400 spacecraft

THE China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) has developed and successfully launched a total of 400 spacecraft with its Tianhui-6 twin satellites sent into space Friday morning.

The two satellites were launched onboard a Long March-4C carrier rocket and will be used for geographic mapping, land resource survey, and scientific experiments, among others.

The CASC plans to launch more than 200 spacecraft in about 60 space missions in 2023 and will see the 500th flight mission of the Long March carrier rocket series this year.

Prehistoric site

A PREHISTORIC site dating back more than 4,000 years was recently discovered in Zibo City, East China’s Shandong Province.

The “Gaonan Site” was found at a construction site in Fangzhen Township, Zhangdian District, covering an area of approximately 20,000 square meters.

A local archaeological team began excavating the site Feb. 20. Pottery artifacts have already been unearthed.

Fang Shuyu, an employee of the provincial institute of cultural relics and archaeology, said that an unearthed pottery cooking utensil had been identified as a typical tool of the Longshan Culture, a late Neolithic civilization that could be found along the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River.

Forest coverage rate

THE forest coverage rate in China has reached about 24%, with 231 million hectares of forests. And 265 million hectares of grassland cover about 50% of the country’s land areas, according to a report released by the National Afforestation Committee yesterday.

The report said last year 3.83 million hectares of trees were planted and 3.21 million hectares of degraded grassland were treated.