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To boldly go

China Briefing 2021

Physics World

 
Welcome Physics World  September 2021

To boldly go

Welcome to the 2021 Physics World China Briefing.

While many activities here on Earth have slowed down or been put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that has not stopped China – and other countries – from forging ahead in space. China has managed several firsts this year, notably landing its first rover on Mars (“Zhurong rover begins to explore Martian surface), starting construction of a fully-fledged space station (“China enters the space race“), and successfully returning samples from the Moon (“Moon mission successfully retrieves lunar samples“). 

That progress is only set to accelerate, with China’s space station set to be complete next year, giving it a permanent presence in Earth’s orbit for the next 10 years and more. The mid-2020s will also see China put a dedicated optical space telescope in orbit as well as launch further lunar craft. It may even start building a Moon base by the end of the decade – not to mention an asteroid and further missions to Mars.

In this briefing, we talk to some of the minds behind those missions, including Su Yan from the National Astronomical Observatories of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, who has played a key role in China’s exploration of the Moon (“Exploring other worlds“). 

Back on Earth, China is also making a big push in materials science, with two major institutes being founded in recent years. We talk to Zhongfan Liu, founding president of Beijing Graphene Institute, about how it is pioneering the industrialization of new graphene materials (“Accelerating the ‘graphene era’”) as well as Weihua Wang, director of the Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory (SLAB) in Dongguan about a new joint venture with IOP Publishing, which publishes Physics World (“New journal targets materials’ future“). 

Materials science in fact is set to play a large role in progress towards seven major research areas – including aerospace technology and quantum technology – that China has highlighted in its 14th five-year plan, which began this year. According to a report by Insight Science – owned by the UK-based consultancy Cactus – China will remain second worldwide in terms of science spending, setting aside 2.1% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on research. Basic research will see 7% of that funding over the course of the 14th five-year plan – a percentage higher than in 2019 with much of that cash making its way into the seven research areas. 

For some time now, China has led the world in terms of the number of publications it produces and with the progress and initiatives made in recent years, as highlighted in this briefing, that is set to continue for some time to come. 

I hope you enjoy this briefing and please let us know your comments by e-mailing pwld@ioppublishing.org.