Sixteen years after their deaths, it has been revealed by Liang Xiaohong, Party Secretary of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, that two colleagues were killed when the launch of the first Long March III rocket failed on February 15, 1996. “Let’s mourn the deaths of Comrade Qian Zhiying and Comrade Yang Linzhen, who have spilled their blood to tell us that quality is a matter of life and death,” Liang said in a CCTV documentary. The government hopes that China’s share of the global satellite launch market will grow from less than 4% at present to more than 15% by 2015.

A team of Hong Kong scientists will join China’s first lunar project by developing a device to recover samples of lunar rocks. Polytechnic University signed a contract with the China Academy of Space Technology on the research and development of a “surface sampling and packing system” for the third and final phase of the Chang’e lunar exploration program. The device will be used to collect samples of lunar rock in a mission expected to be completed in 2017. Professor Yung Kai-leung, Associate Dean of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, will lead the research. Yung has helped produce sophisticated tools for previous space missions, including the development of a Mars rock corer for the European Space Agency’s 2003 Mars Express Mission; forceps for Russia’s Mir Space Station; and a soil preparation system for Phobos-Grunt, Russia’s ill-fated expedition last year to one of the moons of Mars. Beijing divided the Chang’e project into three phases – orbiting, landing and returning – over two decades starting from 2003. The first phase has been completed and the second is expected to start next year.

The Chinese Government Scholarship Program, established by the Ministry of Education, will increase full and partial scholarships to international students and scholars studying in China. “In the school year from 2012 to 2013, the scholarship investment will at least be CNY1.5 billion, said Zhang Xiuqin, Director of the Ministry’s Department of International Cooperation and Exchange. The average scholarship will increase to CNY60,000, up from CNY50,000 and more students will receive scholarships. Applicants can find information on the website of the China Scholarship Council (http://en.csc.edu.cn/), and apply for the scholarship at the Chinese embassy or consulates in their home countries. Those with full scholarships are exempt from tuition, accommodation fees and material cost, and receive living allowances, free medical services and settlement subsidies. According to the Ministry, 25,687 international students were studying in China under the Chinese Government Scholarship Program in 2011, an increase of 14.7% over 2010. The number of self-financed international students increased 10% to 266,924 in 2011. In 2010, the Ministry published a 10-year plan, setting the goal of attracting more than 500,000 overseas students to China by 2020, with 150,000 receiving higher education, the China Daily reports.

China’s first national cancer center will be inaugurated within a year, Lei Zhenglong, Deputy Director of the Disease Prevention and Control Bureau of the Ministry of Health, said at an event to mark National Cancer Week, which starts on April 15 every year. The cancer center, to be headquartered at the Cancer Institute and Hospital at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Beijing, will help curb the rising incidence of cancer. China records about 2.8 million new cancer cases each year, and the number is expected to exceed 3.8 million in a decade. Lung cancer is the most common and also has the highest mortality rate in the country. According to Shi Yuankai, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Cancer Hospital, among people between the ages of 30 and 60, cancer has become the leading fatal disease in China and the overall prevalence is steadily on the rise. There are 195 cancer registries in China, covering about 185 million people, less than 14% of the population.

A technological breakthrough that makes cigarettes more appealing to the Chinese palate has been nominated for a national State Science and Technology Prize, and generated an additional CNY170 billion in sales over the last three years. The nomination was made by the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, but the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and anti-smoking campaigners are opposed to the move. Wu Yi, Chief Executive of the Hongyunhonghe Group in Yunnan, led the controversial research. Health Minister Dr Chen Zhu, who is also a CAS Fellow, has publicly criticized the tobacco research nomination.