By K J M VarmaBeijing, Dec 8 (PTI) Chinese scientists have turned thefinal stage of a discarded launch rocket into a smartapplication programme by fitting it with intelligent chips,official media said here today.
A programme carried out by Shanghai-based FudanUniversity installed several intelligent chips on the finalstage of the Long March 4C rocket, which sent the Fengyun-3Dsatellite into orbit in November.
The rocket was discarded in space after sending asatellite into orbit, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Fudan University's Zheng Lirong, chief scientist of theprogramme, said discarded rocket sections during spacelaunches constitute the largest percentage of space debris.
By installing multiple chip systems on the rocket, theteam has established the initial stage of a space-based'Internet of Things'.
He explained that the launch rocket will jettison asection when it runs out of propellant in order to decreasethe mass, and the final stage of the rocket is delivered tothe orbit along with the payload.
"With these intelligent chips attached, space debris canbe transformed into a low-cost science experiment andcommunication platform," he said.
Zheng's team has taken two years to develop thefunctional modules and hardware to make the "nanosatellites,"with each set of the functional modules weighing less than 30grams.
The team has named the intelligent chip system "Xinyun,"meaning cloud of chips.
'Internet of Things' solutions are already widelyemployed in daily life, ranging from wearable smart gadgets,and driverless vehicles to GPS-tracked cattle grazing.
Zheng said current applications experience commonproblems such as data congestion and slow transmission speeds,especially in remote and underserved regions. With thedevelopment of the space-based network, these areas could bebetter served.
"The system can connect space, air, ground and oceans ata low cost. It can also be seen as a useful trial in tacklingthe unresolved problem of dealing with space debris," JinYaqiu, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences andsupervisor of the programme said.
Zheng said they are still testing the system's functionsand analysing the tracking of orbiting debris. PTI KJVKUN.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.