News on China's scientific and technological development.

Interesting news, does it mean that Beidou can be used by Chinese SSN and SSBN to communicate with the HQ while dive in deep sea?



China Focus: BeiDou achieves real-time transmission of deep-sea data
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-01 18:22:52|Editor: Yamei
QINGDAO, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- China has achieved real-time transmission of deep-sea data at 6,000-meter depth through its self-developed BeiDou satellites for the first time, a move essential to more secure, independent and reliable deep-sea data transmission.
China's most sophisticated research vessel Kexue (Science) returned to the eastern port city of Qingdao on Thursday after wrapping up a 74-day, 12,000-nautical mile expedition. During the trip, Chinese scientists maintained and upgraded the country's scientific observation network in the West Pacific, according to the Institute of Oceanology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
Researchers replaced batteries on 20 sets of submersible buoys on the network, optimized their positions and installed BeiDou satellite communication modules in them.
As the low-volume submersible buoys powered by batteries can only be retrieved once a year, the communication modules were designed to be tiny, power saving and run steadily.
"The data collected by the submersible buoys, including the temperature, salinity, flowing speed and direction of seawater, should be transmitted back to the ground lab by satellites. The amount of data was huge," said Wang Jianing, a researcher at the institute. So they developed multi-module communication and transmission technology, greatly lifting transmission efficiency.
The breakthrough research vessel Kexue made changed the situation. Before, real-time observation of marine data had relied on foreign remote sensing satellites. Now there was improved data transmission security and reliability, according to Wang Fan, director of the Institute.
China began to establish the real-time scientific observation network in the West Pacific in 2014, and realized real-time transmission of deep-sea data in 6,000-meter depth in this expedition, with the depth range extending from 1,000 meters in 2016 to 3,000 meters in 2017.
Researchers also carried out successful experiments on real-time transmission of deep-sea data of 10,000-meter depth in the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench, laying the technical foundation for achieving further depth.
There are 20 sets of submersible buoys, four sets of large floating buoys and some pieces of on-board mobile observation equipment in China's observation network for scientific research over the tropical West Pacific, which has acquired deep-sea data for five consecutive years. Wang said the data could enhance the precision in ocean climate and environment forecasts.
The tropical West Pacific is home to the world's most sophisticated waters, with the strongest interchange of energy and materials between earth and the ocean.
It has a close connection with the occurrence of El Nino and its duration, which has a significant influence on floods and droughts in China. And the El Nino weather phenomenon, characterized by a warming in the Pacific Ocean, has a profound impact on extreme weather conditions, according to the institute.
With a tonnage of 4,711 tonnes, Kexue is 99.8 meters long and 17.8 meters wide, with a cruising capacity of 15,000 nautical miles.
Kexue started its first expedition in April 2014 and has fulfilled several missions in the West Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea, with a more than 250-day voyage every year.
China's BeiDou navigation system started to provide global services in December 2018.

now I read
Chinese scientists develop new catalyst for hydrogen fuel cells
Xinhua| 2019-02-01 17:07:37

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Chinese scientists announced that they have successfully addressed a key problem impeding the promotion of hydrogen vehicles by developing a new catalyst system for fuel cells.

A research team led by Lu Junling, Wei Shiqiang and Yang Jinlong at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), has developed a new catalyst for fuel cells, which could prolong battery life and greatly extend the range of proper temperature for cells to work.

"These findings might greatly accelerate the advent of the era of hydrogen-powered vehicles," Lu said.

According to Lu, a major problem with improving the catalyst system of the fuel cell is catalyst poisoning by impure gases such as carbon monoxide (CO). Under the current production methods, 0.5 to 2 percent of hydrogen is CO, which often poisons the platinum electrode and thus cuts the life of fuel cells.

Currently, a preferred solution is on-board hydrogen purification, which involves preferential oxidation of CO in hydrogen (PROX). However, this approach is flawed since the catalyst can only work within a narrow temperature range above room temperature.

Atomically dispersed on silica-supported platinum nano-particles, the new catalyst of iron hydroxide enables complete and 100 percent selective CO removal through the PROX reaction over a broad temperature range of minus 75 degrees Celsius to 180 degrees Celsius.

Lu said the final aim of the team is to develop an affordable and efficient catalyst that offers full-time protection to fuel cells and be used for production of pure hydrogen in factories.

The study results were published in the renowned scientific journal Nature on Thursday.

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am adding

antiterror13 said:

Interesting news, does it mean that Beidou can be used by Chinese SSN and SSBN to communicate with the HQ while dive in deep sea?

.

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I don't think so for that purpose they already built huge radar the size of New york deep in the inland Check the radar thread


This uplink is to download the deep sea sensor to the data collection, fusion, interpretation center
The question is what kind of data they say it is salinity and other hydrology data but?

China Builds Massive Radio Antenna Facility to Communicate With Submarines
China has constructed a massive radio antenna facility covering more than 1,000 square miles at a secret location inside the country’s borders, according to researchers linked to the project.

The radio antenna project has come under scrutiny because the wave types emitted by the Wireless Electromagnetic Method (WEM) project, namely extremely low frequency (ELF) radio waves, are considered "possibly carcinogenic to humans" by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.


© PHOTO : PIXABAY

China's first ELF-emitting facility, a 1,400-mile project, was finally completed after 13 years, the South China Morning Post reports. The radio antenna facility's location hasn't been disclosed, though SCMP says it is somewhere in the central Huazhong region.

ELF waves have frequencies ranging from 30 to 3 Hz, meaning their wavelengths can be up to 10,000 and 100,000 kilometers long, respectively. Because of their great lengths, ELF waves are able to communicate small bits of information to submarine crews at depths where seawater would interfere with other radio transmissions.

Russia, the United States and India were previously the only countries believed to have established ELF facilities for communicating with submarines lurking at extraordinary depths. The US Navy's ELF sites operate at 76 Hz, according to a 2001 by Federation of American Scientists.

ELF broadcast communications allow submarines to retain a "high degree of stealth and flexibility in speed and depth, but are low data rate, submarine-unique and short-to-submarine only," according to GlobalSecurity.org.



"This facility will have important military uses if a war breaks out," said Chen Xiaobin, a researcher at the China Earthquake Administration, according to SCMP.

Regarding the project's secrecy, Chen underscored that "though I am involved in the project, I have no idea where it is," adding that "it should be up and running by now."

Wenming Hu, party secretary of the state-owned China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, visited the radio site last May, where he "expressed his appreciation for the construction of the WEM project and put forward opinions and requirements for the follow-up development of the project and the technical application in related fields," according to a company statement.

The WEM project will also be used for detecting seismic events and searching for minerals, the Chinese government says.

Chinese scientists win top US award for quantum breakthrough
2017 study laid groundwork for ultra-secure communication
By ASIA TIMES STAFF FEBRUARY 2, 2019 3:32 AM (UTC+8)


A team of Chinese scientists has won a prestigious US award for a 2017 study that many say has laid the groundwork for ultra-secure communications.

Lead scientist Pan Jianwei, along with 33 others, will be presented with the , the oldest award presented by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In the , Pan and his team successfully demonstrated the ability to distribute entangled photons across unprecedented distances, opening the door for the practical application of cutting-edge, ultra-secure communication.

The scientists were able to do this by sending the photons from a satellite transmitter to earth, an innovation that extended the distance across which the “entanglement distribution” could be achieved by minimizing particle degradation.

The advancement saw entanglement photons travel more than 1,200 km, versus a previous limit of 100 km achieved in tests conducted across land.

The Chinese team’s achievement, observers say, marks a big step towards the practical application of a potentially unhackable encryption method called quantum key distribution.

“Secure communication is of crucial importance in the modern world,” said Jeremy Berg, editor-in-chief of Science and chair of the Newcomb Cleveland Prize Selection Committee. “In principle, methods based on the phenomenon of quantum entanglement — about which Einstein was very skeptical, referring to it as ‘spooky action at a distance’ — represent solutions to the problem of perfectly secure communicatio

Hendrik_2000 said:

Chinese scientists win top US award for quantum breakthrough
2017 study laid groundwork for ultra-secure communication
By ASIA TIMES STAFF FEBRUARY 2, 2019 3:32 AM (UTC+8)

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A team of Chinese scientists has won a prestigious US award for a 2017 study that many say has laid the groundwork for ultra-secure communications.

Lead scientist Pan Jianwei, along with 33 others, will be presented with the

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, the oldest award presented by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In the

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, Pan and his team successfully demonstrated the ability to distribute entangled photons across unprecedented distances, opening the door for the practical application of cutting-edge, ultra-secure communication.

The scientists were able to do this by sending the photons from a satellite transmitter to earth, an innovation that extended the distance across which the “entanglement distribution” could be achieved by minimizing particle degradation.

The advancement saw entanglement photons travel more than 1,200 km, versus a previous limit of 100 km achieved in tests conducted across land.

The Chinese team’s achievement, observers say, marks a big step towards the practical application of a potentially unhackable encryption method called quantum key distribution.

“Secure communication is of crucial importance in the modern world,” said Jeremy Berg, editor-in-chief of Science and chair of the Newcomb Cleveland Prize Selection Committee. “In principle, methods based on the phenomenon of quantum entanglement — about which Einstein was very skeptical, referring to it as ‘spooky action at a distance’ — represent solutions to the problem of perfectly secure communicatio

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Accepting over Skype will be good enough as I do not recommend that they physically go to the US to pick up that "prize."

now I read
China Focus: Seed of moon's first sprout: Chinese scientists' endeavor
Xinhua| 2019-02-03 11:10:41

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An experiment that saw the first-ever plant sprouting on the moon last month was born in a natural disaster that devastated China's cotton-industry almost three decades ago.

Li Fuguang was one of the Chinese agricultural scientists whose years of hard work might one day help lead to a base and long-term human residence on the moon.

He was on the team that developed the cotton seeds carried to the moon by China's Chang'e-4 probe, leading to the first-ever sprout on the moon.

The seed is one of the best varieties developed by the Institute of Cotton Research (ICR) of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

After making the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon on Jan. 3, China's Chang'e-4 mission pioneered the first mini biosphere experiment on the moon.

A canister on the Chang'e-4 lander contained seeds of cotton, rapeseed, potato and Arabidopsis, as well as fruit fly eggs and some yeast, to form a simple mini biosphere.

Images from the probe showed that only a cotton sprout was growing.

Although the sprout couldn't survive the extremely cold lunar night, Li, head of ICR, believed it could help acquire knowledge for building a base and long-term residence on the moon.

The cotton seeds were selected for the experiment because of their outstanding performance on Earth.

The seeds belong to a transgenic insect-resistant cotton variety developed in China and named CCRI 41, said Li.

China suffered its worst ever cotton bollworm infestation in 1992. In one county, the bollworms captured in one day weighed over a tonne.

The disaster reduced the yield of most of the cotton fields by more than half.

Within three years, the cotton planting area in China fell from 100 million mu (about 6.67 million hectares) to 60 million mu (4 million hectares).

The economic losses nationwide exceeded 40 billion yuan (about 5.9 billion U.S. dollars).

Transgenic insect-resistant cottons developed by foreign scientists gained more than 90 percent of the market share in China by the end of last century.

In 2002, Chinese scientists successfully bred CCRI 41, the first transgenic insect-resistant cotton variety with independent intellectual property rights, breaking the hold of imported cotton varieties.

The market share of domestic insect-resistant cotton varieties increased from 5 percent in 1999 to 98 percent in 2012.

The plantation of the insect-resistant cottons not only controlled the spread of bollworm, but also reduced the use of pesticides by 70 percent to 80 percent in China, said Li.

Based on CCRI 41, Chinese scientists have bred more than 100 new cotton varieties.

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BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists have developed a new composite that can effectively soak up mercury in wastewater.

Mercury contamination in water has become a global concern as it poses threats to the ecological system and human health. China has set strict limits on mercury emissions from industrial wastewater, and there is a great need for effective ways to remove mercury from water.

Scientists from the Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry under the Chinese Academy of Sciences have designed a novel polymer-based mercury adsorbent called HPFC. The adsorbent demonstrated ultra-high adsorption capacity toward the removal of mercury ions in water.

After 45 minutes of treatment with 20 micrograms of HPFC in 20 millimeters of water, the concentration of mercury decreased from 798.1 mg/L to 0.02 mg/L, which is below the national drainage standard of 0.05 mg/L for industrial wastewater in China.

The research also disclosed the adsorption mechanism based on spectrum analysis.

The adsorbent is acid-resistant and can be reused multiple times. It has high potential in remediating water polluted with mercury.

The research was published in Chemical Engineering Journal.

via 52051
Scientists from University of Science and Tech China, build the world first solid-state, programmable and room-temperature quantum computing processor.

This is a solid milestone towards China's state goal to build the human's first quantum supercomputer in 2020-2021 timeframe.

The declassified part of their results has been published in Nature's Quantum Information journal.

Source (China Academy of Sciences's official website):

Equation said:

Accepting over Skype will be good enough as I do not recommend that they physically go to the US to pick up that "prize."

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or better yet DON'T accept the prize. thanks but no thanks!

related to Yesterday at 4:37 AM

Hendrik_2000 said:

via 52051
Scientists from University of Science and Tech China, build the world first solid-state, programmable and room-temperature quantum computing processor.

This is a solid milestone towards China's state goal to build the human's first quantum supercomputer in 2020-2021 timeframe.

The declassified part of their results has been published in Nature's Quantum Information journal.

Source (China Academy of Sciences's official website):

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

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post is the link