China's Shenzhou-20 crew makes steady progress in various space science experiments

The Shenzhou-20 crew aboard China's orbiting space station has made steady progress in various space science experiments over the past week.

The astronaut trio -- Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie -- entered the Tiangong space station on April 25 this year, and they have now completed half of their spaceflight journey.

The crew completed a series of tasks in orbit last week.

In the field of psychological and behavioral research on astronauts, the crew has continued to carry out studies on in-orbit emotion evaluation techniques and experiments to assess decision-making capabilities in emergency response. The data collected will be used to explore changes in the emotional states and emergency management decision-making abilities of astronauts during long-duration space missions.

In the area of space medicine experiments, the astronauts used equipment such as laptops and corresponding testing software to complete experiments on fine motor control, as well as trust and collaboration mechanisms. The data obtained will support ground-based researchers in furthering their studies.

As the human-robot collaborative experiments are going on, an intelligent flying robot "Xiaohang" has engaged in multiple experiments with the three astronauts aboard the space station to explore efficient human-robot collaboration methods.

In the field of microgravity physical science, the crew has carried out tasks including replacing experimental samples in the high-temperature materials experiment racks, cleaning and replacing samples in the experiment chamber of the containerless material rack, and maintaining electrodes of the axis mechanism.

Last week, the containerless material rack heated tungsten alloy to over 3,100 degrees Celsius, setting a new world record for the highest heating temperature in space-based materials science experiments.

In the area of new space technology and applications, the astronauts are currently replacing the reactor of the experimental device for extraterrestrial artificial photosynthesis technology.

So far, the first three phases of in-orbit experiments for this device have been completed, successfully validating multiple key technologies and yielding extensive experimental data on various physical and chemical reaction processes under microgravity conditions. This work provides an important foundation for developing new technologies for in-situ resource utilization beyond Earth.

Last week, the crew inspected and maintained the equipment for the regenerative life support system, conducted inventory management and cleaned the cabin, ensuring a comfortable and tidy workspace.

Regarding health maintenance and logistic support, the crew underwent several medical examinations, such as intraocular pressure and fundus examinations, and bone density tests, helping ground-based researchers closely monitor the health status of the three astronauts.

China's Shenzhou-20 crew makes steady progress in various space science experiments

Attempts to curb China's scientific and technological advancement are futile, a fact that has already been proven, said Kishore Mahbubani, former permanent representative of Singapore to the United Nations, in an interview aired Friday.

In an exclusive interview with China Central Television (CCTV) in Beijing, Mahbubani said he had stated this position in one of his articles published in the United States.

"Actually, I published an article, you know the two, I guess two leading journals in the United States on international relations. One is Foreign Affairs and the other is Foreign Policy. And last year I co-authored an article with two other co-authors, saying that all the efforts to stop China's scientific and technological development will fail. And it has failed always. You know, for example, the Soviet Union tried to prevent the spread of nuclear technology to China, China develops its own. The United States didn't want to share its technology on international space station with China. China develops its own space station. So clearly, efforts to stop China in the area of scientific innovation and technological development have failed. And so it'd be wiser for the West, including United States, to work with China other than to try and stop China seek development," he said.

Regarding China's progress on robots, Mahbubani said China is leading the world in the sector and hopes the country will share its expertise with the rest of the world.

"If there's one country that is preparing for the future well, it is China, because one in six human beings in the world is Chinese. But one in three robots in the world is Chinese, and one in two baby robots being born every day is Chinese. So China is producing far more robots than any other country is. So clearly it's preparing for the world of the future when we will have, for example, labor shortages, as you know, as you develop an aging society. So China is wisely investing in robots. But I hope that China will also share its learning and expertise with other countries. Also because the robots like that can also be helpful even to developing countries cause you can enhance the productivity of their populations, of their factories and so on so forth. So the world should be happy that China is leading the world in manufacturing, producing robots," he said.

Attempts to stop China's sci-tech development doomed to fail: former Singaporean diplomat