China storms ahead in space weather research with largest observatory on Earth

The US$212 million Chinese Meridian Project links hundreds of instruments across the country for end-to-end monitoring of solar activity

The network could one day form part of a China-led global effort to achieve all-time, all-weather tracking of geomagnetic storms

Reading Time:4 minutes

A network of observatories across China will be used to monitor the effects of flares from the sun as they travel through solar-terrestrial space to Earth’s atmosphere. Photo: Nasa

Published: 6:00pm, 2 Jan 2024Updated: 12:04pm, 3 Jan 2024

China has achieved a world first in space weather monitoring, with the completion of the largest network of ground-based observatories on Earth, stretching across the country in two bands from north to south and east to west.

The Chinese Meridian Project, led by the National Space Science Centre (NSSC) in Beijing, took eight years and more than 1.5 billion yuan (US$212 million) to build and could eventually form the basis of an international monitoring programme.

NSSC director Wang Chi, the project’s chief commander, said the breakthrough would help researchers to better understand the “whole process” of space weather, which is known to disrupt satellite operations and knock out power grids on Earth.

“For the first time, the Chinese Meridian Project will achieve end-to-end monitoring – from the sun to solar-terrestrial space to Earth’s atmosphere,” he told state broadcaster CCTV.

“It will not only safeguard China’s major space infrastructure for national strategic needs, but also push Chinese scientists to the forefront of space weather research.”

The project, funded by China’s National Development and Reform Commission, was developed out of the growing need to better understand and predict solar activity and its potentially devastating effects on a range of technologies.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x