Helicopter carries the return capsule off the ground in Suining, Southwest Sichuan Province on September 24, 2006.             China's seed-breeding satellite, Shijian-8, successfully landed in Sichuan Province at 10:43 am Beijing time yesterday after a 15-day flight in space. The recoverable satellite was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in Northwest China on September 9. The satellite's return capsule was recovered in Suining, Sichuan Province. The orbital module will continue to orbit the earth and carry out more experiments until its battery runs out. The satellite carried 215 kilograms of seeds of vegetables, fruits, grains and cotton, the largest load of this kind since 1987. Scientists from the Space-breeding Centre of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science used the mission to carry out experiments aimed at discovering what happens to the germination and sprouting of plants when they are exposed to zero gravity. After being exposed to cosmic radiation and zero gravity, some seeds may mutate and produce higher yields and improved quality when planted back on earth, scientists said. During its flight, the satellite sent back high-definition digital images of sprouting vegetables, according to the Institute of Plant Physiology & Ecology with the Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. An official from the Ministry of Agriculture said the ministry will ask research institutes to use the seeds returned from space to develop new strands featuring high yields, good quality and high efficiency. Since 1987, China has carried out seed breeding tests on nine satellites. The Shijian-8 is the 90th space flight made by Long March rockets and the 23rd time China has launched a recoverable satellite. China has chalked up 48 successful space launches in a row since October 1996. (China Daily)

在經(jīng)過15天的太空飛行后，我國"實踐八號"育種衛(wèi)星于北京時間9月24日10時43分在四川省境內(nèi)成功著陸。 "實踐八號"可回收育種衛(wèi)星9月9日在我國西北部的九泉衛(wèi)星發(fā)射中心發(fā)射升空。 "實踐八號"衛(wèi)星返回艙在四川省遂寧縣落地回收。衛(wèi)星留軌艙在電池耗盡之前，還將在軌運行一段時間，繼續(xù)進行一些科學實驗任務(wù)。 "實踐八號"衛(wèi)星共搭載了215公斤蔬菜、水果、谷物和棉花種子上天，是1987年以來搭載種子量最多的一次。 中國農(nóng)業(yè)科學院太空育種中心的科學家們希望通過"實踐八號"所做的科學實驗探測失重對種子發(fā)芽產(chǎn)生的影響。 科學家介紹，在宇宙輻射和失重環(huán)境下，有些種子可能會發(fā)生變異，這些變異種種植到地球上后，能培育出高產(chǎn)優(yōu)質(zhì)的新品種。 據(jù)中科院上海生命科學植物生理生態(tài)研究所介紹，"實踐八號"在飛行過程中傳回了一系列高清晰的青菜太空發(fā)芽的照片。 農(nóng)業(yè)部的一位官員說，農(nóng)業(yè)部將要求有關(guān)研究機構(gòu)把從太空回來的種子培育成高產(chǎn)、優(yōu)質(zhì)、高效的新品種作物。 從1987年起，中國相繼進行了九次太空育種實驗。 "實踐8號"育種衛(wèi)星是中國發(fā)射的第23顆可回收衛(wèi)星，這次發(fā)射也是長征系列運載火箭的第90次飛行。自1996年10月以來，我國已連續(xù)第48次取得太空發(fā)射成功。 (英語點津姍姍編輯)