Satellite makes safe return
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-09-25 09:20
China's seed-breeding satellite, Shijian-8, successfully landed in Sichuan
Province, Southwest China, at 10:43 am Beijing time yesterday after a 15-day
flight in space.
The recoverable satellite was launched from the Jiuquan
Satellite Launch Centre in Northwest China on September 9.
The
satellite's return capsule was recovered in Suining, Sichuan Province. The
orbital module will continue to orbit the earth and carry out more experiments
until its battery runs out.
The satellite carried 215 kilograms of seeds
of vegetables, fruits, grains and cotton, the largest load of this kind since
1987.
Scientists from the Space-breeding Centre of the Chinese Academy of
Agricultural Science used the mission to carry out experiments aimed at
discovering what happens to the germination and sprouting of plants when they
are exposed to zero gravity.
After being exposed to cosmic radiation and
zero gravity, some seeds may mutate and produce higher yields and improved
quality when planted back on earth, scientists said.
During its flight,
the satellite sent back high-definition digital images of sprouting vegetables,
according to the Institute of Plant Physiology & Ecology with the Shanghai
Institute for Biological Sciences under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which
is conducting the experiment.
An official from the Ministry of
Agriculture said the ministry will ask research institutes to use the seeds
returned from space to develop new strands featuring high yields, good quality
and high efficiency.
Since 1987, China has carried out seed breeding
tests on nine satellites and a number of new species of plant seeds have been
bred in space by Chinese scientists.
Over the past four years, new types
of crop developed with space-bred seeds have been planted in a total of 567,000
hectares of farmland, producing 340 million kilograms of grain and direct GDP of
500 million yuan (US$62.5 million).
The United States and Russia are also
capable of breeding seeds in space.
The Shijian-8 is the 90th space
flight made by Long March rockets and the 23rd time China has launched a
recoverable satellite. China has chalked up 48 successful space launches in a
row since October 1996.
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