A New Era of Sci-Tech Innovation

Cutting-edge Achievements

On the eve of the 2017 Chinese New Year, Professor Hu Bingcheng and his team at Nanjing University of Science and Technology announced that they had synthesized the world’s first High-Nitrogen Compound Formed by Cobalt (II) Cation Trapping of aCyclo-N5ˉ anion, a leading technology of synthesizing the new generation of international ultra-high energy materials. Boasting the new material’s high efficiency, environmentally friendly nature and energy-saving characteristics, this technology can be widely used in the fields of military, organic synthesis, catalysis, materials and biology.

On July 29, 2017, a smart robot is seen inspecting the substation equipment in 220kV Huanglishu Substation in Quanjiao County of Chuzhou City, Anhui Province.

In April this year, China launched its first High-throughput Satellite (HTS), whose message capacity is higher than the combined capacity of all of China’s previous communications satellites. While in orbit, the new satellite will undergo tests on its broadband multimedia satellite communications system and the high-speed laser communication technology between the earth and the satellite. The two-way broadband communication can eradicate the network gap in countries like China with vast territories and complex landforms, and provide better Internet access in less-developed regions, especially those areas where wireless network signals and fiber optic cables are inaccessible. Meanwhile, the satellite can provide services such as base station information return, video content distribution, video news collection, enterprise networking, emergency communications, as well as high-speed connectivity services for passengers on airplanes, at sea, and on railways.

Less than one month later, the world’s first light quantum computer was born in China. In just 0.01 seconds it can finish the calculating task that takes a supercomputer 100 years to do.

In mid-May, news came about China’s successful trial exploration of methane hydrate, which is commonly referred to as flammable ice, making China the first in the world with the technology of stable exploitation of this oceanic super energy source. It is a highly efficient and clean energy resource, and commands the strategic height of future global energy development. With two decades of unremitting efforts, China has eventually made this historic breakthrough. As was said in the congratulatory message sent by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, it is “another achievement of the Chinese people in climbing up the world’s sci-tech peaks, and will exert profound impact on the energy production and consumption revolution.”

In June, China successfully launched the world’s first Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT), also known as Insight. The telescope expands the vision of humans in cosomological observation, as hard X-ray is more powerful and more energetic than X-ray. The Chinese HXMT combines the functions of hard X-ray and sky survey. Besides its high resolution, high sensitivity and high positioning accuracy, its sky survey function can conduct 360-degree range observation and focus observation on specific areas. In October, Insight discovered a gravitational wave and highlighted its area in the sky, a contribution to mankind’s space exploration.

In September, the world’s first trunk line of quantum telecommunications opened between Beijing and Shanghai, marking the formation of the space and Earth integrated wide-area quantum communication network prototype. From quantum satellite to quantum computer, quantum entanglement and space and Earth information security transmission, the leading quantum communication technology has not only been put into use in people’s daily life, providing communication support for network infrastructures, but also applied in the areas of national defense, finance, and business sectors. It is bound to bring huge changes to the industrial and scientific circles.

Furthermore, a series of world-renowned innovations have emerged in China over the past few months, including the world’s first 25 MeV proton accelerator, the successful test firing of an electromagnetic gun, the launching of a domestically manufactured aircraft carrier, the completion of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the triumphant flight of China’s C919 airliner, the operation of “Fuxing” (Renaissance) class bullet train which boasts a speed of 400 kilometers an hour, the Sunway Taihu Light supercomputer topping the list of the world’s fastest computers for the third year, and the application of iKLYTEK’s artificial intelligent neural network algorithm. All these achievements have made China ascend to the forefront of the world’s science and technology progress.