Shenzhou-19 crew achieves key breakthroughs in past five months

Aboard China's Tiangong space station, the Shenzhou-19 crew has achieved significant breakthroughs over the past five months in space science, technology validation, and space medicine research.

Astronauts Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, entered China's space station for a six-month spaceflight on Oct 30 last year.

Over the past nearly five months, various space science experiments and technology tests have been progressing smoothly.

In the field of space life sciences, the crew completed the first-ever fruit fly cultivation research in orbit. Additionally, the crew also conducted in orbit experiments on protein crystallization and five types of cells, providing important insights into the life sciences in the microgravity environment.

In the field of materials science, they carried out a number of metal and non-metal experiments in the containerless experiment cabinet and the high temperature scientific experiment cabinet.

"It is worth mentioning that we will be conducting an experiment with a maximum temperature of 3000 degrees Celsius, using the containerless experiment cabinet. In the fields of microgravity fluid physics and combustion science, we have collaborated with the European Space Agency on research related to soft matter and complex fluids. By leveraging the different experimental conditions of China's space station and the International Space Station, we conduct scientific research in related fields in a complementary manner, enabling deeper and more extensive space exploration," said Wang Yifeng, an engineer at the Technology and Engineering Centre for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In the field of space medicine, the Shenzhou-19 mission has established a new health assessment system for astronauts in a microgravity environment. This system closely monitors astronauts’ physical and psychological conditions, tracks key indicators such as cardiac health, bone density, muscle condition, and emotional well-being, and integrates traditional Chinese and Western medicine.

During their stay, the crew will conduct a total of 86 key space scientific experiments and tests.

The Shenzhou-19 crew is expected to return to Earth in just over a month.

Shenzhou-19 crew achieves key breakthroughs in past five months

Shenzhou-19 crew achieves key breakthroughs in past five months

An increasing number of German consumers are considering buying electric vehicles (EVs) in the face of high fuel prices, according to a recent survey by the largest German online car trading platform, mobile.de.

As the Middle East tensions continue to drive up international oil and gas prices, the cost of automotive fuel has been rising steadily in many European countries.

According to fuel price data compiled by the German Association of the Automotive Industry, since the United States and Israel launched military strikes against Iran on February 28, gasoline prices in Germany have risen by nearly 20 percent, while diesel prices have shot up by more than 30 percent.

Results from a recent survey by mobile.de show that if gasoline prices remain at current high levels, 43 percent of respondents said they would switch to EVs, and 36 percent cited long-term cost savings as the most important reason for considering an EV purchase.

Additionally, the platform's data show that inquiries about used EVs surged by 66 percent in the first half of March.

"We are absolutely seeing much more interest on mobile.de for electric cars. What the German energy transition couldn't do, this current geopolitical situation has done in terms of transition to electric cars," said Ajay Bhatia, CEO of mobile.de.

In addition to high oil prices, government subsidies are also a key factor driving German consumers to consider purchasing EVs.

The German government announced the resumption of subsidies in January of this year, planning to invest 3 billion euros over the next few years to provide purchase subsidies for some 800,000 EVs.

Driven by the combined effects of high oil prices and subsidy policies, German consumers' interest in EVs has grown clearly. However, it remains to be seen whether this shift will evolve into a more sustained market trend.

"How long it will stay is anyone's guess, but at the moment we're absolutely seeing an increase, and sometimes these transitions need a catalyst. And this is definitely a catalyst that is seeing the transition to electric cars speed up," said Bhatia.

More Germans interested in buying EVs due to high oil prices: survey