Manned space program's Meridian Project operational

 Manned space program's Meridian¹ Project operational

BEIJING, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- The "Meridian Project," a massive scientific research project that will monitor weather in space, became fully² operational on Tuesday.

The Meridian Space Weather Monitoring Project is the country's first space weather monitoring project and will lead the field in multiple areas, according to a statement from the National Space Science Center at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

"The project will help China's space program achieve major breakthroughs, enhance the country's competence³ in space and safeguard the security of the nation's space activities," said Wu Ji, general manager of the project and director of the National Space Science Center.

The project began in January 2008, providing forecasts and warnings for the Tiangong-1 and Shenzhou-8 missions in 2011 and the Shenzhou-9 mission in June, according to the statement.

The project aims to "investigate space weather cause-consequence chains in solar-terrestrial space, as well as understand the processes behind catastrophic space weather events and the regional characteristics of the environment above China's territory," said the statement.

A large-scale ground-based monitoring system composed of 15 stations will be set up as part of the project, according to the CAS. A comprehensive multi-layered and inter-disciplinary survey and exploration of space will be conducted as well, it said.

Another similar project is in the works. Authorities are creating plans for the International Space Weather Meridian Circle Program, which will consist of another series of ground-based monitoring stations that will "greatly enhance China's ability to monitor the space environment worldwide," the statement said.

The stations will monitor a large area between Russia and Australia, as well as other regions, the statement said.

"Most countries in these regions have applauded the project," the statement said.

1 meridian   

adj.子午线的；全盛期的

参考例句：

• All places on the same meridian have the same longitude.在同一子午线上的地方都有相同的经度。
• He is now at the meridian of his intellectual power.他现在正值智力全盛期。

2 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

3 competence   

n.能力，胜任，称职

参考例句：

• This mess is a poor reflection on his competence.这种混乱情况说明他难当此任。
• These are matters within the competence of the court.这些是法院权限以内的事。