8 | Monday, May 20, 2019 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY CHINA Integration Mechanical goose of AI with Private sector education in China aims advocated By ZHANG ZHIHAO [email protected] for Earth orbit Nations should create policies to promote the integration of artificial intelligence and education, along Battle for lucrative market heats up with equitable and accessible life­ as companies create reusable boosters long learning opportunities for all, according to the Beijing Consensus. The agreement on principles was By ZHAO LEI rockets. Currently, those are main­ published on Saturday after the [email protected] ly made by State­owned space three­day International Conference giants. Carrier rockets are in short on Artificial Intelligence and Educa­ Several Chinese commercial supply because of surging demand tion. space companies are competing to for launch services from the coun­ The conference was organized by become the first non­State player try’s flourishing satellite industry. the Ministry of Education, UNES­ A gaggle of swan geese join a powered hang glider at the 2019 World Fly­In Expo in Wuhan, Hubei to successfully launch a carrier Executives at these firms are CO, the China National Committee province, on Saturday. The pilot feeds the birds at home and flies with them during performances. rocket into orbit. aware that becoming the first pri­ for UNESCO and the Beijing munic­ More than 560 aircraft participated in the expo, which featured air shows, exhibitions and forums. The next attempt will be made vate company to launch a carrier ipal government. CHENG MIN / XINHUA by Beijing­based startup i­Space, rocket into orbit will bring not only Around 500 representatives from which plans to conduct its first honor but also lucrative contracts. more than 100 countries and 10 orbital mission next month, a Previous attempts at orbital international organizations passed source in the company who asked launches by LandSpace and One­ the Beijing Consensus as a guiding not to be named said on Sunday. Space failed in flight. document for the future develop­ The i­Space SQX­1 rocket is Wang Yanan, editor­in­chief of ment of global education, especially Shanghai telescope honored for scheduled to blast off at the Jiu­ Aerospace Knowledge magazine, in the age of AI. The consensus also quan Satellite Launch Center in said that it’s only a matter of time proposes research on frontier issues the Gobi Desert in early June. If the before private players accomplish related to AI technologies, as well as black hole assistance, other work mission succeeds, the rocket will orbital launches, because they are exploration of effective strategies carry three small satellites and growing stronger in their research and practices to facilitate education­ four experimental equipment into and development capabilities. al innovation. space, he said. It is the largest and Their existence has diversified the Jernej Pikalo, Slovenia’s minister By ZHOU WENTING in Shanghai most powerful rocket ever built by market in China and has proved of education, science and sport, said [email protected] a private Chinese space company, good for the country’s space indus­ at the closing ceremony that the he said. try, he added. conference has allowed officials to A radio telescope in Shanghai The SQX­1 has a diameter of 1.4 “The participation of private evaluate the impact and potential of that has made significant contri­ meters, a length of 21 meters and a firms will substantially reduce the AI technologies for learning. butions to astronomy for nearly a liftoff weight of 31 metric tons. launch cost and help boost the The consensus shows that coun­ decade and participated in long­ Fueled by solid propellant, it is commercialization of the entire tries have the will and capability to term observations used to con­ able to transport satellites with a space industry,” said Wu Zhijian, integrate AI and education, and firm data in the first image of a combined weight of 300 kilograms director­general of the China boost its role in developing the edu­ black hole in deep space, won the into a low­Earth orbit, or 100 kg of Space Foundation. cation sector, he said. It also lays out top prize on Wednesday at the satellites into a sun­synchronous He said private players with cre­ the principle of inclusive and equal 2018 Shanghai Science and Tech­ orbit. ativity and technology are crucial use of AI technologies for the benefit nology Awards. Meanwhile, i­Space has begun to to achieving the nation’s goal of of the general public. At 65 meters in diameter, the design the SQX­2, a liquid­propel­ becoming a strong space power. Stefania Giannini, assistant radio telescope Tianma — or lant type of rocket that will be reus­ As of the end of last year, a total director­general for education at heavenly horse — located in the able, the source added. of 123 private enterprises on the UNESCO, said the conference repre­ suburban Songjiang district, is Private companies are eager to Chinese mainland had registered sented a milestone for cooperation, the largest omnibearing movable The Tianma radio telescope in Shanghai, which won the top seize business opportunities in the in the space industry, and 14 of and allowed consensus to be reached telescope in Asia and is ranked prize on Wednesday in the 2018 Shanghai Science and nation’s burgeoning commercial those were focused on rocket among UNESCO members on future third in the world in comprehen­ Technology Awards. GAO ERQIANG / CHINA DAILY space launch market. development and production, strategic directions and tackling key sive performance. It began pro­ Leading private rocket­makers according to a market report pub­ challenges regarding AI. viding celestial observations in in China — i­Space, LandSpace and lished last week by FutureAero­ Giannini said UNESCO agrees 2012. has a mass 6.5 billion times that of OneSpace — have been sparing no space, a privately owned space with President Xi Jinping’s proposal While Tianma was not directly 65 the sun. effort to develop their own carrier consultancy in Beijing. to use AI as a tool to accelerate the involved in the observations that meters It was one example of the role development of lifelong, equitable, led to the black hole image, its that Tianma has played in inter­ Diameter of the Tianma radio appropriate, open and flexible edu­ ability to see other phenomena in telescope, the largest omnibear­ national coordinated observa­ cation for all. the universe on certain wave­ ing movable telescope in Asia tions. Its super sensitivity has UNESCO will continue to pro­ lengths, contributed to the precise made its observations useful as a Advanced rocket engine mote dialogue, partnership and calibration of the final data for the reference by which other partici­ resource exchanges regarding AI­ image, scientists in Shanghai said. been making observations at pants in the network can adjust and education­related policies, and Tianma is part of the East Asia wavelengths of 7 and 13 millime­ their data, according to the ready for space mission fulfill the quality education targets Very Long Baseline Interferome­ ters for a long time, Shen said. Shanghai Astronomical Observa­ of the United Nations’ 2030 Sustain­ try Network, or EAVN. “EHT could capture the image tory. By ZHAO LEI able Development Goals, she said. Shen Zhiqiang, head of the Chi­ without assistance of the network “Tianma elevated the image [email protected] Tian Xuejun, vice­minister of edu­ nese Academy of Sciences’ Shang­ but the supporting observations quality of the EAVN, by about 50 cation, said new conditions and hai Astronomical Observatory provided supplemental informa­ percent, making a great contri­ A company in China has become issues will continue to emerge as and a member of the Event Hori­ tion and showed consistency with bution to the research on the third in the world, after two oth­ humanity enters the age of intelli­ zon Telescope (EHT) internation­ the EHT observations to better extreme objects in the universe, ers in the United States, to have gence, and the international com­ al team that assembled the black verify their accuracy,” Shen said. such as black holes,” Shen said. developed a new type of rocket munity must be responsible and hole image — more than 200 “The job of the network was “It currently plays a leading role engine at the cutting edge of space cooperative in its approach. astronomers worldwide linked included in one of the six papers in the network. All the other tele­ propulsion, its maker said. China is willing to further deepen via a globe­spanning array of about the research published by scopes have diameters of 20 LandSpace, a private startup in cooperation with UNESCO and its eight ground­based radio tele­ The Astrophysical Journal Letters meters at most. Tianma can Beijing, announced on Friday that members, create new platforms for scopes — said that the equipment in the United States,” he added. receive more signals than all of its TQ­12 methane rocket engine global exchange on AI and educa­ capturing the signals that were The image, which showed a them combined,” Shen said. successfully underwent a 20­second tion and build more inclusive, fair eventually translated into the ringlike structure with a dark cen­ Tianma has also played an trial run at the company’s test facili­ and higher­quality education sys­ image detected wavelengths of 1.3 tral region — the black hole’s indispensable role in determining ty in Huzhou, Zhejiang province. It tems, he said. These will in turn help millimeters, and there was no cor­ shadow — depicted the black hole orbits for China’s moon and deep is the world’s third high­perform­ achieve the UN’s sustainable devel­ responding equipment in China.