BEIJING, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The following are the highlights of China's key technology news from the past week:
SPACECRAFT TRACKING SHIP
China's spacecraft tracking ship Yuanwang-3 on Saturday set sail for the southern Pacific Ocean from a port in east China's Jiangsu Province for upcoming satellite maritime monitoring missions.
It is the second voyage of the ship this year, and the 52nd since it was launched more than 20 years ago.
CHINA'S FIRST OFFSHORE ROCKET
China successfully launched a rocket from a mobile launch platform in the Yellow Sea off Shandong Province on Wednesday, sending two technology experiment satellites and five commercial satellites into space.
A Long March-11 solid propellant carrier rocket blasted off at 12:06 p.m. from the mobile platform. It is China's first space launch from a sea-based platform and the 306th mission of the Long March carrier rocket series.
TSINGHUA-HUAWEI COOPERATION
China's prestigious Tsinghua University has signed a cooperation framework agreement with tech giant Huawei to build a joint research and development platform.
The partnership will not only boost the company's innovation capacity and competitiveness in information and communication technology, but also promote the university's knowledge transfer, according to a statement issued by the university.
DRONE IN PINE TREES HEALTH MONITORING
Beijing has used drones to conduct health monitoring of pine trees in the city's northwest Yanqing district, according to Beijing Evening News on Tuesday.
The 90 cm long drone can fly about one and a half hours before needing to recharge and can cover more than nine square kilometers. In addition, the sensor on the drone has 42 million pixels.
