The National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese
Academy of Sciences (NAOC) was the
mainland’s only observation station involved in NASA’s Deep Impact
program, which successfully collided a space probe into the comet
Tempel 1 yesterday.
“We are always deeply affected when we see foreign
scientists doing the most sophisticated space projects,” said
senior NAOC researcher Zhou Xu, adding that at the moment “we can
only contribute a small part of investigations for international
projects.”
Zhou said enthusiasm among wider US society helped
American scientists make progress in new areas. He said scientists
there explain to people “why they want to do research and what kind
of benefit the public get from it. If they cannot get public
support, they don’t get funding.”
He compared this favorably to the situation in
China, where he said researchers only need the approval of
authorities to receive funds and where short-term gains can
outweigh long-term benefits.
According to Zhou, US scientists can take a
comparatively long time, maybe five to ten years, to research big
projects.
Pang Zhihao, a China Space Technology Institute
researcher, said the US is spending more efficiently on research
that has clearer gains for people; the Deep Impact program was
budgeted to spend US$300 million, less than previous projects.
The US hopes to lower the risk of failure and link
scientific research with public perceptions of benefit, said Pang.
In order to garner support for Deep Impact, scientists highlighted
the protection of the earth, and involved 620,000 people in getting
signatures onto a CD carried by the probe.
Pan Houren, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of
Sciences’ Center for Space Science and Applied Research, said each
big research project in the US is coupled with a special fund to
promote scientific knowledge to the public.
“Many important scientific experiments have been
broadcast live, not only showing technical capability, but also
increasing people’s enthusiasm for and confidence in science,” said
Pan.
“In China, the public usually has no idea what our
scientists are doing, and limited funding for the promotion of
science weakens people’s enthusiasm for research, especially for
teens,” he added.
Zhou said the Deep Impact program advanced and
promoted a number of fields, including space exploration and
national defense, proving an ability to attack a target in
space.
Pan said the results from different research
programs should benefit each other. “Chinese rocket technology is
more advanced than satellite technology, which in turn is more
advanced than everyday applications.”
He said different areas of study should be
interconnected so that advanced research can provide gains for
practical applications.
(China.org.cn July 5, 2005)