Schematic diagram of the Space Science Pilot Project at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Phase I).

Editor's Note:
On May 30, 2023, China celebrated its seventh annual National Science and Technology Workers' Day. To mark the occasion, we joined hands with "China Science Communication" to invite Wu Ji, president of the Chinese Society of Space Research and former director general of the National Space Science Center under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) to write this article. He once served as the chief application system designer for China's Double Star Mission, general manager of the Meridian Circle Program (Phase I), a major national science and technology infrastructure project, chief scientist for the Yinghuo-1 Mars orbiter, part of an inter-governmental cooperative program between China and Russia, project manager of the scientific payload system for the China's lunar exploration programs Chang'e-1 and Chang'e-3, and head of the Strategic Priority Program on Space Science at the CAS (Phase I). He has made outstanding contributions in the fields of microwave remote sensing and space science exploration in China. He has won the International Cooperation Medal of the Committee on Space Research and the Special Award of the China Space Foundation among many others. He was elected as a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a full member of the International Academy of Astronautics, a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.