Shenzhou IV Orbiter Celebrates Its One Hundred Days In Space
According to the briefing of Beijing Space Command and Control Center, as of April 15, 2003, the orbiter of spacecraft Shenzhou IV has had a smooth space flight on for 100 days, made 1,700 and more round trips surrounding the earth and worked on a series of space experiments with rich results.
Shenzhou IV spacecraft was launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launching Center on December 30, 2002. Under the accurate control of Beijing Space Command and Control Center, the spacecraft performed its successful separation from the orbiter on January 5, 2003 and returned to the ground as scheduled, leaving the orbiter continuing its missions in the space. The orbiter so far has worked on a series of
pace science experiments such as space environment monitoring, ground remote sensing and infrared sounding among many others, and collected a great number of valuable scientific data. The multi-module microwave remote sensors that became the payload for the first time in the orbiter has collected rich data on precipitation, water vapor, snow cover, soil moisture, sea surface temperature through its radiation module, data of sea surface altitude, effective wave heights and ocean currents through the altitude module and relevant information on sea surface wind speed and directions through the scattering module. At present, Chinese researchers are processingand analyzing these data.
In the long course of its management of the orbiter, Beijing Space Command and Control Center has sent out commands for orbit keeping and flight mode conversion for several times, entered 300 and odd frames of data into the orbiter and issued 1000 and more instructions, which made the completion of the designed payload experiments under different flight control modes possible and equipped the spacecraft control people with a series of key technologies for managing the orbiter for a prolonged period of time.
Leaping Forward Development of China's Automatic Space Control Techniques
It is reported from the sources of Beijing Institute of Automatic Space Control Technology that China has, on the basis of its long time painstaking efforts, realized the so-called leaping forward development of its automatic space control technologies.
China started in 1958 its research and development of technologies related to spacecraft navigation, attitude control, simulation and integrated rocket measuring and launching control testing systems. So far these Chinese developed control systems have successfully completed 53 carrier rocket launching missions, with its numerous technologies such as space accurate navigation and control technology, integrated system technologies, carrier rocket testing and launching control technologies, simulation technologies and flight software design reaching domestically advanced level. In recent years, China has kicked off a series of space high tech studies on full system redundancy technology, laser top technology, potential analysis technology and high reliability technology and landed major breakthroughs. These technologies have been used in the launching experiments of China's Shenzhou spacecrafts, ensuring their accurate orbiting.
It is briefed that China's development of automatic space control research system has led to the establishment of its national lab on control technologies and its advanced space control technologies have found applications in other national economic sectors such as petroleum, chemicals, chemical fibers, light textiles industry, coal industry and electric household appliances. China's automatic space control community has also been contracted to other civic technical upgrading projects for industries and whole set equipment researches, achieving fine social and economic benefits.
Controllable Thermal Nuclear Fusion Study Worked out More
The Institute of Plasma Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences has achieved major breakthroughs in their 2002-2003 winter HT-7 superconductor Tokmak experiment that was completed recently. The scientists of the Institute have realized plasma discharging over a minute, which has made China the second country in the world who has the high temperature plasma experimental device at minute level.
It is briefed that started from last October, the study of boundary turbulence in the experiment has led to the direct experimental evidence on the existence of zonal flow that affects plasma confinement and transmission. Scientists have also observed electronic temperature gradients driven by electron drifting waves.
It is believed that these findings will be of important implications for further understanding of physics puzzles like plasma confinement and transmission.
The Institute also published some of its important parameters collected in the experiment such as the maximum electronic temperature exceeding 50 million degrees, a repeatable discharging duration longer than 60 seconds, the maximum discharging duration for 63.95 seconds, the existence duration of high temperature plasma being only next to that realized by French Tore-Supra that is of a volume larger than HT-7, and highly confined plasma existence duration reaching 220 times that of energy confinement duration, a world record that has long been kept by China.
It is briefed that the experiment has harvested the above experimental results that were rarely seen in the major experimental devices of other countries. At present, Chinese scientists are working on in-depth data processing and analysis.
A dozen of scientists from China, Europe, US, Japan and Russia became part of the experiment at different stages.
China Works out the First Acute Leukemia Monocyte
No.1 People's Hospital subordinated to Suzhou University has recently announced that it has successfully bred out the first rare cell system in China, namely the acute leukemia monocytes that are mistakenly placed on chromosomes No. 6 and No. 11 one against the other.
It has taken the hospital's researchers three years making tireless efforts and studying 300 clinic testing cases to sort out the acute leukemia monocyte through external culturing and establish a cell system that is able to support stable growth. The external tumor forming experiment has shown that such a cell system is of great capacity to cause the formation of tumor. It is briefed that such a finding has never been discovered on the other two similar cell systems cultured abroad. The finding has therefore become an important evidence and effective tool for studying, preventing and treating leukemia, in particular for the study of the different biological properties of leukemia, its formation mechanism, its sensibility and resistance to chemotherapy and associated new treatment strategy.
Treating Cancers with Stem Cells
Xi'an Xijing Hospital has recently announced its major progresses on treating non-blood-system malignant tumors through multi-phase and high dose chemotherapy combined with stem cell transplantation, which has landed an treatment effect as high as 70% or above.
During the period from October 1999 to March 2003, the Hospital had worked on 81 tumor patients with the combined therapy treatment. Scientists divided the patients into the single-phase group and the multi-phase group according to their diseases and previous treatment results and studied the treatment effects of the combined therapy treatment on both groups.
Before the application of the combined therapy treatment, researchers released the blood making stem cells from patients' bone marrow to peripheral blood through chemical mobilization and injection of blood cell growing elements. Afterwards, they separated stem cells from patients' peripheral blood through blood cell separator and preserved these cells in refrigerators.
The effective separation of patients' stem cells from their body has prevented the stem cells from being killed in the chemotherapy. In addition, researchers performed multi-phase combined therapy in high dose on multi-phase group so as to give a thorough kill of the cancer cells in patients' body. Upon the completion of each chemotherapy, researchers would send partial separated stem cells back to patients' body.
In comparing with the single-phase group, the multi-phase group has demonstrated better treatment effects, as the latter is able to return all the separated stem cells to patients in two or three rounds of treatment, which promptly restored patients' blood making functions and immune system and greatly extended their tumor free survival duration, improving the treatment effect by 20% and more.
China's World Advanced Parkinson's Treatment
As briefed by the study group on China's Parkinson's Disease and Its Epidemiology, a priority project under the nation's 9th Five-Year Plan(1996-2000), at present stage, the treatment of Parkinson's disease has remained mainly on preventing it from further deterioration and improving patients' living quality. Thanks to its many-year clinic applications, China has gradually worked out a set of relatively mature medical treatment plan for such a disease.
In 1998, Dr. Wang Zhongcheng, a renowned cranial nerve surgeon of Beijing Tiantan Hospital performed the first DBS operation in the country, which marked China's internationally advanced level in surgical treatment of Parkinson's disease. Afterwards, hospitals in other cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xi'an followed suite by performing similar operations. Up to date, China has seen 300 such operations performed.
It is briefed that the so-called DBS operation is an operation under which a stimulating electrode is placed in the patient's brain and a connected minicomputer is buried under the patient's breast skin. After operation, the patient may immediately get rid of Parkinson's symptoms and resume the body's normal functions simply by tapping the switch on his or her breast.
Bone Marrow Treating Myocardial Infarction
Not long ago the Chinese Navy General Hospital successfully performed the first self-body single bone marrow karyoblast graft to treat myocardial infarction and resume heart function without appealing to by-pass surgery or heart transplantation surgery, which has created a brand new approach to treating patients suffering myocardial infarction and aftermath myocardial failure.
It is briefed that the so-called self-body single bone marrow karyoblast graft is a process through which the patient's bone marrow single cell karyoblast is shaped to adapt to the coronary artery before being let into the infarct heart muscle and getting the damaged muscle repaired through artery injection. Three month after the operation, the patient went through a PET examination and the quantitative analysis of the patient's heart muscle metabolism has shown that 24% of the damaged area has grown with active heart muscle of normal metabolic capability and the damaged area was narrowed down by one fourth. The cardiogram testing result also showed that the malfunctioned movement area was reduced by 60% with apparently improved heart function and the patient was feeling well.
Molecular Mystery in High Rice Yield
Dr. Li Jiayang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, working for the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, and the study team headed by Oian Qian, a research fellow of Rice Institute under the Chinese Academy of Agriculture have not only discovered, in the course of their in-depth molecule genetic study of rice tillering, the gene controlling rice tillering but also successfully separated and cloned the gene, which has landed a breakthrough in understanding the molecular control mechanism in rice tillering, marking an important step in unveiling the molecular mystery leading to rice high yield. The finding was published in the British journal Nature of the April 10th issue. Experts believed that the paper was the first original in the field of basic and theoretical life science studies published by the authority journal with Chinese scientists as the authors.
The study has taken the extreme tillering mutators discovered in the rice breeding as the material and applied map position approach to separating the gene MOC1 that controls rice tillering. Being a major controlling gene, MOC1 works through a fine but complicated signal transmission network, through which it manipulates the formation and normal growth and development of the tillering buds.
China's First Large Power Full Color and Full Solid State Laser Device
Changchun Institute of Optics Fine Mechanics and Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences has recently made the debut of its large power full color and full solid state laser device that had passed the state verification checks.
It is reported that the new laser device, the first of its kind in the country, has reached the internationally advanced level in terms of its overall performances.
It is briefed that the large power full color and full solid state laser system and its associated individual modules for red, green and blue colors are of broad market application perspectives in the fields of laser TV, biomedicine, laser recreation activities and instrument manufacturing among many others. The industrial process of the project will greatly increase China's international market saleroom and share of its home-made large power components and directly stimulate the growth of domestic optic-electric industry manufacturing artificial crystals, semi-conductor laser device, large power array and optic-fiber coupling modules, providing reliable technical support for the development and mass production of laser TV in the country.
China's Sweet Potato Breeding Technology Reaches the Internationally Advanced Level
A breeding process named “sweet potato hybrid group breeding” that was created by the Institute of Food and Oil Crops under Hebei Provincial Academy of Agriculture and Forestry has recently passed the experts' verification checks organized by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology. The verification panel concluded that the process has landed a number of technical improvements for sweet potato processing by eliminating the disadvantages such as complicated process, long breeding duration, high demand for large breeding site, strong random nature and unfavorable for breeding target oriented option in the so-called random hybrid group breeding process created by US scientists.
As a result, the new group breeding process has shortened the breeding duration by four years and improved the hybrid breeding result by 53.6% in comparison with conventional breeding process, making itself an economical and new sweet potato breeding process with an improved constant screening result by 13.3% and an improved new species screening result by 150%.
The Largest Campus S&T Park in the West
On April 9, 2003, Xi'an Jiaotong University applauded its premises on the opening of the largest national campus S&T Park in the west section of the country. The said national campus S&T Park is one of the 22 campus S&T parks jointly approved by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Education at national level.
The new S&T park that kicked off its construction in 2001 has so far completed the construction of an area of 50,000 m2 on its 250,000m2 premises. Up to date, 60 and odd high tech companies, brokerage agencies and banking and venture capital institutions have made their home in the Park. With high tech industries such as information, new materials, electrics and electronics and biomedicine as its development priorities, the Park has created a series of special sectors for dedicated applications in software, electronics and biomedicine and established a sub-park for the returned overseas Chinese to carve out their career.
It is briefed that the Park has also created a number of funds like “Seeds Project Supporting Fund”, “Business Incubation Fund” and “R&D Creation Institution Fund” to encourage people of visions to set up their business in the park. The Park has contributed RMB 15 million as the “guiding fund” to support the technical groups of advanced technologies and incubate the workshop of fine technologies and the projects of broad market perspectives.
Comments or inquiries on editorial matters or Newsletter content should be directed to:Mr. Cheng Jiayi, Department of International Cooperation, MOST 15B, Fuxing Road Beijing 100862, PR China Tel: (8610)68512650 Fax: (8610) 68512594
http://www.most.gov.cn
