China will look for other planets like Earth
The nation will begin a research for a futuristic program that is planned to be launched by 2020
China began a preliminary investigation for a futuristic scientific program that will be launched around 2030 to search for potentially habitable planets outside our solar system,
Yuan Jie, general manager of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, said the Miyin program was included as one of the company’s top priorities to be held around 2030, during a conference before students at Beijing’s Beihang University.
Yuan’s company is a state-owned space conglomerate and the main contractor for almost all of China’s space efforts, from the Shenzhou manned programs to the Chang’e lunar expeditions, reports China Daily.
He said the program intends to send spacecraft with telescopes and other cutting-edge detectors to help scientists find potentially habitable exoplanets near the solar system and analyze their habitability.
Researchers will also be able to conduct spectroscopic surveys and explore the distribution of water on the planets within the solar system.
Yuan explained that the program’s key technologies will include a distributed synthetic opening matrix and highly sensitive and highly stable detection in an extremely cold environment.
This is the first time that a high-ranking figure within China’s space circle reveals the country’s attempt to find Earth-like planets around sun-like stars.
A statement published in May by the Qian Xuesen Laboratory of the Academy of Space Technology in China said the program began in May 2018. It involves several academics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, as well as to several preeminent institutes such as Peking University, Nanjing University and Dalian Technological University.
A press release published by Xidian University in Xi’an quoted Meng Xiaojing, an academic from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, saying that the development methods, phases and goals of the program have been established and that the organizations involved will deepen their exchanges and cooperation.
K. Tovar
Source: dpa
