as the main base of china’s space technology research activities, cast is engaged in providing solutions to the research, exploration, and exploitation of outer space, as well as developing various spacecraft and related terrestrial equipments. in addition, cast is also an important part in planning china’s space development. its research fields are listed as follows:

spacecraft system design
included are the design of both platforms for many series of spacecraft mentioned above and their orbits. in addition, dynamic analysis and experiment of these spacecraft are also included.

payloads of communications satellites
including research and application of transponders and antenna.

payloads of remote sensing satellites
consisting of research and application of visible, ir, multiple spectrum, ultraviolet, and microwave remote sensing technology.

spacecraft structure and mechanism design
its main task is to design different types and forms of spacecraft structure and mechanism with characteristics of light-weight, high-reliability, and low-cost so as to meet various demands. listed as follows:

1)      mechanism design, including load-bearing and assembly devices, spacecraft enclosure, antenna, solar arrays, thermal protection, and connection-separation mechanism etc.

2)      structure analysis and research. it can be further divided into dynamical analysis, static analysis, heat stress analysis, and fatigue failure analysis. of which dynamical analysis includes mode analysis, dynamical response analysis, load analysis, and other dynamical analysises;

3)      orbital dynamics research and orbital control, providing solutions to orbit measurement, orbit determination, transfer orbital control, orbital maneuver, orbital keeping, control of spacecraft reentry and landing, etc.;

spacecraft attitude dynamics and control
to study methods and technologies for attitude control of mono spinning, dual spinning and three axis stabilization, as well as to design and develop various kinds of measurement equipment and actuating mechanism.

spacecraft thermal control
to perform thermal design and analysis for spacecraft; to study heat transfer and control technology under space environment. included are also the research of thermal control-related materials and devices

spacecraft power supply
to study technology concerning electrochemical power sources and solar cells, as well as related generation, storage, and distribution of power.

spacecraft measurement and control
to provide methods for spacecraft measurement and control, and to research and design tt&c system, ground test facilities, data coding, and appropriate antenna for various frequency bands.

spacecraft recovery
including research of de-orbit, speed reduction, and landing control technologies, and design of recovery system.

space environment monitoring and simulation
the former concerns measurements of solar electromagnetic radiation, energetic particle radiation, plasma, and research of environmental effects, while the later concentrates on study of methods and devices for simulating space environments, including thermal vacuum environment simulation and space dynamics one.

control system simulation
to carry out simulation research and to realize the simulation system.

vacuum technology
to study vacuum technology, and its utilization.

cryogenic technology
to study cryogenic technology, control technologies, and its utilization.

radiation hardening
to study how space radiation environment effects in-orbit spacecraft and corresponding mitigation measures.

spacecraft manufacture
included are: enclosure, application of composite material, surface coating, integration and test, high-precision measurement of mass property, and air tightness detection.

metering technology
including measurement methods and measurement technology.

computer-aided engineering (cae)
to carry out application research of the integration and robotization for spacecraft design, manufacture, and test.

satellite applications
included are tracking and monitoring to various spacecraft and related equipment, process and typical application of remote sensing information, evaluation of satellite images, development of terrestrial communications networks and related operation services.

spaceborne experiments
to explore methods of get-away experiments by using recoverable satellites.

spacecraft materials
to study the process and related equipment of various composite materials, e.g. titanium alloy and aluminum alloy, which are vital to those parts with high strength, and the processing technology and equipment of thinfilm.