Chinese ASAT awards

This is kind of curious considering how silent the PRC has been on the
topic.

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Space Weapons Scientists Honoured
Hong Kong South China Morning Post Online
10 Jan 2009
By Stephen Chen

The scientists behind the until-now secret military technology that
two years ago helped a Chinese missile destroy a satellite in space
were publicly honoured yesterday - a sign, some experts said, that
China was becoming more open and assertive.

In a grand ceremony in the Great Hall of the People, President Hu
Jintao presented the 2008 State Top Scientific and Technological
Invention Award to a Dalian University of Technology team.

Their award was for developing a radome, a spherical structure that
covers the antenna of a missile's radar. The technology was key to the
success of the 2007 missile test, rocket experts said.

"We can't hit any satellites without this technology," a senior
researcher at a Beijing technical university told the South China
Morning Post. Three other Beijing-based space scientists confirmed to
the Post that the technology was behind the anti-satellite missile.

Another team of scientists, from Beihang University , formerly the
Beijing Institute of Aeronautics, was also honoured yesterday for
developing the sensors and software needed to help the missile
identify its target.

That technology "has been applied in four space weapons development
programmes... and 20 key defence projects", the Ministry of Education
said on its website.

[It isn't on the English website. It would be worthwhile to check the
Chinese one, but I don't read Chinese...]

[snip]

The office of Guo Dongming, leader of the Dalian scientific team, said
they would not accept overseas media interviews because the technology
they developed was related to defence secrets.

Radomes determine the accuracy of a guided missile. Mainland
scientists had worked out long ago how to remedy their radome design
but lacked the equipment to make one. Radomes are fixed on the head of
a missile, so they have to be hard enough to protect the antenna but
fragile enough to break upon impact.

Professor Guo and his team solved the problem in 2001.

=====================

http://news.dlut.edu.cn/English/DUTH...555d16537.html

Prof. Guo Dongming Won the First Prize of 2008 State Technological
Invention Award

ÈÕÆÚ£º2009-01-11 23:06 µã»÷£º 7 ´Î

The awarding ceremony for China's 2008 State Top Scientific and
Technological Awards was jointly held by the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China and the State Council at the Great Hall of
the People in Beijing, January 9, 2009. DUT Prof. Guo Dongming and his
team¡¯s research achievements ¡°Precision Manufacturing Technology and
Equipments for the Complex Surface Parts of Hard and Brittle
Materials¡± won the first-prize of State Technological Invention Award,
which is a big breakthrough for DUT, and universities in Dalian even
in Liaoning Province.

Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao and other party and state leaders attended the
ceremony. When Prof. Guo received the award certificate from the hands
of President Hu Jintao, the whole audience burst into stormy applause.
This solemn and stately moment carries with the glory and dream of
over 30 thousands DUT teachers and students.

Prof. Guo with his research team, in accordance with China¡¯s urgent
need for major projects, under the circumstance of no reference
available either at home or abroad, succeeded to invent the precision
manufacturing technology and equipments for complex curved parts made
of the hard and brittle materials. This project has already obtained 4
patents, all of which have been applied into practice and solved the
problems of manufacturing the complex surface parts made of the hard
and brittle materials such as quartz ceramic.Their success marks that
DUT not only has her own place in the academic frontier in this field,
but also serves as a pacemaker.

Due to 12 years of hardworking and knowledge exploration, the team led
by Prof. Guo, with the joint efforts of Prof. Jia Zhenyuan, Prof. Kang
Renke, Prof. Wang Yongqing, Vice Prof. Sheng Xianjun and other
members, has achieved such a splendid glory.

The invention of the manufactory technology and equipment for complex
surface parts made of hard and brittal materials to meet the high
quality requirement is adopted in the machine-building process and
device field.

This invention also can be applied in the measurement and processing
of other large-scale and intricate surface complex surface thin-wall
parts for high performance requirements, and will gain great social
and economic benefits.