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The Zhu Rong Mars Rover, pictured next to the landing platform, on the surface of the red planet. Photo: EPA-EFE

China Science

China science 2021 round-up: breakthroughs in space, hypersonic weapons, nuclear power and more

The biggest talking points range from the country’s first space station taking shape in orbit to evidence of a previously lost civilisation coming to light
Elsewhere, a possible breakthrough in hypersonic flight grabbed the world’s attention while nuclear researchers announced a series of ambitious projects

Science

Holly Chik

Published: 2:00pm, 31 Dec 2021

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Chinese scientists have had a fruitful year, with a series of breakthroughs that range from the technology of the future to archaeological discoveries that could rewrite ancient Chinese history.

As we head towards the end of the year, we reflect on some of the biggest talking points in Chinese science over the past 12 months.

Space: an ISS rival, space junk, and landing on Mars

This year was China’s busiest year ever for space launches. Notable missions included the launch of the core module of the Tiangong space station and the arrival of the space station’s first astronauts.

When completed next year, Tiangong will be the largest piece of infrastructure built and maintained by a single country in near-earth orbit.

A rocket carrying a module of the space station blasts off. Photo: AP

It has already been touted as a beacon of China’s space programme and a rival to the International Space Station, which is backed by the United States, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan.

China also became the third country in the world to safely land a rover on Mars in May, after the United States and Soviet Union.

The Zhu Rong rover – named after the god of fire and war – has been working on the surface of the red planet to study its geological structure, climate, soil characteristics, water and ice distribution, and internal structure.

03:08

China joins elite club of countries that have reached Mars

But people haven’t just been watching the skies for rocket launches. In May, governments anxiously watched as the debris from a Long March 5B rocket – used to launch the core module of the Tiangong Space Station – fell back to earth. Scientists at the time did not know where and when the “space junk” would fall.

The remnants finally splashed down in the Indian Ocean near the Maldives with no reports of damage or casualties.

China to harvest sun’s energy in space and beam it to Earth for power by 2030

But China has drawn criticism from aerospace experts and governments, including Washington, for allowing the uncontrolled re-entry of a rocket body weighing more than 20 tonnes.

Looking forward, China’s space programme is expected to use nuclear power for missions to the moon and Mars after researchers with the Chinese Academy of Sciences completed a prototype design.

The scientists said chemical fuel and solar panels will no longer be enough to meet the demands of human space exploration, which is expected to expand significantly with settlements on the moon or Mars.

Sustainable energy: innovations in nuclear power

Nuclear power will also play a part in the country’s efforts to cut carbon emissions, including an ambitious initiative to turn nuclear waste into an unlikely product – glass – for safer storage.

Other new innovations included a design for a commercial nuclear reactor that claims to be the first in the world that does not need water for cooling, which could open up the possibility of building plants to generate power in remote desert regions.

A team of scientists hope to use gold to replicate the sun’s energy process with the goal of achieving nuclear fusion power – which could ultimately provide a source of endless, sustainable energy.

China fires up high-temperature nuclear reactor in zero-carbon push

The project’s lead researcher Zhang Zhe said it would be less expensive than you may expect because one small grain of gold can make thousands of the tiny gold cones used in the process.

Military tech: hypersonic weapons, UFO tracking

As China and the United States compete for global technology leadership, one area has been grabbing a lot of attention – hypersonic weapons.

These travel at least five times faster than the speed of sound, making them impossible for current defence systems to detect or stop.

One such long-distance hypersonic weapon proposed by Chinese rocket scientists this year is said to be able to wipe out communication and power supply lines over a 2km area and strike targets 3,000km (1,800 miles) away – about the distance from China’s east coast to the US territory of Guam – evading radars along the way.

Scientists may have cracked the art of landing a hypersonic drone. Photo: CCTV

Hypersonic drones could also potentially be used against stealth aircraft such as the American F-22s and F-35s, and the Chinese air force may have finally cracked how to land one safely this year.

A leading Chinese physicist said in May a new facility capable of simulating flight at 30 times the speed of sound will be ready “soon”, and that it will put China decades ahead of the rest of the world.

While the technology does not currently have civilian applications, China space authorities say that by 2035 they aim to have a civilian hypersonic aircraft that could fly 10 passengers anywhere on the planet in about an hour.

China military scientists work on laser to improve hypersonic missile speeds

In other news, Chinese military researchers have turned to artificial intelligence to track an increasing number of unidentified flying objects in China’s airspace.

If you’re into UFOs, aliens and hypersonic weapons, don’t miss our interview with American theoretical physicist and futurist Michio Kaku.

22:01

Are aliens among us? Michio Kaku on UFOs and China-US space race | Talking Post with Yonden Lhatoo

Archaeology: treasures that could rewrite Chinese history

Meanwhile, excavations at the Sanxingdui ruins, one of China’s most important archaeological sites, in Sichuan province uncovered something that really excited people.

A massive dig that began in 2019 uncovered a rich treasure trove of more than 500 artefacts, including a now-iconic gold mask, possibly worn by a priest.

The golden mask discovered a Sanxingdui quickly became the talk of the country. Photo: Xinhua

These sophisticated artefacts point to a highly-developed civilisation that has never appeared in any historical records, and could rewrite the history of China as we know it.

The mask has also become the talk of the country, with farmers near the Sanxingdui ruins creating an enormous reproduction in their rice fields to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, while visitors to the site were offered ice creams shaped like the mask.

Local farmers decided to great the gold mask in their fields to celebrate the discovery. Photo: Red Star News

Meanwhile, an international team of researchers used archaeological evidence along with genetic and linguistic analysis to look into the roots of several languages in Asia, and concluded that Japanese, Korean and the various Turkish languages all emerged from a common ancestor in northeast China around 9,000 years ago.

Separately, Chinese researchers also discovered key genetic differences between northern Chinese, Korean and Japanese people, which they say could be used by police to identify dead bodies.