The Chinese Shenzhou-18 mission returns after six months in orbit with 34.6 kg of scientific samples

The Chinese Shenzhou-18 manned mission returned to Earth this Monday, bringing with it a load of 34.6 kilograms of samples and results from scientific experiments carried out on the space station. Tiangong.

This seventh round of experiments includes 55 types of samples destined for 28 research projects in the areas of biology, advanced materials and space combustion technology, state broadcaster CCTV reported today.

The life science samples were sent to the Space Applications Engineering Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Beijing, where they were reviewed and distributed for analysis.

Among the 24 biological samples, zebrafish cultures, amino acids and radiation-resistant microorganisms stand out, that will allow us to study everything from the cycle of materials in space aquatic ecosystems to the adaptability of anaerobic life forms in extraterrestrial environments.

In the field of advanced materials, the 30 samples include niobium alloys and bioactive glass.

The studies focus on the behavior of these materials in space, evaluating the segregation of components and solidification defects, with potential applications in fiber optic lasers and materials for precision medicine.

Besides, the Shenzhou-18 that brought back astronauts Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsucarried inside a sample of nanoparticles synthesized through the combustion of methane, key to investigating how gravity affects the synthesis of particles on a nanometric scale.

This research could lay the foundation for future materials synthesis technologies in outer space, similar to those of the Shenzhou-19 mission, launched last week, which will carry out research related to the construction of habitats on the Moon, using bricks. made with simulated lunar soil material.

It is likely that the Tiangong, which will operate for about ten years, will become the only space station in the world starting this year if the International Space Station, an initiative led by the United States and to which China is banned from access due to ties military from its space program, is withdrawing as planned.

On October 15, China presented its new scientific project, designed to guide the development of missions and promote technological advances in order to position the country as a “world power in space science” while deepening research into the cosmos and the exploration of the universe.

Divided into three phases, The National Medium and Long Term Plan for the Development of Space Science plans to execute more than 50 missions until 2050focusing on areas such as the search for habitable planets and the study of gravitational waves.

China has invested heavily in its space program and has managed to land the Chang’e 4 probe on the far side of the Moon – the first time this has been achieved – and reach Mars for the first time, becoming the third country – after the United States and the extinct Soviet Union – in “amartizar”.