China registered smooth progress in carrying out space science research, application experiment and technology test projects aboard the country's space station in orbit, covering multiple fields such as life sciences, microgravity physics, and new space technologies and applications, according to the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization (CSU), the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The latest official data released by the CSU indicate that in 2025, the number of new scientific research and application projects for the country's space application system increased by 31, with about 867.5 kilograms of scientific materials such as uplink experimental modules, units and samples taken to the space station, with 83.92 kilograms of space science experiment samples brought back to the Earth, and with over 150 terabytes of scientific data obtained.
These developments enabled scientific-technological research teams in various fields to realize a series of original, cutting-edge and innovative progress and achievements, said the CSU. In the field of space life sciences, China successfully conducted its first space science experiment on mice on the Space Station, laying an important foundation for future systematic research on the impact of the space environment on mammals.
The four mice involved in the experiment had been sent into space aboard the Shenzhou-21 crewed spaceship on Oct 31, 2025, and were housed in a specialized habitat on the space station before returning to the Earth on Nov 14.
An in-situ electrochemical and optical research project on lithium-ion batteries for space applications was also carried out on the Space Station.
The research is expected to further advance the fundamental theories of electrochemistry and provide a basis for optimizing current on-orbit battery systems and designing next-generation high-energy-density, high-safety space batteries. "In the future, China plans to launch two flagship astronomical facilities. One is the Chinese Survey Space Telescope (CSST), also known as the Xuntian Space Telescope. It's capable of making significant scientific discoveries in cosmology and from nearby galaxies and the Milky Way. The other is the HERD -- a high energy cosmic radiation detection facility, which is capable of detecting cosmic rays with extremely high sensitivity, to further understand dark matter, and the origin of cosmic ray acceleration and other related extreme cosmic phenomena. It is also capable of making new and more comprehensive insights into gamma-ray surveys," said Ba Jin, senior engineer of the CSU.
China registers smooth progress in space science research on space station in 2025
China registers smooth progress in space science research on space station in 2025
