On December 15, the British magazine Nature announced the results of the selection of ten people who will affect the scientific events in 2021, and Zhang Rongqiao, chief designer of China's first Mars exploration mission and a scientist from Anhui, was selected, becoming the only Chinese on this year's list.
Nature's Annual Top 10 People list aims to select ten people who have a place in the year's major science events. The organizers said that this year's major scientific events include China becoming the second country to let the Mars rover successfully land on Mars, which is also the perfect answer sheet handed over by the China National Space Administration.
Born in 1966, Zhang Rongqiao, a native of Anling Town, Qimen County, Anhui Province, graduated from Qimen No. 1 Middle School in 1982 and Xidian University in 1988. After joining the work in 1990, he has worked in the front line of aerospace science and technology for a long time, and has organized the completion of the second phase of the lunar exploration project, the implementation of the first Mars exploration mission plan, and the demonstration of the implementation plan of the major planetary exploration project. As the chief designer of China's first Mars exploration mission, Zhang Rongqiao organized the completion of the Tianwen-1 mission.
On July 23, 2020, "Tianwen-1" took off from the Long March 5 Yaosi carrier rocket with the largest take-off thrust in China at the Wenchang Cosmodrome in Hainan, and smoothly entered the ground fire transfer orbit. At 7:18 a.m. on May 15 this year, the Tianwen-1 landing rover successfully landed in the pre-selected landing area in the southern part of the Martian Utopian Plain, which marked the first Chinese Mars exploration "a mission to achieve Mars orbit, landing, and inspection", which was a complete success.
At the invitation of his alma mater, on September 30 this year, Zhang Rongqiao returned to his hometown of Qimen, Anhui Province, and gave a special lecture entitled "Looking Up at the Starry Sky and Being Down-to-Earth - Tianwen No. 1: Opening a New Journey of Planetary Exploration" for young students in the Qimen-Zhonghaifeng Gymnasium of his alma mater. At the lecture site, Zhang Rongqiao started from the four small stories of "1 text message, 1 phone call, 1 video", "reporter's congratulations", "commander's sigh", "a silent hug", introduced the background of the Tianwen-1 project, the development process, the flight process and technical research, looked forward to the development prospects of future planetary exploration, and revealed the unknown touching moments of scientific and technological workers behind Mars exploration. At the end of the lecture, Zhang Rongqiao also presented the "Tianwen No. 1 Commemorative Album" and "China's First Mars Rover Model" to his hometown government and Qimen No. 1 Middle School respectively to express his deep blessings for his hometown and alma mater.
"Zhang Rongqiao has been quietly dedicated to the field of national space exploration, made outstanding contributions to national space science and technology, he has achieved impressive results, as a hometowner we are proud of him." Zhang Cheng, the current principal of Keemun No. 1 Middle School, told the media.
In a recent interview with Zhang Rongqiao in Nature magazine, Zhang Rongqiao answered a series of questions such as "why should you go around, on and around at once", "The biggest challenge facing Zhu Rong", "your next plan" and so on. Talking about how he felt when the mission was successful, he recalled: "I can't help myself, I shed tears, there are sweet and salty. ”
"From the successful launch of the Dongfanghong No. 1 satellite in 1970 to the complete success of manned spaceflight, lunar exploration engineering, Beidou navigation and Mars exploration, China has completed one landmark achievement after another in 52 years, which epitomizes the steady improvement of China's aerospace technology level." The development of China's space technology has also laid the foundation for the further development of space science research. In the future, we will take the goal of scientific research and the needs of the development of human civilization as the starting point, carry out more deep space exploration activities, and contribute China's strength to further human understanding of the universe. Zhang Rongqiao said in an interview with Nature magazine.
(Guangming Daily all-media reporter Ma Rongrui)
Source: Ma Rongrui, all-media reporter of Guangming Daily
Editor-in-charge: Wang Zimo
Editor: Wu Yaqi, Sun Xiaoting, Wang Yuanfang