The launching ceremony of the Chang'e-4 International Partnership of the China National Space Administration was held at the 2017 Global Space Exploration Conference. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Yehua
Beijing, 23 Oct (Xinhua) -- When German scientists first carried microgravity experiments on Chinese retrievable satellites, satellite engineer Tang Bochang was busy solving technical problems between China and Germany and carefully guarding Chinese secrets.
In the year that China launched its first satellite, Dongfanghong I, Tang Bochang entered the China Academy of Space Technology and participated in the development of retrievable satellites. In 1975, China successfully launched its first retrievable satellite.
The subsequent reform and opening up opened the door for China to join the space club on its own.
"At that time, the only people in the world who mastered the technology of retrievable satellites were the United States, the Soviet Union and China, and the International Space Station had not yet been built. In the 1980s, France and Germany proposed to use China's retrievable satellites to carry scientific experiments. "They are eager to learn about China's space technology, but they keep their technology strictly confidential to us." ”
China and the West have embarked on space cooperation under delicate circumstances, and while each fears revealing its own secrets, it has given them more opportunities for space exploration.
On August 31, 2018, at the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research in São José dos Campos, São Paulo, Brazil, staff worked next to the CMB EARTH RESOURCEs 04A satellite. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Ming
Collaborate across time and space
In the early 1980s, China decided to develop transmission remote sensing satellites so that real-time satellite images could be obtained.
At that time, the relatively backward China hoped to jointly develop such satellites with foreign countries, but the United States and Europe, which had already mastered the technology, were not willing to cooperate with China.
Finally, China found a partner: Brazil, also a developing country. In 1988, the two countries signed an agreement on the joint development of satellites for earth resources.
According to reports, the funds for the China-Pakistan resource satellite are jointly borne by both sides, and the satellite systems are developed by the two countries separately, and the two sides have their own characteristics and are highly complementary.
Ma Shijun, who was the commander-in-chief of the China-Pakistan Resources Satellite at the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, recalled that the biggest obstacle to cooperation was language. Developers often hold dictionaries and draw comparisons. In addition, the two countries are far apart, one on this side of the earth, one on the other side of the earth, and the inconvenience of communication and transportation also increases the difficulty of communication.
"But the technicians of the two countries get along very well and take their own strengths." We learned the international norms of satellite development and broadened the horizons of technicians. "Many documents have to be reviewed by both sides, which is like checking the exam more than once, reducing the chance of making mistakes." ”
In 1999, the first China-Pakistan resource satellite was successfully launched, becoming the first transmission remote sensing satellite of the two countries, and was rated as one of the top ten scientific and technological progress in China that year. This is China's first true international cooperation satellite, which has created a good model for cooperation in the field of aerospace high-tech in the third world and is known as a model of "South-South cooperation".
The cooperation across both sides of the earth has lasted for 30 years, sending four satellites carrying the friendship and wisdom of the two countries into space, and the resolution of satellites has been continuously improved. Satellite data is provided free of charge to third world countries, and global disaster reduction monitoring has been implemented on many occasions, providing a large amount of remote sensing data for forest fires in Australia, floods in Pakistan, earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan, etc.
On February 2, 2018, Zhangheng-1, an electromagnetic monitoring and test satellite jointly developed by China and Italy, was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center with the Long March 2 Ding carrier rocket. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Wang Jiangbo)
Hand in hand "Ask the Sky"
In 2005, China's earth space double star exploration program worked closely with ESA satellites to form the first six-point stereoscopic exploration of earth space in human history. This is the first scientific satellite project cooperated by China and Europe, and it has been awarded the Outstanding Team Achievement Award by the International Academy of Astronautics, along with well-known space projects such as the Hubble Space Telescope, the Courage and Opportunity Mars exploration.
With the continuous improvement of China's economic and technological strength, China has gradually developed into a space power, and has attracted more and more countries to participate in China's space program, and Chinese and foreign scientists have joined hands to solve the mystery of the universe.
Some of the dark matter satellite probes launched by China have been developed by Swiss and Italian scientists. Tiangong-2 carries a gamma-ray burst polarization detector developed by Swiss and Polish scientists. China and Italy have cooperated in the development of the "Zhangheng-1" satellite to observe electromagnetic information related to seismic activity.
The first ocean satellite of Sino-French cooperation is about to be launched to study ocean wind and climate change, and the Sino-French astronomical satellite has also entered the project implementation stage. The Central European "Panoramic Imaging of solar wind-magnetosphere interaction" satellite is scheduled to launch in 2021. China's planned launch of the Enhanced X-ray Time-Varying and Polarization Space Observatory by 2025 has attracted the participation of more than 20 countries, including Italy, Germany, Britain and France, and will detect the strangest objects in the universe such as black holes and neutron stars.
Chang'e-4, which will be launched at the end of this year to explore the far side of the moon, carries probes from Germany and Sweden. China welcomes the participation of international space agencies in the follow-up lunar exploration plan and the joint construction of lunar research stations.
Yu Dengyun, deputy chief designer of China's lunar exploration project, said that international cooperation has become the mainstream of space exploration. Any space project is expensive, difficult and risky. If global wisdom can be pooled, space exploration goals can be quickly achieved, technological risks can be resolved, and funding can be shared, which is beneficial to all countries.
China Space Station Concept Map. (Courtesy of the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation)
Common destiny
In May this year, China officially issued an invitation to the world: welcome all countries to use the future Chinese space station, the Chinese space station belongs not only to China, but also to the world.
Simoneta Di Pippo, director of the U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs, said it showed that China was trying to open up to the world and make it possible for everyone to use the space facilities that China was developing.
Shi Zhongjun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna, said that China is willing to uphold the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind and build the Chinese space station into a common home for all mankind in outer space. It is hoped that all countries will enhance mutual trust through cooperation on the China Space Station, create a model of sincere cooperation and mutual benefit, and make outer space a new frontier for promoting the common well-being of mankind.
Li Guoping, a spokesman for the China National Space Administration, said that mankind has only one earth and the same blue sky above his head. Exploration of outer space requires international cooperation and exchange. For example, how to allocate satellite frequencies and orbital resources, and how to formulate rules for outer space traffic, require joint consultation among participating countries. China is actively promoting the construction of the "Belt and Road" spatial information corridor and the BRICS remote sensing satellite constellation.
The earth is nothing more than a speck of dust in the universe. Many astronauts and astronomers have expressed similar views, and when they look at our blue planet from space, they have a deeper understanding of the need for human beings to learn to coexist on this planet.