China Leads Space Research

Meridian II: global shield against solar storms

During the session, national validation was announced in March 2025 for Project Meridian Phase II. This terrestrial network for space weather surveillance is the most comprehensive in the world, covering radars, magnetometers, and solar spectrometers. The aim is to anticipate solar eruptions threatening satellites and astronauts. It envisions international integration to create a “global net” of surveillance, aligned with manned lunar missions and the International Lunar Research Station. This strategic shift moves from isolated research to collaborations, managing them throughout their life cycle, for ultra-precise real-time alerts.

Improvements on FAST, the giant radio telescope

FAST (“Eye of the Sky”) is the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope at 500m in Guizhou, installed in Pingtang (southwest China). Built between 2011 and 2020 for $180 million, it revolutionized radio astronomy with its 4,450 aluminum panels controlled by actuators, forming a real-time deformable active parabolic dish, a world first. It is an area of absolute radio silence (9,000 displaced residents, electronics banned within a 5km radius). Open to foreign researchers since 2021, it positions China as a leader in radio astronomy and the search for extraterrestrial life.

During the session, the creation of a “Core Array” was announced: 40 antennas of 40m for an angular resolution improving from 3′ to 15”, allowing for more precise data reception.

Scientific advancements foreseen for JUNO

JUNO (Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory) is an ultra-sensitive Chinese underground laboratory buried 700m underground in Jiangmen, Guangdong to block cosmic rays. Launched in 2015, operational in 2024, its mission is to measure neutrino oscillation (an invisible superheavy particle that travels through everything). JUNO allows unprecedented precision in determining and studying neutrinos, leading to more precise measurements than scientists from China and Japan. JUNO plans a major hardware upgrade of the main detector after its initial phase (2024-2030), projected around 2030+ for a new scientific mission.

Lunar ambitions and technological excellence

Space infrastructures must align with national grand projects: lunar missions, space particle manipulation, next-gen observatories. For particle physics, the focus is on “post-infrastructure excellence”. The five-year plan emphasizes accelerated construction and optimization, transforming China into a global leader. These advancements, shared during the APN and CCPC sessions, highlight a unified scientific ecosystem, poised to challenge Western giants in deep space.