Wu Yueliang, chief scientist of China’s space-based gravitational wave detection project “Taiji Program” and Vice President of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, was invited to co-author a commentary in Nature alongside Professor Xu Shuyan’s team from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and colleagues from the United States, Japan, and Australia, entitled “Explore space using swarms of tiny satellites.” The Chinese version of the article, titled The Future of Satellites, was published as a news feature in Scientific American China. The article suggests that sand-grain-sized computers, self-healing materials, and satellite constellations will redefine humanity’s journey of space exploration.
The article notes that space exploration is not only a crucial frontier for scientific research, but space activities have also become a vast industry. However, current technologies and concepts are far from adequate to meet the pace of development. To satisfy humanity’s ambitions and objectives in space, breakthroughs are required in three key areas.
First, satellites and spacecraft need to be developed toward miniaturization. Smaller devices require less energy to operate, weigh less, and reduce launch costs. This enables thousands of “femtosatellites” to operate as a networked system. At the same time, standardized micro-satellite designs must be established to accelerate research, production, and deployment, reduce costs, and facilitate the development of corresponding “micro-rockets.” Active satellites also need high-stability micro-propulsion systems.
Second, satellites and spacecraft need to achieve long lifespans. The operational life of space technology is critical for lunar and Martian development. To significantly extend the lifespan of satellites and spacecraft, it is necessary for them to possess regenerative capabilities similar to those of the immortal jellyfish, establishing fully self-healing space platforms, including propulsion systems, power stations, life-support systems, and scientific instruments. Achieving this requires major breakthroughs and new operational approaches.
Third, satellites and spacecraft need to operate in a networked manner. Large constellations of micro-satellites can enable multiple capabilities, including self-organization, morphability, self-learning, and the ability to simultaneously monitor vast spatial regions, functioning like artificial intelligence over long durations. The article cites SpaceX’s plan to launch 12,000 small satellites by around 2025 to establish a space-based internet network, Starlink.
The article further emphasizes that achieving miniaturization, long lifespan, and networked operation of satellites and spacecraft—allowing thousands of micro-satellites in a constellation to operate like a neural network—requires close collaboration across materials science, robotics, aerospace propulsion technology, artificial intelligence, and related foundational research. It also requires policy and legal support, including establishing an international legal framework for operating large-scale constellations.
China’s space-based gravitational wave detection “Taiji Program” consists of a triangular constellation of satellites with roughly 3 million kilometers of separation, orbiting the Sun about twenty degrees ahead of or behind Earth, aimed at detecting and studying low- to mid-frequency gravitational waves. This satellite constellation forms a super-stable platform integrated with experimental equipment, employing high-precision inter-satellite laser interferometry, continuously adjustable micro-propulsion, and drag-free spacecraft technology, along with ultra-precise and stable measurement instruments, including ultra-stable lasers, phasemeters, telescopes, clocks, and thermal control systems, using ultra-low thermal expansion and ultra-low deformation materials.
The Taiji Program spans multiple disciplines, including physics, astronomy, space science, materials science, optics, precision measurement, aerospace engineering, and navigation. Key experimental twin satellites are scheduled for launch around 2025 to validate critical space technologies. The program’s background model project has received approval under the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Strategic Priority Research Program for Space Science (Phase II). The full three-satellite constellation is planned for launch in 2033 to conduct space-based gravitational wave experiments and advance the exploration and understanding of the universe.
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