Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences

The manned space engineering is a concentrated display of the world's high-tech development level and an important indicator of a country's comprehensive national strength. The manned space engineering initiated by China in 1992 is another major national scientific and technological project after the "Two Bombs and One Satellite" project. It is also the largest, most complex, and highest reliability and safety requirement space engineering since the establishment of China's space industry. Over the past 20 years, China's manned space engineering has adhered to a high starting point, aimed at high goals, broke through and mastered multiple key technologies of manned spaceflight in a relatively short time, and its international influence has continued to expand. As one of the three major initiating departments of the project, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has been responsible for leading the space application system since the inception of the manned space engineering project. In 1993, the CAS Party Group decided to establish the "CAS General Department of Space Science and Application" (hereinafter referred to as the General Department), a non-legal-person unit, responsible for the organization and management of the space application system engineering and overall technical research. From 1993 to 2003, the General Department was affiliated with the Center for Space Science and Applied Research, operating independently. From 2003 to 2010, it was affiliated with the Academy of Opto-Electronics, operating independently. Over the past 20 years, the General Department effectively organized numerous national research institutions, made full use of the experimental support capabilities of the "Shenzhou" series spacecraft and the "Tiangong-1" space laboratory to carry out a large number of space science and application projects, and the many payload products developed successfully completed all previous flight test missions. Meanwhile, it achieved a large number of significant space science and application results in fields such as Earth environment monitoring, space astronomy, space life sciences, space materials, space environment monitoring and prediction, and microgravity fluid physics. Many technologies and results have been promoted and applied in related operational satellites, greatly enhancing the level of China's space science development and making positive contributions to China's economic construction, scientific and technological development, national security, and social progress. In November 2010, the CAS Party Group decided to establish the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences (preparatory) on the basis of the General Department. The Center represents CAS in leading the overall management and technical integration of major scientific and technological application systems such as manned spaceflight. Specifically, it includes organizing and coordinating relevant research forces to carry out strategic research, overall planning, system overall design, overall planning and management, system integration, system testing, overall support and guarantee, on-orbit operation and application, and other work for the space application system. The Center is also responsible for assisting in the management of the collaborative supporting tasks of the manned space engineering project undertaken by CAS. In August 2012, the Office of the Central Institutional Organization Commission approved the establishment of the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences, which is the first research institute established by the Academy to organize and complete major national scientific and technological special engineering tasks. Since its establishment, the Center has adhered to the goal of building a first-class domestic and internationally renowned space overall institution, and a leading and core institution for major tasks such as the space station space application system. It insists on coordinating the development of engineering management and scientific research, strengthens the construction of capabilities such as strategic research planning, overall design, overall planning and management, and overall support and guarantee, and strives to promote the leapfrog development of the Center. According to the construction and development of the Center and the progress of engineering tasks, the Center has set up seven functional management departments: General Office, Engineering Division, Science and Technology Division, Personnel and Education Division, Quality and Standards Division, Finance Division, and Conditions Guarantee Division. It also set up four scientific research and task support departments: System Engineering Department, Professional Technology Department, Strategic Development Department, and Reliability Assurance Center. Among them, the System Engineering Department has a System Design Research Office (Parallel Design and Simulation Laboratory), an Integration Test Research Office (Space Software Evaluation Center), and a Payload Operation and Control Center; the Professional Technology Department has an Electronic Information Technology Research Office, a Structure and Thermal Control Technology Research Office, and a Comprehensive Support Technology Research Office; the Strategic Development Department has a Strategic Planning Research Office, a Space Exploration Research Office, and a Data Utilization Center. As of February 2013, the Center has 186 on-the-job employees, including 1 academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 25 senior professional and technical personnel, and 70 deputy senior professional and technical personnel. Among the on-the-job employees, there are 89 Communist Party members. There are 67 graduate students in total, including 12 doctoral students and 55 master's students. At present, the Center has obtained 3 first-level discipline master's degree authorization points in Information and Communication Engineering, Computer Science and Technology, Aeronautical and Astronautical Science and Technology, and 2 full-time engineering master's degree training points in Computer Technology and Electronic and Communication Engineering. It has 2 doctoral enrollment majors in Computer Science and Technology and Information and Communication Engineering. Over the past 20 years of glory, since its establishment, the Space Application Center (General Department) has won 1 special prize and 1 first prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, 4 first prizes, 15 second prizes, and 7 third prizes of the Military Science and Technology Progress Award. It has been awarded the National May 1st Labor Certificate once, the "China Youth May 4th Medal Collective" once, and has been commended twice as a collective with outstanding contributions to manned spaceflight. A total of 5 people have won the National May 1st Labor Medal, 1 person has won the China Youth May 4th Medal, 29 person-times have been awarded the honorary title of "Outstanding Individual in Manned Spaceflight Contribution", and 3 people have won the Zeng Xianzi Manned Spaceflight Fund Award. At present, the Center is in a critical period when the Academy is implementing the "Innovation 2020" development strategy, the "One-Three-Five" plan, and the comprehensive implementation of the space station plan of the manned space engineering project. The Center will firmly grasp new development opportunities, take the positioning determined by the Academy Party Group as the core, implement the Academy's "One-Three-Five" plan as guidance, complete manned spaceflight tasks as the foundation, make contributions with "three natures", become an irreplaceable overall unit, and achieve sustainable development of the Center as the overall goal. It will earnestly perform its duties, do its best, overcome difficulties, and achieve deeper, farther, and higher development of the Center with practical actions.