From 10 to 12 May 2023, the 5th China Bioelectronics Academic Annual Conference and Final of the 1st International Space Science and Scientific Payload Competition (ISSSP) were successfully held in Foshan City, Guangdong Province. In the meantime, academicians of China Academy of Sciences and China Academy of Engineering, top experts and scholars from home and abroad have made special reports. And hundreds of representative enterprises from the related field have participated in the specialized exhibition and have held the product launch event and thematic seminars at the same time.

Speech by Mr.Yu Miao from ICCCA, and Speech by Olivier Contant, Executive Director of International Academy of Astronautics

The final of the 1st International Space Science and Scientific Payload Competition (ISSSP), jointly sponsored by the Chinese Society of Astronautics , the Chinese Institute of Electronics, Beijing Institute of Technology, the International Academy of Astronautics and the China Aerospace Foundation, is the first international space competition in China to gather and cultivate outstanding talents and projects in space science and payload technology for the whole world. The competition is open to college students from all over the world, and middle school students are invited to observe the competition. 30 teams of college students (10 teams from abroad) and 9 teams of middle school students have stood out from 380 world-class universities and domestic first-class middle schools and have entered the final. Excellent competition works will be recommended as candidate piggyback projects to China Space Station, International Space Station and scientific satellite.

The competition was divided into two groups: college student groups and middle school student groups. The college student groups are mainly undergraduates and graduate students coming from home and abroad and are divided into two major tracks: creative design of space science experiments and innovative design of space scientific payloads. Middle school student groups are invited to observe the tracks for the first time. Since its initiation in April 2022, the competition has attracted numerous students from more than 30 countries and more than 80 colleges and universities to register enthusiastically. And finally 116 teams have got involved, with the total participation of more than 1000 people. After several rounds of expert review and comprehensive evaluation, a total of 30 teams made it to the final for on-site exhibitions and exchanges.

One gold medal in the final (BIT Space Power Generation Team of Beijing Institute of Technology/Beihang University), 7 silver medals (Science Group: ThermoSlosh Team from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, PUA CubeSat Team from Pharos University in Alexandria, Walk the Talk Team from Beihang University; Payload group: BIT-LIFE team from Beijing Institute of Technology, Orion team from MIPT, Debris Remover team from Harbin Institute of Technology, and Payload Development Team for ionic detection at Shandong University), 20 bronze medals (PUA CubeSat team from Pharos University in Alexandria, Debris Remover team from Harbin Institute of Technology, etc.), 15 payload subsidy awards and the excellent instructor award and the best PPT/Poster/community awards have been selected. In order to encourage more social organizations to support the development of science and technology education of teen-agers, the competition also has selected and awarded 9 middle school students' competition group awards.

For the team that has won the gold medal, the Competition Organizing Committee will select the potential space flight experimental projects and will offer the key cultivation, and will recommend them as piggyback candidates for China Space Station, International Space Station and scientific satellites. At the same time, the winning team will be given priority in the development plan of the aerospace talent echelon, and will get the opportunity of face-to-face communication with aerospace experts of China, as well as other help such as financial, technical and platform resources support.

Wang Yiran, Vice President and Secretary-General of Chinese Society of Astronautics, has served as the guest judge of the middle school group of the competition and he encouraged the contestants to seize the opportunities of the times, bravely overcome the challenges, let space light up their dreams.

The ISSSP is the first international space competition in China to gather and cultivate outstanding talents and projects in space science and payload technology for the whole world. With the theme of " A Shared Space for a Better Future ", the competition is dedicated to promoting major scientific discoveries and innovative technological breakthroughs in the space field and to making the achievements of space technologies benefiting all mankind. It will become the important output platform and cultivation basement for space science experiments and payload technology innovation.