Space Development with Chinese Characteristics and its Practical Significance

XUE Huifeng

China Aerospace Academy of Systems Science and Engineering, Beijing 100048

Abstract: China’s space industry has been developed quickly and consistently setting new records for mankind in space exploration in the past 60 years. Four principles are upheld during its development. Systems engineering and overall thinking have played an important role in the development of China’s space industry. What’s more, the concept of systems engineering which originated from the space industry, being rooted in society, is a successful example of “Chinese theory” answering “Chinese question” and “Chinese wisdom” guiding “Chinese development”, which is a trump card for the country and provides a unique business governance mode with Chinese characteristics.

Key words: China’s space industry, Chinese characteristics, systems engineering

The “Atomic Bomb, Missile and Satellite” and Manned Space Program are not only a monument to Chinese history, but also a light of thought and the essence of wisdom. China’s space industry has developed high-quality and reliable products in a short time with a small investment with the background of a poor economy, backward scientific research conditions and a weak industrial foundation. Premier ZHOU Enlai once asked QIAN Xuesen “Can you introduce the method used in the space industry to other industries in China, so that they can learn from it as well?” Taking ZHOU Enlai’s concept into account , QIAN Xuesen deliberated and constantly reviewed the systems engineering and overall thinking that had played an important role in the development of China’s space industry. The overall design department in China’s space industry provides the overall design, deployment, coordination and integration of system operation, gathers all aspects of wisdom and reconciles all kinds of contradictions. It can implement an optimal solution with non-optimal components and realize the comprehensive promotion from an unsatisfied state to a satisfied state. Systems engineering and overall thinking have run through the 60-year development history of China’s space industry. They are the crystallization of wisdom after the great efforts of generations’ of aerospace workers.

QIAN Xuesen received the honor of “National Outstanding Contribution Scientist” in 1991. He was the only recipient of this honor so far. However, QIAN said, “All the programs such as the ‘Atomic Bomb, Missile and Satellite’ are based on mutual theories. What I did only was to adopt mature technologies for the application that had been proved practicable. I will do this as long as our country needs and it is not a big deal. Systems engineering and the overall thinking are my life pursuit. These concepts are maybe far more significant than my contribution to China’s space industry”. He even called the thinking “the Chinese invention, Chinese wisdom and the basis of China”. QIAN Xuesen established a series of systems engineering theory,method and technology with both Chinese characteristics and universal scientific significance after 20 years’ basic research in the US, 30 years’ practice in China’s space industry and 70 years lifelong academic research. He established a complete system of systems science in his later years, taking the social system as the main applied and research object. He advocated the establishment of the overall design department for the development of national economy and society.

The government established a “Comprehensively Deepening Reform Leading Group” a few decades later. The thought of systems engineering has received unprecedented attention from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the state. It is repeatedly stressed that “reform and opening up is systems engineering”, “to pay more attention to the systematization, integrity and cooperativity of reform” and “the implementation of innovationdriven development strategy is a systems engineering.” The establishment of the “Comprehensively Deepening Reform Leading Group” has brought the concept of the overall design department for the development of the national economy and society into reality. The concept of systems engineering which originated from the space industry, being rooted in society, is a successful example of “Chinese theory” answering “Chinese question” and “Chinese wisdom” guiding “Chinese development”, which is a trump card for the country and provides a unique business governance mode with Chinese characteristics.

We should sum up the development of China’s space industry over the past 60 years, to understand and improve systems engineering. China’s space industry has upheld four principles:

1 Firmly Following the Government’s Decision-making and Leadership, Giving Priority to the Country’s Strategic Needs and Mission at All Times

Figure 1 The first two BeiDou satellites are being launched

Figure 2 Tianzhou 1 cargo spacecraft is preparing for launch

The first generation of the central leadership made a decision to develop the space industry after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In the middle of 1950s, the government decided that the development of national defense science and technology of China should focus on cutting-edge technology and initiated major programs represented by the theme of“Atomic Bomb, Missile and Satellite”. China’s space industry has become the strategic cornerstone for national security and an important pillar for the country to “stand up” from the ruins.

The second generation of the central leadership required that the space industry to serve the economic construction.China’s space industry adhered to the policy of “civil and military integration”, ensuring military research and production while committing to the development of the national economy and the development of domestic and international markets. This was a major turning point in the history of China’s space industry. The space industry concentrated its efforts on developing practical and applied satellites, striving to realize the export of space technology, and promoted the implementation of space projects, laying an important technical foundation for the space industry to serve the construction of the national economy.

In the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century, the central leadership decided to implement the China Manned Space Program and clearly identified the Manned Space Program, Lunar Exploration Program, the second generation Satellite Navigation System and High-resolution Earth Observation System in the national medium- and long-term science and technology development plan, pointing out the direction for the development for the space industry.

The CPC Central Committee called to “develop the space industry and construct a space power”, emphasizing that “the civil and military integration leads the nation”. Thus, the strategic position of the space industry is more evident. In terms of carrying capacity, the LM-5 carrier rocket improved China’s LEO capacity from 8 tons to 25 tons, marking China’s entry into the era of non-toxic and pollution-free large rockets. In terms of man-made satellite, China has the second largest fleet of orbital satellites in the world. The first two BeiDou 3 satellites success-fully launched on November 5, 2017, opening up a new era for the global networking of the BeiDou System, and with the SJ-13 satellite successfully launched, it signified China’s graduation into the high-throughput satellite communications market. In terms of manned space, China has sent 11 astronauts into space through 14 missions. The Tianzhou 1 cargo spacecraft mission was completed successfully, marking the completion of the second step of China’s Manned Space Program and the start of the third step of China’s Manned Space Program – the construction of its space station. In terms of lunar exploration, China has launched four lunar probes, setting a precedent for the world’s first successful soft landing on the moon. The “Lunar Palace 365” experiment was initiated in May 2017. It will be China’s first and world’s third ground-based experimental device for a Bioregenerative Life Support System (BLSS). In terms of space science, the “Micius” satellite became the first to realize a thousand-kilometer quantum communication link between a satellite and a ground station on the earth and successfully completing three main scientific missions, establishing China in a world leading position in quantum communications research. In November 2017 China’s Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE),also named “Wukong”, successfully detected the electron cosmic ray spectrum to the world’s highest precision. China’s space industry has become one of the most active industries in China,with the most concentrated cutting-edge technology, the most complex implementation and the most powerful industry.

Historical experience shows that only by sticking to the government’s leadership, focusing on the major strategic needs of China, considering the safeguard of national interests as the highest criterion, can the space industry proceed in the right direction, living up to its mission and achieving victory.

2 Stick to Self-reliance and Independent Innovation, From Follower to Leader, Emerging as A Space Power

China’s space industry is a firm practitioner of scientific and technological innovation and a leading force in implementing an innovation-driven development strategy. Looking at the development of China’s space industry over the past 60 years, the reason why it has been able to develop quickly, consistently setting new records for mankind in space exploration is that it sticks to self-reliance and independent innovation. President XI Jinping said that “the success of China’s Chang’e 3 mission is an important achievement of an innovation-driven development strategy as well as a useful experience for the implementation of this strategy”. From this point of view, the scientific and systematic analysis of the innovation experience in China’s space industry has significant meaning for the development of other industrial fields.

First is the brave pioneering innovation strategy. The innovation of strategic thinking, direction and routine is the most distinguishing feature of China’s space innovation. At the beginning of China’s space industry, QIAN Xuesen suggested China develop the missile instead of the airplane. QIAN Xuesen wrote that“the spacecraft program should also be reported to the government” in 1989 when people argued whether the space shuttle or spacecraft should be developed first, providing a scientific plan for China’s space industry again. An icebreaking strategy determines the breakthrough in innovation. Only by maintaining the strategic sense of “reality is not what it should be” can we occupy the commanding heights and seize the initiative in the fierce scientific and technological competitive advantage.

Second is the four phase innovation routine. China’s space industry formed a technology development routine of four phases namely “exploration, pre-research, develop and manufacture”. The “Exploration phase” is to focus on long-term development and new conceptual research. The “Pre-research phase” is to break through the technical bottlenecks which hamper the development of the space industry. Then the “Develop phase” is to develop new products to meet users’ needs. Finally the “Manufacture phase” is to manufacture stable products and equipments to deliver to users. Among them, the emphasis on pre-research and exploration is obviously different from other industries in China. For the research and development of modern large-scale science and technological programs such as in the space industry, new products must apply new technologies that have not been used before to speed up the tempo of technological development. The design of new products can be assured with better performance and higher reliability through pre-research. Pre-research is an important way to accumulate the technology. There would be no technology reserve and no spanning development without pre-research.

Third is the innovation system comprising complete systems. China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation(CASC) has dozens of system-level R&D centers, professional technology R&D centers, a national laboratory and national engineering center, and has also established dozens of cooperations and innovation platforms with universities.

3 Stick to the Space Spirit, Stay True to the Mission of Serving the Country and Keep Scaling to New Heights

Great causes requires great spirit, and great spirit promotes great causes. The unique traditional space spirit (i.e. self-reliance, vigorous cooperation, respect science, being rigorous and pragmatic, dedicated, open to challenge), “Atomic Bomb, Missile and Satellite” spirit (i.e. patriotic, selfless, self-reliance, work hard, vigorous cooperation, open to challenge) and “Manned Space” spirit (i.e. especially able to bear hardships, to fight, to tackle key problems and to contribute) have been formed during the development of China’s space industry. The vast number of space workers have achieved miracles in China’s space industry with wisdom and sweat. These space spirits are powerful spiritual forces building a space power and realizing a space dream. Space workers have firmly stuck to the principle of the holism concept and common values throughout the historical development and at every major turning point of the space industry. The space spirit is the product of the great national spirit and space practice, with a distinctive national character and practicality, and has been a shining pearl in the treasure-house of Chinese national spirit and culture.

4 Stick to Systems Engineering Which Provides Methods of Thought and Organization Management for Success

First is the management mode including one Overall design department, two command lines and a scientific and technical committee. QIAN Xuesen gained his experience of organization and management in rocket missile research from a theoretical level and wrote the bookEngineering Cybernetics. The book contains many disruptive thoughts such as “establish a quite reliable system with less reliable elements”. It is considered as the first work in modern systems science development, attracting great attention from the science and technology community and the philosophical community, and is also a theory resource for systems engineering management in China’s space industry.For large-scale systems engineering with multi-discipline, the development of space products have the characteristics of complex technology, with high synthesis, wide cooperation, a long development period, high quality and reliability, plus uncertainty and high risk. The purpose of space product management is to complete the target task for users in a very short time with little input using reasonable technical methods through good organization and coordination. This involves a great deal of overall coordination. Instead of one or several chief designers, it requires a team or department to assure the completion of the overall design and technology of the system, i.e. an overall design department. In 1962, QIAN Xuesen participated in and led the formulation of the “70 regulations” which stipulated that the overall design department is the organization where the chief designers control the overall technological work. It is responsible for the formulation of the overall plan and preliminary design, and drafting the sub-system design tasks. It is also responsible for the overall technical coordination, product matching,sub-system acceptance, assembly testing, comprehensive testing and design finalization. The overall design receives a top-level structure, function and requirements of systems through analysis and trade-offs based on the requirements and the constraining conditions of large systems. According to the characteristics of the research target, the system structure and function requirements are reduced into subsystems and single units to become specific work modules defined to be worked on. Through the coordination, design, integration and testing of components,subsystems and systems step by step, the products that meet users’ requirements can realize the required system functions and performance “1+1＞2”. All the work including demonstration and determination of technical indicators, work breakdown and implementation of program indicators for subsystems, technology and progress coordination of the whole development process and assembly, ground test and flight test couldn’t be done without the overall design department.

The “general command system” and “chief designer system”are the concentrated embodiments of administration and technological leading modes in the development of space products.The general command system includes responsibilities such as economy, quality and safety of product development, coordinating the design, manufacture and launch of the whole project.The chief designer system mainly assists the general command system, managing the project and is responsible for the technology, design, test and quality of the project. The outstanding advantage of the two systems is that their levels and responsibilities are clearly defined so that the disadvantages of unclear authority between administration and technology can be effectively avoided.

QIAN Xuesen learnt academic democracy from America.In the 1950s and 1960s, QIAN Xuesen often organized free discussions with space experts on the principle of democratic centralism. However the discussion at home could not keep up with the rapid development of China’s space industry. QIAN Xuesen proposed to establish a scientific and technical committee composed of experts on June 12, 1961, providing advice for administrative leaders. The scientific and technical committee has helped leaders to make scientific and democratic decisions and strengthened the pre-research which provided technical reserves for project development. As the “source” of development, the scientific and technical committee often studies, discusses and formulates the short-, medium- and longterm development plan for China’s space industry. Many of the major decisions in China’s space development are made by the scientific and technical committee. It serves as a “cradle” for strategic scientists.

The management mode including one overall design department, two command lines and a scientific and technical committee has become an important space management innovation with unique characteristics and universal application significance.

Second is the support system with national collaboration.National collaboration of space engineering is based on two levels: the collaboration network within the science and technology industry and the collaboration nationwide. The collaboration in the science and technology industry is mainly about product research, design, manufacture and test. A number of technical centers have been formed covering general professional technology and basic technology as part of the whole space industry across the country, enabling full play for the role of the professional technology departments while avoiding redundant construction at the same time. There are four aspects in nationwide collaboration. First is the science and research collaboration network that mainly provides the theoretical basis and technical foundation for project development to explore new technological approaches. Second is the manufacture collaboration network that mainly provides technical cooperation and accessory products for the manufacture of space products.Third is the material and equipment collaboration network that mainly provides raw materials, components, electromechanical equipment and non-standard equipment for project development. Fourth is the space launch experiment network that mainly provides various guarantees for launch experiment.The establishment of national collaboration helps the space science and technology industry play a role in the system overall organization, condensing force to promote collaboration and innovation and lead the development of science and technology in other fields. For example, there are more than 3000 scientific research and production units participating in the implementation of China Manned Space Program, involving many fields such as mechanical electronics, chemical materials and biomedical. The program has not only promoted the development of space science, information technology and industry technology but also achieved a large number of innovations in the areas such as biological medicine and agricultural breeding.

Third is a reliable quality system which applies “double five”standards to the quality problem in a closed loop. The “double five” standards are five standards covering technology problems using a close loop with five standards of problem management also in a close loop. The five standards for the technology problem close loop include the features of accurate positioning, clear mechanism, problem recurrence, effective measures and drawing lesson from one another. The five standards of management problem close loop include features of clear process, clear responsibility, measure implementation, stern punishment and perfecting regulations. As a whole, the “double five” standards are not only a review, but also a whole process prevention mechanism covering every aspect of space development. In fact, it is required that the phases of space research and development must guarantee the quality in advance. More importantly, the experience must be used to guide the development of other systems so that the quality problems can be improved upon continuously and the same kind of problem won’t be repeated.

In his later years, QIAN Xuesen devoted himself to the establishment of a series of systems: engineering theory, method and technology with universal scientific significance and its promotion in the development of the national economy and for the benefit to society. He explored systematic approaches and made important achievements impacting the social system.From his early workEngineering Cybernetics, toThe Organization and Management Technology:Systems Engineeringpublished in 1978 and then later to his “open complex giant system theory”, QIAN Xuesen has established a complete system of systems science. The core of QIAN Xuesen systems engineering theory is based upon metasynthetic engineering, combining qualitative analysis with quantitative analysis. Its theory,method and system tools are established under the guidance of the overall department concept, while considering an open complex system of large proportions as the backdrop. From a universal perspective it is important to enable good decisionmaking and handle complex management problems to ensure economic and social development.

China Academy of Aerospace Systems Science and Engineering (CAASSE) adopted first the QIAN Xuesen systems engineering theorem and QIAN Xuesen think tank ideas. QIAN Xuesen started a systematology seminar within the predecessor organization of CAASSE in 1986, improving the Chinese school of systems engineering and promoting an unprecedented leap forward in human understanding of the objective world. He built up a complete think tank methodological tool system and workshop of metasynthetic engineering that combines qualitative analysis with quantitative analysis, establishing the infrastructure for the QIAN Xuesen think tank of which the input from experts, information and machine systems are optimized with each other under the concepts of “human-machine combined,human-network combined and human-based” knowledge.CAASSE established the approach of “six systems and two platforms” on the basis of the three systems, i.e. think tank system,information system, expert system, network and information system, model system and decision-making support system, machine platform and command control platform. This system has played an important role in the decision-making covering major problems with the national economy and for social development. CAASSE and its predecessor has supported the proposed manned spaceship program, the formulation of the Medium and Long-term Development Plan for National Civil Space Infrastructure, the formulation of White Paper on China Space Activities and several five-year plans for space development. CAASSE has especially supported major policy decision-making for national macro economic growth, the population and received a First-class National Science and Technology Progress Award.When the China Aerospace Engineering Consulting Center, the predecessor of CAASSE, was established, QIAN Xuesen sent a congratulatory letter, “In the 1980s to 1990s. I often directed the further development of space systems engineering in this institute. We tried to promote and apply the scientific principle and method of systems engineering to the construction of the national economy development and this has made important achievements.” On April 24, 2016, China’s first National Space Day, CAASSE was officially established through the restructuring of 5 organizations under CASC. CAASSE took the lead responsibilities to construct the QIAN Xuesen think tank, to support the space industry and serve the nation and become a system integrator to promote the military-civil integration. Constructing the QIAN Xuesen think tank is the prime mission. CAASSE is devoted to promoting the QIAN Xuesen think tank into every aspect of government decision-making. The concept of the overall design department is adopted like a plant from the root,to bloom and fruit in many industries. Systems engineering, the overall design department and the think tank infrastructure with“six systems and two platforms”, the wisdom of 60 years’ of development of China’s space industry, are not only a valuable experience for Chinese corporate governance, but also influences the Chinese wisdom that promotes the modernization of the national governance system and its abilities.