In the fields of space science and applied research, NSSC has good cooperation relations with other space institutes at home and abroad. Several international conferences and workshops are held annually. The Secretariat of Chinese National Committee for COSPAR and China’s Space Science Data Center affiliated to the World Data Center are located in NSSC. The China-Russia Joint Research Center on Space Weather was established in December 2000 by the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics SB RAS (ISTP SB RAS) and the National Space Science Center (NSSC) of Chinese Academy of Sciences.
As for international cooperation projects, NSSC proposed and initiated the Double Star Exploration Program (DSP), which is the first cooperative space science project between ESA and China National Space Administration, and Yinghuo-1, the first Chinese Mars exploration project collaborated between Chinese and Russian scientists. NSSC promoted the International Space Weather Meridian Circle Program (ISWMCP), designated to connect 120ºE and 60ºW meridian chains of ground based observatories and enhance the ability of monitoring space environment worldwide which involved Russia, Australia, Canada and Brazil.
A typical example of international cooperation is the ESA-China Cooperation in terms of depth and scale.
Since the First ESA-China bilateral workshop in space science in October 2004, the annual mechanism of bilateral dialogue has been formed, with the meeting places alternating between China and Europe. On March 2011, Yin Hejun, Vice President of Chinese Academy of Sciences, attended the Seventh ESA-China Bilateral Space Science Workshop in Madrid, Spain. At the meeting of ESA-China Spaceflight Joint Committee held in September 2011, the space science group led by NSSC officially confirmed the ESA’s participation in the Chinese “Kuafu Project” which mission will advance our understanding of the Sun-Earth connections and Geospace and improve the capabilities of space weather forecast. KuaFu will facilitate progress in outstanding problems in Solar, heliospheric and magnetospheric sciences of space science.
In March 2011, the Scientific Operation Cooperation Workshop on Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT) was held in Madrid, Spain. Consensus has been reached to set up a HXMT Scientific Operation working group, which is comprised of management and technical members who are responsible for consultation, calibration, providing software and making use of the ESA ground calibration facilities.
In September 2011, NSSC sponsored and hosted the Second ESA-China Mars Advanced School in Weihai, Shandong Province. ESA dispatched the Mars Lead Scientist and invited ESA experts on Mars to come to China to deliver lectures for the school. The organizations and institutes who participated in the training sessions of the school include: National Space Science Center, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, National Astronomical Observatory of China, Shandong University at Weihai, Chinese Academy of Space Technology, Beijing Aerospace Control Center, etc. The school enhanced the understanding to Mars future research of China.
