China's space station to conduct over 1,000 research projects

SHANGHAI -- China's space station will conduct more than 1,000 research projects, promote science popularization and enhance international cooperation over the next 10 to 15 years, according to the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Serving as a national space laboratory, China's space station will organize in-depth interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research collaborations in the coming decade, aiming to produce significant scientific and technological achievements and accelerate their application, Ba Jin, deputy director of the center's application and development division, said Monday.

In the field of space life science and human research, efforts will be made to deepen research in basic biology, biotechnology and transformation, life ecology, and the origin of life, to further reveal the impact mechanisms and response patterns of the space environment on life.

In the field of microgravity physical science, researchers will carry out research on the mechanisms of microstructure and macroscopic property regulation of metals and alloys, to guide material preparation back on Earth, according to Ba.

They will try to promote the resolution of efficient low-carbon combustion and the enhancement of power-system performance to provide support for the development of advanced power and efficient clean energy. They will also explore new atomic cooling methods and build a complex plasma-physics experimental platform.

The Chinese Space Station Telescope, which is under construction, is expected to achieve significant results on fundamental cosmological issues such as the nature of dark energy and dark matter.

High-energy cosmic radiation detection (HERD) and the Gamma-ray Polarimeter II (POLAR-2) are expected to make breakthroughs in important scientific frontiers such as dark matter search, cosmic-ray origins, and extreme astrophysical evolution.

In the field of new space technologies and applications, the focus will be on national strategic needs such as near-Earth and Earth-Moon space, and future manned deep-space exploration and in-orbit services. Efforts will be made in prospective space application projects and key technology verification tests.

Progress is expected to made in areas such as space information and precision measurement technologies, in-orbit manufacturing and construction technologies, and robotics and autonomous systems.

According to Ba, more than 180 scientific and application projects have been carried out in orbit, with nearly two tonnes of scientific materials delivered and close to 100 types of experimental samples returned.

More than 500 high-level SCI papers have been published, and over 150 patents have been obtained. Some of the results have been transformed and applied, significantly promoting the development of China's space science and applications.

Research in the field of space life science and biotechnology is mainly concerned with space basic biology, space biotechnology and transformation applications, and space life ecology. It reveals the special laws of life phenomena in space environments and promotes applications in human health fields such as drug development and regenerative medicine.

Researchers have conducted research on space botany, zoology, cell biology, and controlled ecological life support systems, and have made important progress in space basic biology and space life ecology.

In a global first, they have obtained new germplasm resources for rice developed in space. They have also achieved the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells in space for the first time, and achieved the longest record of in-orbit operation of a space aquatic ecosystem. The research results provide an important theoretical basis for intervening bone loss, combating muscle atrophy, and preventing and treating metabolic diseases.

As for the direction of space material science, important progress has been made in exploring key scientific issues such as the microstructure, defects and properties of metals and semiconductors, and preparing functional structural materials with better performance.

The research achievements of microgravity interdisciplinary studies will provide technical support for future lunar and Mars exploration, and promote progress in areas such as clean combustion and energy conservation in China.

China's space station has also conducted research and in-orbit verification on the space effect mechanisms of domestically produced high-performance, complex and new electronic components and sensors, Ba said.