12-4-20 The world’s highest power transmission and transformation project at over 4,300 meters above sea level became fully operational in Tibet on Fri. This marked the completion of electric power coverage in Tibet and also in the Chinese mainland.
12-4-20 Chinese scientists announced the construction of 76 photons (quantum bits) of quantum computing prototype “Jiuzhang九章”. In terms of speed, the speed of solving the mathematical algorithm Gaussian boson sampling is only 200 seconds, while the current supercomputer will take 600 million years. It is generally accepted that 50 quantum bits is the critical threshold to prove that a quantum computer has the potential to surpass traditional computers. The “九章” is named after a well-known mathematical treatise 九章算术 from ancient China.
The speed is 10 billion times faster than the 53 superconducting bits of quantum computing prototype released by Google last year. This achievement enables China to successfully reach the first milestone in quantum computing research: the superiority of quantum computing (also known abroad as “quantum supremacy”).
Cosmochemist and geochemist Ouyang Ziyuan 欧阳自远 from the Chinese Academy of Sciences who is now in charge of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program has already stated on many occasions that one of the main goals of the program would be the mining of helium-3, from which operation “each year, three space shuttle missions could bring enough fuel for all human beings across the world.”
The Chang’e-5 probe, comprising an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a returner, was launched on Nov. 24, and its lander-ascender combination touched down on the north of the Mons Rumker in Oceanus Procellarum, also known as the Ocean of Storms, on the near side of the moon on Dec. 1. After the samples were collected and sealed, the ascender of Chang’e-5 took off from the lunar surface on Dec. 3. Next, the orbiter-returner will separate from the ascender, and wait for the right time to return to Earth.
12-8-20 The ascender of China’s Chang’e-5 lunar probe carried out deorbiting on Tuesday at 6:59 am and landed on the preset landing area on the moon’s surface at 7:30 am in a controlled manner.
12-16-20 ChangE5 orbiter-returner combo successfully conducted second course correction at the moon-Earth transfer orbit on Wed 9:15 am.
12-17-20 Carrying around 2 kilograms of lunar samples, China’s Change5 lunar probe safely landed in the designated area in North China at 1:59 am on Thursday, bringing the craft’s epic round trip between Earth and Moon.
Chang’e-7 and -8 missions will involve inviting relevant countries and agencies to work together to study the feasibility of building a permanent moon base.
The CNSA and scientists are mulling over launching Chang’e-6 sample return mission during China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25); the landing site could be the lunar south pole or far side of the Earth’s natural satellite.
China’s first Hualong One 3rd-generation nuclear power plant in Fuqing, Fujian Province, achieved its first grid connection and power generation early Friday, breaking the foreign technology monopoly.
China’s manned submersible Fendouzhe, or Striver, made a 10,909-meter dive at Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, the Challenger Deep, the deepest known point in Earth’s seabed on Tuesday.
Striver is the world’s deepest-diving manned submersible, capable of carrying up to three passengers to conduct scientific research in the deep sea. It began taking on the 10,058-meter dive at Mariana Trench on October 27.
Striver is a manned submersible that incorporates the fine lineage of the previous two generations of deep-diving equipment, Jiaolong and Shenhai Yongshi. It not only uses a safe, stable, and powerful energy system, but also has more advanced control and positioning systems, as well as a more pressure-resistant manned capsule and buoyancy materials.
At 10,000 meters down in the Mariana Trench, Striver faces water pressure of more than 110 megapascals, the equivalent of 2,000 African elephants walking on a person’s back.
China’s first independently designed and integrated manned submersible Jiaolong reached a depth of 3,759 meters, making China the fifth country in the world, after the US, France, Russia and Japan, to master the technology of manned deep-sea submersion at a depth of 3,500 meters in July 2010.
