Beihang Vice President Tao Zhi was invited to attend a New Year Reception of Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO) in Beijing on Dec. 19. Among other attendees were Zhang Kejian, Director of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), the representatives of the APSCO’s member states, and representatives from embassies, domestic enterprises and research institutions in the field of space technology.

During the reception, Tao Zhi, as a guest representative, witnessed the signing ceremonies of three memorandums of understanding between APSCO and Argentina National Space Activity Commission (CONAE), APSCO and China Centre for Resources Satellite Data and Application (CRESDA), and APSCO and Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), respectively.

Initiated by China, APSCO was officially founded in 2008, with its headquarter in Beijing. It is an inter-governmental non-profit organization with full international legal status, as well as a Permanent Observer at the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN-COPUOS).

The Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization Education and Training Center in China, located at Beihang, was founded on July 26, 2013. Beihang took the lead in the APSCO University Small Satellite Project in 2016 and established the APSCO University Small Satellite Ground-based Control and Command Center in 2018.

As a close partner of APSCO, Beihang has trained 207 postgraduate students and 52 doctoral students in the filed of space technology for the member states of APSCO since 2006. It has organized more than 30 short-term training courses on space technology and its applications for more than 1,500 students.

Reported by Guo Yuanyuan

Reviewed by Weng Jingnong

Edited by Jia Aiping

Translated by Lyu Xingyun