（空）means void, so this name could also be understood as "understanding the void", relating to the undiscovered nature of dark matter.^[1]

The English name, DAMPE, was abackronym, which was named after anon-player character (NPC) inThe Legend of Zelda,Dampé (ダンペイ).^[15] In the game, the player needs Dampé to find the treasure, which matches with the mission of DAMPE (not finding dark matter, but finding the evidence that dark matter exists).

• Dark matter
• Spacecraft launched in 2015
• 2015 in China
• Satellites orbiting Earth
• Space telescopes
• Satellites of China
• Spacecraft launched by Long March rockets

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