Does China have the most advanced drone technology?

Tian Feng is a computer analyst located in Beijing who keeps a close eye on cutting-edge technology. The views expressed in the article are those of the author and may not represent those of CGTN.


The key factors influencing the continued advancement of human society include significant advances in the fields of science, engineering, and industry. Humanity is suffering from natural disasters like floods, droughts, and storms as well as global issues including anti-globalization trade disruptions, job challenges, and ageing populations. The globe is facing once-in-a-century upheavals. The only thing that can provide mankind hope and direction for its future existence and advancement is a steady stream of scientific and technical progress.

Based on China's scientific and technical advancements in 2021, we may get a glimpse of the country's significant development patterns.

    1. Earth simulator to predict future crises


While humanity has only been around for around 6 million years, the Earth has been around for 4.6 billion years. To mimic Earth's past and present and predict the future course of the natural world and human civilizations, scientists are investigating the deployment of an Earth "digital twin."

The Earth System Science Numerical Simulator Facility, often known as "EarthLab," was launched by the Institute of Atmospheric Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in June of last year.

Through the use of technologies like high-performance computing, high-precision environmental simulation, and big data, it can simulate the physical, chemical, and biological evolution of the Earth's atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere in order to provide scientific support for issues like the prevention of natural disasters.and tackling climate change mitigation.

Such Earth simulations have previously been constructed in nations like the U.S. and Japan, and "EarthLab" is analogous to the European Union's "Destination Earth" effort. The project will take more than ten years to be updated and is still in the early stages of construction.


2. 3D printing to reinvent manufacturing


China's goals to develop high-quality computerised numerical control (CNC) machine tools and robots during the next three to five years depend heavily on additive manufacturing, often known as 3D printing.


During the launch of a Long March-5B rocket in May 2020, 3D printing of fiber-reinforced composite parts was successfully completed for the first time in space. As a result of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation's success in printing complex aircraft parts, the weight of aeroplanes was significantly reduced in 2021.



The industrial sector will undergo a total upheaval in the near future as a result of the use of 3D printing technology to make things of all sizes, from tiny prosthetic teeth to interstellar rockets.


3. Cosmic sensing networks to look deep into the

 universe

Cosmic sensing networks are expanding together with the growth of space tourism.

For instance, China's FAST, dubbed the "Eye of Heaven," has spotted hundreds of pulsars beyond our solar system to the end of the galaxy, creating the experimental groundwork for the development of "interstellar clocks" (pulsar timing arrays) and "interstellar navigation" in the future (pulsar navigation system). Also, FAST has the ability to recognise gravitational waves and alien civilizations' communication signals (if they exist).

Since April 2021, international scientists have have access to China's FAST. It produces 15 petabytes of big data annually, or 2 gigabytes every second. An entire year's worth of data may be processed using artificial intelligence (AI) in only three days, greatly reducing the amount of time it takes to discover pulsars.improved precision and increased efficiency.

China and other nations will construct additional "eyes" to see far into space and launch more deep space probes in the next decades to create sensing networks throughout the cosmos. Scientists can even create "digital twins of the solar system" and "digital twins of the galaxy" using the vast amounts of data gathered by the sensor networks, learning more about the real cosmos.


4. Photonic chips to empower 'quantum computing superiority'

China's "Jiuzhang" photonic quantum computer prototype uses photonic chips in 2019. Jiuzhang (with 76 photons detected) is 100 trillion times more efficient than the most powerful supercomputer in the world at solving particular tasks. In 2021, a newer model called Jiuzhang 2.0 (with 113 detected photons) was introduced. It is programmable and 100 times quicker than Jiuzhang.

China introduced a second-generation photonic chip in December 2021 that boasts extremely low latency, great throughput, and good energy efficiency.


Meanwhile, China created the "Zuchongzhi 2.0" 66-qubit programmable superconducting quantum computer prototype successfully in October 2021, achieving two-dimensional programmable quantum walk (instead of random walk).

Photonic chips will progressively be used in fields including autonomous driving, augmented reality glasses, quantitative trading, AI supercomputing data centres, and more over the course of the next ten years.robots.

With several quantum businesses under development, quantum computing technology is advancing quickly in fields including quantum communications, quantum satellites, and large data processing.


5. AI to revolutionize scientific research



In scientific study, the door is frequently unlocked by the final key on the ring. Before a true discovery is made, researchers may test all the potential keys with the use of AI and powerful computing.

Traditional research is typically time-consuming, substantially manual, and fraught with uncertainty. These issues can be resolved by "AI Infrastructure" (AI data centre + research platform), which can conduct fundamental research in fields like new energy, new food, new materials, and new medicines while freeing up important research personnel from the tiresome job of repetitive tests.


A Chinese business called Sensetime, for instance, utilises AI to mine data on protein interactions, cancer medication responses, and predictions of gene mutations based on pathological images.

The newly constructed Shanghai AI data centre is the biggest AI computer platform in Asia, with 3,740 petaflops of processing capacity.

AI is transforming research and development in many fields and will be a key factor in the development of a number of new technologies, such as automatic driving, new medications to extend life, artificial meat to feed the populace, and controlled nuclear fusion energy to support interstellar travel.

6. AR glasses and the 'era of ubiquitous screens'

As we go into the "period of ubiquitous displays" with augmented reality (AR) glasses, where screens are everywhere and everything can interact with one another, people won't need mobile phones in five years. There will be cutting-edge applications like space scanning and search engines, digital twin factories, hospitals and communities, as well as digital human helpers, in the metaverse that we visit through AR glasses.


7. 'Artificial sun' holds promise for unlimited

 clean energy


In 200 years, all of the world's oil and natural gas supplies will be depleted. The carbon emissions from fossil fuels are already a common cause of extreme weather occurrences. Governments are investing a tremendous amount of money in renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, nuclear, and hydropower, as a result.

Scientists are developing "artificial suns" since the sun is the ultimate source of energy and almost all energies discovered on Earth originate from it (controlled nuclear fusion reactors). In order to enable controlled nuclear fusion processes to take place, the tokamac device uses a strong magnetic field to confine the heated plasma into a torus shape.



Recently, a record was broken by the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) in Hefei, the provincial capital of Anhui Province in eastern China.once held world record. The temperature reached 70 million degrees Celsius for up to 1,056 seconds (more than 17 minutes), according to the expert in charge of the experiment, establishing "a strong scientific and experimental basis towards the operation of a fusion reactor."

Long-distance human space flight will someday be propelled by nuclear fusion energy.

8. From carbon dioxide to artificial food

2.37 billion people didn't have access to enough food in the globe in 2020, according to data from the United Nations World Food Program.


Chinese researchers created the first artificial process for creating starch from carbon dioxide in September 2021, making history (CO2).



The Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology of the CAS has developed a novel strategy that enables starch production to be switched from traditional agricultural planting to industrial manufacture, opening up new opportunities for the development of fake food in the future.


According to the scientists, theoretically, a 1-cubic-meter bioreactor could produce as much starch annually as a third of an acre of maize, based on the existing technological parameters and an adequate energy supply.


If the The researchers predict that if the system's total cost can be reduced to a point where it is economically equivalent with agricultural planting in the future, it will conserve more than 90% of freshwater and arable land.


Also, the new strategy will aid in the fight against global warming and carbon neutrality.


9. New energy vehicles and green hydrogen production


The third-largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions is the transportation sector, and the aim of carbon neutrality depends on the transition of transportation vehicles to new energy sources.


In the near future, a range of new energy including electricity, hydrogen, and natural gas will be used to power not only ships and aircraft but also vehicles, ships, and planes. The hydrogen fuel cell among them offers the benefits of a long range and a quick refilling period.



The Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics under the CAS developed a megawatt-level hydrogen production system that uses proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis technology. This system achieved full capacity operation in September 2021, laying the technical groundwork for the widespread use of green hydrogen energy.


More hydrogen fuel will be available in the future.autos, ships, and aeroplanes, which will serve as vital complements to electric vehicles for mobility.


10. Ubiquitous computing

After more than a decade of high technology development, people's thoughts may wander freely in the metaverse while robots with chips acting as "brains," sensors acting as "eyes" and "noses," robotic hands, and algorithms with the correct ethics take care of the labour in the real world.


China will generally develop into a worldwide science and technology centre, a talent hotspot, and an exporter of high-tech during the course of the next ten years.