The picture shows China's first dark-matter exploration satellite. [Photo: sohu.com]

China is to launch its first dark-matter exploration satellite on Thursday.

As one of the greatest mysteries in modern astrophysics, dark matter cannot be seen with telescopes but accounts for most of the matter in the universe.

Its existence has been inferred from the effects it has on visible matter, radiation, and the universe's large-scale structure.

Kirill Zybin, a professor at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said China is creating conditions for further study on dark matter.

"I think it is a very important event that China will launch the dark-matter exploration satellite. In fact, basic scientific research is of great importance to scientific research and it is significant to put more funds into basic scientific research as China has done," said Zybin.

Zybin said Russia should expand cooperation with China on dark-matter study as part of the two country's increasing collaboration on basic scientific research such as marine biology and fusion power.