China’s space science prepares for liftoff Free

Zhang estimates the HXMT price tag at about $100 million. “It’s pretty cheap by international standards,” he says. “But in China it’s a megaproject. It’s the [country’s] largest astronomy project ever.” The country’s manned space program and lunar exploration plans—an orbiter will be launched this fall to map the Moon’s surface, followed by landers and rovers that will carry out experiments and bring back samples—are larger, but they are not pure astronomy programs; the manned program is not under the CNSA.

The total budget for space science is unspecified, says Zhang, one of the architects of the CNSA five-year plan. “The government does not give us a budget. There is no cap. We tell them our needs. We say, ‘It’s been approved, please fund.’”

In the past, decisions about space missions in China have been made at top government levels. This time, with peer review, the people whose missions lost out were of course disappointed. But, says Zhang, the reaction from the community about using peer review has been positive. “Everyone is a winner because we have established the correct procedure.”

Besides the HXMT, two projects whose funding appears secure are the Long Slit Spectrograph, an instrument for the World Space Observatory (see the story on page 32), and a micro-satellite that will piggyback on a Russian mission to Mars and gather information about the planet’s atmosphere and magnetic field. For most other proposed missions, says LSS project manager Maohai Huang of China’s National Astronomical Observatories in Beijing, “the status is in limbo. The fight for the actual level of funding for all projects is far from over.”

As for the SST, the CNSA has now bundled evaluation of the telescope with another solar mission, Kua Fu— named for a mythological figure who wanted to catch the Sun. The SST, which will have a 1-meter telescope and five or more instruments, is intended to study solar flares and the Sun’s magnetic field. Kua Fu is a mission consisting of three satellites equipped to monitor space weather, sample the solar wind, and study the Sun’s corona and environment. The SST and Kua Fu “have very different scientific missions,” says Zhang. “We hope [the government] will fund both.”

China has two space collaborations in the works with France. Originally scheduled for launch in time for the next solar maximum in 2011, the Small Explorer for Solar Eruptions is now expected to fly a year or so later. China is responsible for one SMESE instrument, a spectrograph for detecting x rays and gamma rays. The mission will also be able to image in the UV and IR. The main goal, says Cheng Fang, a solar physicist at Nanjing University and a principal investigator for China’s contribution to SMESE, is to study solar flares and coronal mass eruptions. “China’s contribution is roughly €5 million [$6.7 million]. The French side is much more.”

The other Franco–Sino mission is a gamma-ray burst mission that is not listed in the CNSA’s five-year plan, but which will likely fly, according to a source who requested anonymity. It’s scheduled for launch around 2012.

Further in the future, perhaps around 2015, astronomers in China hope to launch the Solar Polar Orbit Radio Telescope , an array of interferometric low-frequency antennas rotating around a mother spacecraft and together forming a virtual dish about 150 meters in diameter. In solar polar orbit, SPORT would image coronal mass ejection plasma clouds to study and forecast space weather.

In the current five-year plan, says Zhang, China encourages international collaborations. “It means we should take every opportunity to participate in good, scientifically motivated programs if we believe the science interests match the interests of Chinese scientists. And it means the Chinese space program welcomes international collaboration.” Through such collaborations, Zhang adds, “We can be part of the international community. That is what we want.”

To date, China’s collaborations in space science are with Russia, the European Space Agency, and several European nations. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer is an isolated case of a US–China collaboration—but NASA has put it on hold (see Physics Today, May 2007, page 30). Hopes in both countries’ space science communities that collaborations might be established grew at the prospect of NASA administrator Michael Griffin’s visit to China last year, but dimmed thanks to a narrowed itinerary and new US sanctions on China’s space industry, according to Gregory Kulacki, a China specialist at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The chill in space relations was exacerbated after China shot down one of its own satellites in January (see Physics Today, March 2007, pages 29 and 100). Scientific collaborations between the two countries are in any case complicated by International Traffic in Arms Regulations, US laws that regulate the export and import of articles and services considered to be potentially militarily sensitive.