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Puxi Grade 5: Career Day-Visit Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology

December 28, 2017

Puxi Grade 5: Career Day-Visit Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology

On the afternoon of December 21st, the students of 5(1) and 5(7) went to visit the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology. The institute belongs to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It has many buildings and laboratories built for different purposes.

First, the students listened to a lecture from satellite-making scientist Mr. Zhang. The title of his lecture was: Travelling in Space is Not a Dream.

He talked about man-made satellites: their purpose, history, different types, and working structures. Though it was a very professional scientific lecture, it was not boring at all. Mr. Zhang interacted with the little audience members, helping them to get to know more about astronomy. There were some interesting satellite facts that I’d like to share with you now…

How could human beings travel to space? Actually many ideas have been suggested before, for example: the cannons, the space stairs and so on… Why weren’t those ideas ever carried out? The cannons could not shoot people far enough, or high enough. Besides, the safety of the people in the cannons could not be guaranteed. How about the space stairs? That solution was totally impossible. No stairs could be constructed to faraway space.

Nowadays the technology of satellites is well developed. The most commonly used ones are the following 4 types. The first kind are remote sensing satellites. They are used to take accurate pictures. Their distinguishability can reach 0.3 cm. The second kind are GPS satellites, which set locations and guide people. The third kind, communication satellites, are used to send messages and make phone calls. The last kind are used for scientific experiments.

Next, another staff member brought us to visit two other laboratories: the Shanghai Superconducting Center No.8 Laboratory, and the AI laboratory. In the No. 8 laboratory we saw pieces of satellites and the material they are made from. The workers there were wearing white uniforms and the laboratory was extremely clean. Satellites’ chips are so tiny that they are even thinner than a single human hair, so if the lab gets messy and dirty, the chips would get lost very easily.

In the AI laboratory we met robot Haski. Under the control of the computer, this little robot was very familiar with its surroundings. We also saw the Eagle Eye. It was like a monitoring device which could turn in every direction. Some students were very excited by this. They jumped up and down eager to be recognized by the Eagle Eye so that their images would pop onto the screen.

In this career day visit, every student got a better understanding of what different careers in the world of science and tech were like. So are you more interested in becoming a satellite scientist in the future now?

(Written by 5(1) Gloria Pictures by Mr. Johnson)