BEIJING, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) — The following is a summary of published science and technology news of China.
GAOFEN-7 SATELLITE
The China National Space Administration announced Thursday that the Gaofen-7 Earth observation satellite has been put into service, representing significant progress for the country’s surveying and mapping capabilities.
Launched on Nov. 3, 2019, Gaofen-7 is China’s first civil-use optical transmission 3D surveying and mapping satellite that reaches the sub-meter level. It can provide 1:10,000 scale satellite 3D mapping for users in China and countries participating the Belt and Road Initiative.
MARS PROBE
China’s Mars probe Tianwen-1 has traveled more than 8 million km away from Earth and is functioning normally, according to the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration Thursday.
As of 11:20 p.m. Wednesday, the Mars probe has traveled 8.23 million km away from Earth. Starting from 10:20 p.m. Wednesday, multiple payloads on the Mars probe, including Mars Magnetometer, Mars Mineralogy Spectrometer and High-resolution Camera, have completed self-check to confirm that they are in normal condition.
ARTIFICIAL PHOTOSYNTHETIC SYSTEM
Chinese researchers have developed an artificial photosynthetic system with solar-to-fuel conversion efficiency in excess of 20 percent.
Artificial photosynthetic systems store solar energy in chemical fuels via carbon dioxide reduction or renewable hydrogen from water splitting, according to a recently published research article in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A.