news

china news service, beijing, september 26 (reporter sun zifa) the reporter learned from the space application engineering and technology center of the chinese academy of sciences (space application center) on september 26 that lu congmin, chief designer of the space application system of china's manned space engineering and deputy director of the space application center of the chinese academy of sciences, revealed that since the construction of china's manned space station, the space application system has carried out more than 100 scientific experiments and application tests in orbit, and has made important research progress, including many firsts.

as the first academic conference for concentrated exchanges in various disciplines in the field of space science and application of china's manned space engineering, the 2024 china manned space station space science and application academic annual conference was held in xi'an, shaanxi from september 25 to 28. lu congmin made the above statement when he delivered the keynote speech "progress in science and application of manned space station".

lv congmin, chief designer of the space application system of china's manned space program and deputy director of the space application center of the chinese academy of sciences, delivered a keynote speech. image provided by the space application center of the chinese academy of sciences

lu congmin introduced that since the construction of china's space station, the space application system has uploaded nearly 1.8 tons of payload and experimental samples, and returned nearly 100 samples in six batches with manned spacecraft, weighing nearly 100 kilograms. the samples mainly include metal and alloy materials, functional crystals, non-metallic composite materials and other material samples, as well as life experiment samples such as cells, proteins, and plants.

at present, china's space station scientific experiments and application tests continue to produce phased research results: in the field of space life, the mechanism of how microgravity affects the formation and changes of osteoblasts has been revealed, and more than 10 potential important targets related to bone loss have been discovered, which are expected to be applied to osteoporosis drug intervention; china has built a zebrafish-duckweed binary ecosystem in orbit for the first time, which has been stably operating in orbit for more than 40 days, achieving a breakthrough in china's cultivation of vertebrates in space; for the first time in space, the "from seed to seed" life cycle cultivation of rice was completed and the cultivation of regenerated rice in space was completed, and a new set of molecular regulation of the microgravity response flowering pathway was discovered; and 16 samples of nematodes, microorganisms, rice seeds, biological macromolecules and other samples were exposed outside the cabin.

in the field of space materials, a series of progress and important scientific discoveries with international influence have been made in the areas of metal and alloy solidification mechanisms, functional crystals, and extravehicular material exposure. a variety of functional crystal materials with potential application value have been developed, and their performance is generally better than that of those on the ground.

in the field of microgravity fluids, the complete characteristics of surface tension-driven flow in fully managed and semi-managed tank fluid structures were obtained, providing scientific and technological support for the widespread application of plate tanks in my country's spacecraft. in the field of basic microgravity physics, the preparation of bose-einstein condensates (becs) was achieved on-orbit using all-optical traps.

wang qiang, commander-in-chief of the space application system of china's manned space program and deputy director of the space application center of the chinese academy of sciences, presided over the opening ceremony of the annual meeting.

this academic annual meeting arranged 6 academic directions, more than 20 academic sub-forums, and announced the list of the new scientific working committee of the space application system of china's manned space engineering. ding chibiao, vice president of the chinese academy of sciences, and zhou jianping, chief designer of china's manned space engineering, delivered speeches, and wang qiang, commander-in-chief of the space application system of china's manned space engineering and deputy director of the space application center of the chinese academy of sciences, presided over the opening ceremony.

in his video speech, ding chibiao pointed out that as a national space laboratory, the manned space station has brought unprecedented development opportunities for china's space science and applied research. we must unite the superior scientific and technological forces at home and abroad, give full play to the advantages of the national space laboratory, focus on major scientific and technological issues and major national needs, condense scientific goals, formulate scientific plans, and produce influential scientific results as soon as possible.

zhou jianping emphasized that "building ships for station construction, and station construction for application" is the development concept that china's manned space program has always adhered to. as the program enters the era of application and development, scientific and application work has become the theme, and we should go all out to manage, use and develop the chinese space station well.

academician gu yidong, chief expert in space science of china's manned space program, gave a special report entitled "thoughts on the application direction of space station", pointing out that it is necessary to further improve and coordinate the planning and layout of space station applications, efficiently promote high-level experimental projects, create a good research ecology, and explore new paradigms of scientific research driven by big data and artificial intelligence.

in addition, focusing on the fields and hot research of space life sciences and biotechnology, space materials science, aerospace medicine, multiphase flow in power engineering, space astronomical science exploration based on sky survey space telescopes, and scientific progress of lunar exploration projects, many academicians and experts gave special reports.

this academic annual meeting was hosted by the space application center of the chinese academy of sciences and co-organized by northwestern polytechnical university and xi'an jiaotong university. it is planned to be held once a year in the future. (end)