2020 major scientific and engineering challenges

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Frontier science issues

What is the ecological mechanism of cross-species transmission of coronaviruses?

　　At present, COVID-19 is raging around the world. Virologists have repeatedly warned that cross-species transmission of coronaviruses is a high probability event. The background situation of wild animals such as bats carrying coronaviruses and how wild animals break through ecological and physiological barriers to cause cross-species transmission and infection are still unclear at the scientific level. This question is of great significance for revealing the cross-species transmission mechanism of coronaviruses and preventing future epidemics caused by coronaviruses.

Question 2: How will the attractive force wave reveal the mysteries of the universe?

　　Since the first direct detection of attractive force waves in 2015, attractive force waves have rapidly become a hotspot in the frontier research of basic physics and astrophysics in the world, and it is expected that there will be a historical opportunity for major breakthroughs in the origin of the universe in more than ten years. Attractive force waves open a new window for observing the universe. By observing the generation and distribution of attractive force wave sources in the universe, it is expected to answer the deep scientific questions left over from the standard model of general relativity and particle physics, thereby deepening the understanding of nature.

Question 3: How does Earth’s material evolve and circulate?

　　The earth’s materials are mainly divided into rocks and minerals. People’s understanding of the evolution and circulation of magmatic rocks and metamorphic rocks in the earth’s historical period is blurred due to the lack of comprehensive analysis of big data. Using the comprehensive analysis of big data platforms and deep-time big data systems on the earth, it is possible to establish a connection between the basic course and special events of mineral evolution and planetary geological evolution, clarify the evolution law and coupling relationship of planetary earth and its multiple circles from the perspective of mineral evolution, and answer the basic scientific questions about how planetary earth evolves and whether there is a co-evolution relationship between various circles of the earth.

Question 4: What will a fifth-generation nuclear energy system look like?

　　In 2000, the Fourth Generation Nuclear Energy System International Forum initiated by the US Department of Energy divided the development of nuclear energy into four generations. At present, the research on the fifth generation nuclear energy system is still in the exploratory and exchange stage, and there is no mature concept definition and goal definition, and there is little talk about its realization path. If it can promote the implementation and final realization of the concept of the fifth generation nuclear energy system, it can reform the concept of nuclear energy development, the model of nuclear energy development, the concept of nuclear energy application, and support the deep decarbonization of the energy system; lead the world in nuclear energy innovation, and help China become the world’s nuclear energy innovation highland.

What is the scientific principle of special energy field-assisted manufacturing?

　　With the continued demand for lightweight and safety in aerospace, transportation, and other fields, high-strength materials, including ultra-high-strength steels, light alloys, composites, and intermetallic compounds, are applied to complex components. As material strength increases, manufacturing difficulty increases significantly, and forming defects are more difficult to control. Existing research shows that special energy field-assisted forming technology has great potential in improving the manufacturing challenges of high-strength and difficult-to-deform materials.

Question 6: How can digital transportation infrastructure promote the coordinated development of autonomous driving and vehicles?

　　In the future, the large-scale social operation of autonomous vehicles will inevitably appear, which will be a change for the transportation system, and the road transportation system is facing the challenge of evolution and replacement. For the research on new road infrastructure to support the social operation of autonomous driving, our country is still in its infancy, and there is no ready-made advanced technology and experience abroad to learn from. It is necessary to transfer the support of autonomous driving research to the research of intelligent supply on the infrastructure side and the research of comprehensive integrated landing application in a timely manner.

Question 7: What is the mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine that regulates human immune function?

　　Although the basic research of immunology has made remarkable achievements and medicine is also developing by leaps and bounds, it is still insufficient in the prevention and treatment of many difficult and serious diseases. Autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis still plague patients. The occurrence, development, and outcome of these major and difficult diseases are closely related to immunity. Traditional Chinese medicine can act on the body at multiple levels, targets, and pathways, regulate the body’s immune function, and has important application value in disease prevention and treatment.

Question 8: What is the biological basis of plant apomixis?

　　Non-fusion reproduction is a kind of reproductive method that propagates asexually through seeds, which can make hybrid varieties produce cloned seeds, keep the characters of hybrid offspring from separating, and thus permanently fix ** advantages. However, due to the complexity of the mechanism of non-fusion reproduction, despite the efforts of scientists from many countries for nearly a century, its formation mechanism is still unclear, and it has not been successfully applied to crop breeding.

Question 9: How to optimize the water carrying capacity of our country in a changing environment and achieve a healthy regional water balance?

　　At present, the construction of ecological civilization in our country has entered an accelerated period and a critical period, which puts forward higher requirements for the intensive utilization and strict protection of water resources. Studying the scientific issue of water resources carrying capacity and water balance optimization under changing conditions is conducive to deepening the understanding of the factors of regional water cycle in our country and their evolution laws, improving the evaluation method of water resources carrying capacity, clarifying the index significance of water balance status for water resources carrying capacity, clarifying the occurrence mechanism of many water problems and ecological environment problems, and providing important theoretical and technical support for summarizing the economic and social development and ecological protection models that are compatible with water resources carrying capacity, and effectively protecting and restoring the ecological environment.

Question 10: How to establish a theoretical and technical foundation for virtual twins and develop demonstration applications?

　　Virtual twin is a process and method for describing and modeling the characteristics, behavior, formation process and performance of physical entities and intelligent entity objects in the real world using digital technologies such as sensors, Internet of Things, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, etc. on the basis of digital twin, also known as virtual twin technology. It is based on digital twin, but focuses more on modeling and simulation of intelligent entities or living beings. How to realize the interaction and integration of manufacturing the physical world and the information world is one of the core bottlenecks currently faced by the practice of intelligent manufacturing concepts and goals at home and abroad.

Engineering problems

Question 1: How to develop new pathways and technologies for novel immune cells in tumor treatment?

　　Immune cell technology is the hope for human to completely cure tumors, and it is one of the hot areas pursued by cutting-edge medicine and capital around the world. As a key node cell linking cellular immunity and humoral immunity, dendritic cells (DC) can mobilize the entire immune system, resist the invasion of pathogens and promote the clearance of tumor cells, becoming a key research direction of new immune cell therapies. The new DC amplification technology can realize the standardization and mass production of DC vaccines, which can significantly reduce the preparation cost and serve more cancer patients, with obvious economic and social benefits.

Question 2: Why has the integrated design of horizontal take-off and landing combined power vehicles become the new focus of aerospace technology?

　　水平起降组合动力运载器具有快速、廉价、可靠的特点，可成为低成本天地往返运输工具。水平起降组合动力运载器一体化设计技术是支撑未来航天运输系统发展与应用的核心技术之一，是未来先进航天运输系统的重要支撑技术之一。

●问题3：如何实现农业重大入侵生物的前瞻性风险预警和即时控制？

　　农业有害生物入侵不仅仅是简单的植物病虫害或动物疫情问题，入侵生物的发生流行不仅危害食品安全和农业生产，造成巨大的直接经济损失，还可能对人类健康构成越来越大甚至是灾难性的威胁，对外交、经济和社会产生巨大影响。因此，站在国际化、全球化视角，从科学研究和专业技术层面，开展农业入侵生物跨境传播预警及防减技术合作的协同攻关，将有力解决入侵生物疫情的源头治理和联防联控关键技术难题，保障社会稳定与公共安全。

●问题4：信息化条件下国家关键基础设施如何防范重大电磁威胁？

　　强电磁脉冲一旦对金融、能源、电力等领域的关键信息基础设施产生影响，将可能导致交通中断、金融紊乱、电力瘫痪等重大事故。开展此项研究，对确保关键基础设施电磁安全、保护经济建设成果、提升关键基础设施容灾抗毁能力具有重要意义。

●问题5：硅光技术能否促成光电子和微电子的融合？

　　信息光电子芯片已然成为“数字化新基建”的核心和基石，也是全球信息通信价值链的关键领域和网络强国建设的“国之重器”。硅基光电子芯片技术既可应用于芯片级光互连，又适用于长距离光纤通信，可实现全功能光电子集成，具有极高的通用性和兼容性，是微电子和光电子两大产业公认的发展方向。利用国内现有微电子产业资源和互补金属氧化物半导体（CMOS）制造平台，建立健全硅光产业链，可以有效提升我国信息光电子的制造能力，缓解光电子芯片制造工艺的“卡脖子”困境，为我国信息化新基建提供有力支撑。

Question 6: How to solve the problem of on-line defect detection in integrated circuit manufacturing process?

　　The field of integrated circuits is currently the main battlefield of international science and technology competition and the focus of the game between major powers. For integrated circuit defect detection technology and equipment, on the one hand, the most advanced technology and equipment are monopolized by a few developed countries; on the other hand, the defect online detection technology of 7 nanometers and below nodes around the world is still immature, and the equipment gap is still huge. Whoever takes the lead in mastering the corresponding key technologies will have the dominance in the future. This is both an opportunity and a challenge for our country.

Question 7: How can unmanned vehicles achieve high-precision intelligent navigation under conditions where satellites are not available?

　　Special unmanned vehicles represented by unmanned rescue vehicles, unmanned mining vehicles, and unmanned transport vehicles are the core unmanned equipment for completing modern operations, emergency rescue and disaster relief. In order to improve the emergency rescue and joint operation capabilities of unmanned vehicles, its navigation system is required to have functions such as high-precision positioning, autonomous obstacle avoidance, intelligent path planning and guidance. Therefore, it is necessary to study high-precision and fully autonomous navigation methods and to solve the problem of inertia-based intelligent navigation for unmanned vehicles.

● Question 8: How to achieve the unity of "large-scale", "low energy consumption" and "high stability" in the large-scale production of hydrogen by electrolysis of water from renewable energy sources?

　　The development of high-efficiency and low-cost renewable energy and hydrogen energy technologies is a timely response to the country’s major needs, and it is also a high-quality solution for reducing carbon emissions and mitigating climate change globally. However, the current level of development of hydrogen electrolysis technology limits the conversion efficiency and industrialization process of renewable energy into chemical energy. Breakthrough in high-efficiency, low-cost, and large-scale hydrogen electrolysis technology can greatly promote the utilization and development of renewable energy and hydrogen energy.

Question 9: How to break through the intelligent construction and engineering health protection technology of the expressway into Tibet?

　　The lithology of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is complex and changeable, the neotectonic movement is intense, the deep and large active faults are widely distributed, the glaciers, permafrost and mountain disaster groups (chains) are developed, and there are "significant terrain height difference", "strong plate activity", "frequent mountain disasters", "sensitive permafrost environment" four geological environmental characteristics, as well as "high frequency freeze-thaw cycle", "severe wet and dry alternation" and "extreme cold and hypoxia" three climatic and environmental characteristics. The series of engineering and technical problems brought about by this are the key technical factors restricting the development of high-speed transportation in Tibet.