Science Makes Farmers Rich
The Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology will soon launch a project to make farmers rich with science and technology, said LI Xueyong, Chinese Vice Minister of Science and Technology at a meeting sharing experience in making farmers rich, held on August 30, 2004, in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province. The new project will achieve the following purposes: 1) while increasing farmers’ income, paying more attention to build up farmers’ sustainable capacity for income increase, and establishing a long lasting mechanism for increasing farmers’ income; 2) while increasing material income, paying more attention to enhance farmers capability to become rich, placing the improvement of rural labor’s quality in the first place; 3) while mobilizing all walks of life to help farmers increase their income, paying more attention to the role of leading industrial businesses in facilitating farmers to gain more income, enhancing sustained dynamics for agriculture industrialization; 4) while developing resources oriented industrial businesses, paying more attention to the protection of rural resources and ecological environment, securing resources and environment basis for a sustained rural development; 5) while tapping up income potentials from plantation and breeding, paying more attention to the expansion of non-agriculture businesses, promoting the coordinated urban and rural development; 6) while demonstrating the exemplary role of rich areas, paying more attention to improving farmers’ capability to become rich in poor and low income areas, realizing a coordinated and balanced development and social stability.
Free MODIS Data
SHAO Liqin, Deputy Director, Department of High Technology, a part of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, announced on August 27, 2004 that China has opened its MODIS data-sharing platform to the public. With the help of two satellites named TERRA and AQUA, any institutions or individuals can search or download MODIS data, freely from the platform .
Starting from May 2001, the Global Information Research Center, a part of the Institute of Geology, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, established a ground station to receive MODIS data sent by TERRA satellite, in collaboration with other domestic and international institutions, Under the initiative of the Ministry of Science and Technology for “S&T platform construction”, the Center added another system to receive MODIS data sent by AQUA satellite. The two satellites make consecutive observations 4 times a day possible. People can share the daily MODIS data via internet.
According to a briefing, the Center has so far gathered a data volume over 4TB, with a daily growth by 40 GB. More than a hundred researchers have used these data in the projects financed by national 863 and 973 programs, knowledge innovation projects sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, local projects and international cooperation projects. MODIS data has played a role in scientific studies and teaching, especially in the fields of vegetation growth, grain yield prediction, forest fire monitoring, sandstorm monitoring, geothermal resources development, grass growth estimation, pests and crop diseases watch, ice and frost prediction, and atmospheric watch. Meanwhile, the data facilitates the development of China’s remote sensing software applications and modern consultation services.
New Fengyun-2 Ready for Launch
No. 4 satellite, one of the Fengyun II series weather satellites independently developed by China, has completed its “general assembly”, ready for launch. Expecting to blast off in October from the Xi’chang Satellite Launch Center, the new satellite is a geosynchronous satellite, to be positioned at 105 degrees east longitude, watching Asia and Pacific areas from a distance of 36,000 km away from earth. In addition to obtaining infrared cloud images and water vapor distribution charts, the new satellite will intensify the observation of forest and pastureland fires, foggy weathers and sand storms.
The new satellite makes a substitute for the orbiting Fengyun II C, a satellite placed to observe ground high temperature heat sources, an important tool to detect forest fires in remote areas. Fengyun II C is able to send 28 images a day, showing the development of forest fires and their spreading trends. With the help of cloud images sent from Fengyun II C, forest fire fighters can work out accurate positions of clouds or fires, as a pixel in a cloud chart represents a distance of 5 km on the ground. The new satellite, with an improved reliability and technical capability, will see greatly enhanced resolution and detecting accuracy. Its radiographic scanner’s lens is able to cover an area of 170 million km2, capable of real time scanning and accurate and timely forecasting. The improvements have made the new satellite able to produce a cloud image every half an hour, or 28 pictures a day, though capable for 48 pictures when needed.
According to a briefing, to meet the demanding needs of China’s weather forecasting, climate monitoring, and environment monitoring, China is working on its new generation weather satellites Fengyun III and Fengyun IV.
China’s Arctic GPS Station
Having completed numerous expedition missions, including establishing an Arctic station named Yellow River Station, constructing China’s Arctic GPS satellite tracking station, and establishing a geographic information system for the polar region, the China Arctic expedition team returned to its homeland on August 25, 2004.
During the arduous expedition lasted for more than half a month, researchers received more than 46,000 groups of GPS satellite metadata, apart from installing a field antenna for permanent GPS tracking in the region. Researchers also made a preliminary investigation in the geological environment of the Svalbard Island, and photographed all the structures in the Ny-Alesund area, where the Yellow River Station is physically located. These photographs will help scientists, using visual techniques, reproduce Ny-Alesund, a small town housing Arctic expedition teams from different countries, allowing people who have never been to the North Pole to have a vivid digital view of the Arctic. The Arctic geographic information system is an essential space information platform that an Arctic expedition has to count on in interactive analysis of dynamic environment and multiple scientific elements, as well as in automated management and decision-making. The completion of GIS will greatly facilitate China’s future expeditions in the region.
Breakthrough in Nanothermal Materials
Under the dedicated financing from the 863 Program, a research team, headed by Prof. ZHAO Xinbing, Zhejiang University, have synthesized Bi2Te3 nanotubes and nanobags, separately under a sealed high pressure environment over 100 ℃ and an open environment under 100℃, using water heating technique. At the 23rd International Thermoelectric Conference convened not along ago in Australia, Prof. ZHAO made a presentation titled “New Thermoelectric Bi2Te3 Nanotubes and Nanobags, Using Water Heating Technique”. The paper has attracted great attention of ZHAO’s counterparts both at home and abroad, being deemed as a new approach to develop innovative high performance thermoelectric materials, and a possible new direction leading to major breakthroughs. The paper is granted with the “Best Scientific Paper Award”, the only honor conferred at the conference.
Researchers explain that Bi2Te3 makes not only the best thermoelectric material so far known to scientists near the indoor temperature, but also serves a stable binary compound of the largest atom number. It has a special quasi crystal lay structure. Theses features have also made Bi2Te3 nanotubes and nanobags of theoretical and application values for other fields in addition to thermoelectric materials.
Robot Examines High Voltage Power Lines
Researchers of the Lanzhou Branch, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have recently developed a robot system able to do routine checks on high voltage power transmission lines. The new automatic system, designed to make routine examination of high voltage transmission power lines, has filled up a domestic blank in the field.
The robot watchdog consists of a robot performing examination and a ground control system. The robot is made up of a power source system, body, control system, testing equipment, and telecommunication component. The ground system houses up-and- down links and a base station. Experiments have shown that the robot is able to automatically cruise along the rack line above the high voltage power transmission cables. Its carrying-on camera or infrared imager, capable of detecting the damages or injuries in power transmission lines, shock proof hammer, insulators and poles, is able to send its collected data and images, via a wireless transmission system, to the base station. The base station, responsible for receiving, displaying and storing data and images send from the robot, can control and test the operating robot remotely.
Retrievable Scientific Satellite Launched
At 15:50, August 29, 2004, a CZ-II B carrier rocket blasted off a retrievable scientific experimental satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The satellite smoothly entered the prescribed orbit 9 minute after.
The new launch marks the 19th scientific experiment satellite blasted off by China. According to a briefing, the satellite will stay orbiting for a few days, before returning to earth. During its orbiting, the satellite will work on space experiments, national land survey and mapping. The Xi’an Satellite Control Center will be responsible for retrieving the satellite’s return cabin as scheduled, in addition to other tasks including tracking, measuring and orbiting control.
Probe II Certified to Work
At 11 a.m. Beijing time, September 10, 2004 when the last group of data reached the ground control station, the Probe II satellite that had been orbiting for 47 days completed the orbiting test of its onboard instruments, and is certified for official operation.
After the launch, the onboard infrared instrument, restricted by the operating orbit and its installation position, failed to scan the Earth in its earlier orbiting. As a result, the ground attitude control system could not obtain the data on satellite attitude. The Xi’an Satellite Control Center successfully used the carrier rocket’s flight parameters deduct the satellite’s orbiting attitude, and completed the deployment of dual satellites.
The Xi’an Satellite Control Center has successfully performed numerous remote control as far as reaching 80,000 km, sending data to the Probe I and II satellites.
The Center has fed the two satellites’ onboard instruments with thousands of data lines necessary for their testing and operation. The received data show that both onboard instruments and scientist experiments are work properly.
One Rocket Sends Two Satellites
At 7:14 a.m. Beijing time, September 9, 2004, a CZ-4B rocket blasted off, from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, two satellites named Practice VI A and B to explore space environment.
The data received by the Xi’an Satellite Control Center show that satellite A separated from the rocket 11 minutes after the launch, and satellite B did the same thing one minute later. Both satellites have entered orbit as planned.
With a designed work life for 2 years or more, satellite A and B will mainly work to explore space environment, to understand space radiations and associated sounding requirements, and space physical environment parameters, and make related space experiments.
Mixed Hybrid Rice Growing
A mixed hybrid rice growing technique, developed by the Biological Food Institute under the Anhui Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences, has proved to have higher pollen utilization than conventional techniques. The per mu(1mu=0.0667ha.) rice yield produced with the technique reaches more than 400 kg, or 40% more than the per mu yield produced under the prevailing planting technique in the country.
Starting the mix growing experiment in 1995, the Institute worked out for the first time the male parent of the genes sensitive to Bentazon. Unlike the complicated growing techniques that separate male parent from female parent, the new technique allows both male and female parents to be sown together in seedling growing. After pollination, researchers sprayed Bentazon to change the growing environment. As a result, the male parent dies, while the female parent carrying no such gene grows normally for final harvest.
Extensive Space Vegetable Planting
The Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences has made seven satellite payload experiments for vegetables, since China launched its first retrievable satellites in 1987. The space experiments have resulted in a space bred tomato species in 2000 and a space green pepper species in 2002.
Named “Yufan I” (space tomato) and with a fruit weight ranging from 250g to 800g, the new species features large fruit, delicious taste, sweet flavor, and rich vitamin C and sugar content. The space pepper, named Yujiao I, produces a fruit weighing 200g- 400g, characterizing large fruit, sweet and crispy taste, diseases resistance, and high yield. So far the two species have been extensively grown in most provinces. Experiments have confirmed a 20-day storage duration for Yufan I, or a week longer than conventional species. The space pepper is of a vitamin C content 20% higher than conventional species. At the same time, the space-bred vegetables have a shorter maturity period and an increased yield, or 15%-20% higher under the same conditions compared with local prevailing species.
The Academy is currently working on space cucumbers and eggplants. Scientists plan to combine the conventional breeding technique with space technology, producing hybrid species able to further up quality and yields.
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