The online research seminar for the international collaborative project on the China Space Station “Flame Instabilities Affected by Vortices and Acoustic Waves (FIAVAW)” began on May 11, 2020, 2 pm, Beijing time. The research seminar was participated in by more than 30 people including Dr. Jun Ma, Director of the Overseas R&D Management Office, Tsinghua University, Miss Mengyun Chen, Project Manager, Center of International Collaboration, the Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the faculty investigators of the Center for Combustion Energy (CCE), Tsinghua University, Professors Suyuan Yu and Yu Cheng Liu, and of the University of Tokyo, Professors Mitsuhiro Tsue and Shinji Nakaya. The seminar lasted for three hours and was hosted by Professor Suyuan Yu of the CCE.
Representing Tsinghua University in the greeting speech, Dr. Jun Ma welcomed the delegations from both Tsinghua and UTokyo and congratulated them on the successful implementation of the international collaborative project. In the hope of contributing to all humanity, Dr. Ma said that such international collaboration can further facilitate the development of space related technology and promote quality research. During the seminar, members from Tsinghua and UTokyo took turns and provided topical presentations on the research progress of flame instabilities affected by vortices and acoustic waves. The discussion was very well participated and this format reflects the advantage of utilizing remote software for international collaboration. The various forms of international collaboration received positive feedback from both professors and students and facilitated the actual progress of the project.
Based on the solicitation for the United Nations/China Cooperation on the Utilization of the China Space Station (CSS), the first-run selected international collaborative projects were announced in June 2019. Among the nine projects accepted from 23 institutions of 17 countries, six were finally shortlisted as “fully accepted” and three were “conditionally accepted”. The research areas involve space life science, biotechnology, microgravity fluid physics, microgravity combustion, astronomy, and space technologies, each representing its own research area and level of technology. This program represents a significant effort towards international collaboration in the area of manned space science research of China and is an important sign for the Chinese space program to move from independent exploration to global collaboration. “Flame instabilities Affected by Vortices and Acoustic Waves (FIAVAW)” as a project of microgravity combustion is the only project among the six fully accepted ones that is led by a Chinese team. The joint team of the project consists of members from Tsinghua University and the University of Tokyo.
