"China Sky Eye", Beidou Satellite Navigation System, China Space Station
The "Three Musketeers" of the Great Powers Shows International Style
The 500-meter spherical radio telescope called the "China Sky Eye".
Xinhua News Agency
In recent years, "big country heavy equipment" has become a high-frequency word, often appearing in news reports and people's verbal expressions.
After more than 70 years of continuous struggle in New China, especially more than 40 years of reform and opening up, China has built or is building a number of major powers. Some of them help reveal the mysteries of the universe and further advance human cognition; some promote huge leaps in social production methods and promote Social wealth is growing rapidly; some greatly improve people’s living conditions and promote lifestyle changes...
These great power tools that have been built for many years have a broader and far-reaching influence in the new era.
They are rooted in the profound traditional "world view" and born in the "global village" with unprecedented close connections. They have not only become a significant symbol of the brilliant achievements of New China, but also a link and an important carrier for enhancing Sino-foreign scientific and technological cooperation and exchanges.
Among them, the 500-meter-caliber spherical radio telescope known as the "Three Musketeers" of the great powers, namely the "China Sky Eye", the Beidou satellite navigation system, and the China Space Station can be described as the most international, and is a pioneer in promoting international scientific and technological cooperation and exchanges between China and foreign countries. .
From "Chinese Sky Eye" to "World Sky Eye"
Explore the mystery of the formation of the universe
A depression called "Dawodang" in Pingtang County, Guizhou Province has attracted the attention of the international astronomy community in recent years. The world’s largest single-aperture radio telescope, the 500-meter spherical radio telescope (FAST), was here in September 2016. Completed and entered the trial operation and commissioning stage.
In January 2020, FAST passed the national acceptance and was put into formal operation.
FAST is a major national scientific and technological infrastructure and a classic among the major weapons of a major country. It has achieved a major breakthrough in the frontier field of astronomy in China.
As a "sky-viewing giant eye" with independent intellectual property rights, FAST can be described as "unmatched in the world". Its comprehensive performance is 10 times that of the famous radio telescope Arecibo, and it can receive electromagnetic signals more than 10 billion light-years away.
With it, researchers can gain insights into interstellar interactions, observe dark matter, determine the mass of black holes, and even search for possible alien civilizations.
In the "actual combat" of the sky survey, FAST performed well. As of the end of last month, it had discovered more than 300 pulsars.
From conception to construction, acceptance and formal operation, FAST has always attracted the attention of astronomers from all over the world, won a world reputation, and attracted a group of international collaborators.
For example, in 2018, a research team from the University of California, Berkeley, in cooperation with relevant Chinese parties, jointly installed back-end equipment on FAST, and began to search for extraterrestrial intelligent life observations.
In line with the general trend of increasing international scientific and technological cooperation and exchanges, the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the lead unit of the FAST project, recently announced that in line with the principle of open sky, FAST will collect observations from astronomers around the world from 0:00 on March 31, 2021, Beijing time. Application.
All foreign application projects will participate in the review. The review results will be announced on July 20, and the observation time will start in August.
This means that FAST's opening to the outside world has entered a new and higher level, demonstrating the concept of full cooperation between China and the international scientific community.
In open cooperation, FAST will better exert its effectiveness, promote the output of major achievements, and make greater contributions to the exploration and understanding of the universe for all mankind.
Relevant parties in the international community have spoken highly of China's open attitude.
Australian radio astronomer Naomi Griffiths said in an interview with a Chinese reporter that China’s solicitation of FAST observation applications will benefit international research and cooperation, especially providing a very good opportunity for young scientists from various countries to communicate. Contribute to the establishment of cooperative relations and expansion of research fields.
As far as she knows, many teams in Australia will apply to use the "Chinese Sky Eye" for observation and look forward to the opportunity.
According to the Russian Satellite News Agency, Anton Kocherkin, an astrophysicist at the Russian Far Eastern Federal University, said that the invitation of Chinese colleagues to allocate FAST observation time is of even greater significance to scientists around the world.
FAST will undoubtedly arouse the interest of more foreign astrophysicists, this is a unique tool.
He believes that with the help of FAST, mankind will obtain more important discoveries.
From the Chinese Space Station to the International Space Station
Create a space home for all mankind
The Hainan Wenchang launch site in April was very busy. Chinese aerospace science and technology elites gathered here from all directions to face the landmark launch mission in the world's aerospace history and build an important aerospace foundation dedicated to advancing human cognition and exploring the mysteries of the universe. Facilities-China Space Station.
According to the plan, in 2021 and 2022, China will implement 3 space station segment launch missions, 4 cargo spacecraft and 4 manned spacecraft launch missions to complete the construction of the space station in orbit.
At the beginning of this year, the pace of preparations for the construction of China's space station accelerated.
On January 17, the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Group held a space station mission test team expedition ceremony. The chief commander of the space station core module, manned spacecraft, and cargo spacecraft all made their speeches and the test team representatives solemnly swore.
On February 16, after one year of arduous training, the first crew of astronauts for manned missions during the construction phase of the China Space Station completed the scheduled subject training and began to enter the stage of intensive sprint training.
On March 13, the Wenchang Space Launch Site announced that the space station’s Tianhe core module and the Long March 5B Yao-2 carrier rocket, which was responsible for the launch mission, had arrived at the launch site and entered the test launch preparation phase.
Recently, the Long March 7 carrier rocket has arrived at the Wenchang launch site in Hainan, after which the final assembly and testing will be carried out to prepare for the launch of the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft.
The international scientific community pays special attention to the construction process of the Chinese space station. They have deeply realized from China’s active open cooperation policy and practice that the Chinese space station will be a veritable international public scientific research platform. According to relevant procedures, they will have the opportunity to participate in relevant scientific research projects. .
They realized that the construction of the Chinese space station is closely related to their own scientific research, and the success of the Chinese space station is their success.
In recent years, China has expressed to the international community its sincerity to use the Chinese Space Station as a platform and carrier to promote international scientific and technological cooperation, and has implemented specific measures.
In May 2018, China and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs jointly held the "China Space Station International Cooperation Opportunity Announcement Ceremony", which announced in detail the cooperation model of the China Space Station and invited the proposed participants to submit applications for cooperation projects.
This move won praise from officials of relevant international organizations and warm responses from many countries.
After screening and determination by relevant parties, 9 projects from 17 countries including Switzerland, Poland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Kenya, and Japan came to the fore and became the first batch of selected projects for China's space station scientific experiment, involving space astronomy, microgravity fluid physics and combustion Science, earth science, applied new technology, space life science and biotechnology, etc.
From the determination of the "three-step" strategy for manned spaceflight in the 1990s to the launch of the core module, Chinese scientists have experienced about 30 years of arduous trek and are finally about to realize their long-cherished wish of building a space home for all mankind.
From Chinese Beidou to World Beidou
Navigate the common streets around the world
On June 23, 2020, with the successful launch of the Beidou system’s 55th navigation satellite, and Beidou-3’s last global networking satellite, the deployment of the Beidou-3 global satellite navigation system constellation was completed half a year earlier than originally planned.
The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs specially sent a congratulatory video for this, and at the same time affirmed that the Beidou system is promoting global economic and social development, and appreciated its great contributions in the peaceful use of outer space and participation in international cooperation in the United Nations space activities.
As a timing and navigation system, "Beidou" satisfies human needs for time and space information, and on this basis, combined with modern information technology to comprehensively expand the field of life and production, from transportation to marine fishery, from hydrological monitoring to meteorological forecasting, from Forest fire prevention to power dispatch.
It can be described as "there is nothing but unexpected but not impossible."
From the day of its birth, China's "Beidou" has been naturally international, opening the journey of serving the world and strengthening the ambition of Chinese scientists to build "Beidou" into the world's "Beidou" and the first-class "Beidou".
The construction of Beidou navigation system is international.
The construction of a navigation system requires not only the support of the country's strong space technology capabilities, but also the occupation of space frequency resources and orbital resources, all of which involve a series of important international coordination tasks.
In addition, "Beidou" needs necessary overseas sites to provide support.
To this end, China reached an agreement with Pakistan in 2013 to build an overseas monitoring station for the Beidou system. The monitoring station was soon completed and opened in Pakistan, which opened the course for the construction of Beidou overseas stations.
Providing global services is one of the most distinctive features of the "Beidou" international community.
To this end, relevant Chinese parties continue to vigorously promote the deployment and signal coverage of the "Beidou" constellation, and upgrade it from the "Beidou-1" featuring a "double-star positioning system" at the beginning of this century to a network of more than 10 satellites, focusing on the Asia-Pacific region. The "Beidou-2" in China has been upgraded to the "Beidou-3" that is networked by dozens of satellites and serves the world.
At the same time, relevant Chinese parties have also vigorously promoted cooperation with other navigation systems. For example, they signed the "Joint Statement on Compatibility and Interoperability of Beidou and GPS Signals" with the United States, proposing that these two systems achieve radio frequency compatibility under the ITU framework. Realize civil signal interoperability, and work together to provide better services to users around the world.
Zhang Baoshu