The Einstein Probe (EP) is an X-ray space telescope mission by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in partnership with European Space Agency (ESA) and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) dedicated to time-domain high-energy astrophysics.

[3][4] The primary goals are "to discover high-energy transients and monitor variable objects".

[4] Einstein Probe was launched on 9 January 2024, at 07:03 UTC by a Long March 2C rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in China, and successfully placed in low Earth orbit at an altitude of 600 km[2] and an inclination of 29 degrees, giving an orbital period of 96 minutes.

[15] On 15 March 2024, the Einstein Probe detected EP240315a, a soft X-ray burst from 12.5 billion light-years away, lasting over 17 minutes—the longest duration observed from such an ancient explosion.

Linked to gamma-ray burst GRB 240315C, this event showed a six-minute delay between X-rays and gamma rays, never observed before.