The Spotlight
Aiming For the Stars With Harbin Institute of Tech
Guided by its motto “Strict Standards, Solid Skills”, HIT is exploring the universe.
HIT is guided by its motto “Strict Standards, Solid Skills”.
HIT has led the construction of China’s first national large-scale science project in the aerospace field.
Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, is headquartered in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, with campuses in Weihai (Shandong Province) and Shenzhen (Guangdong Province). Founded in 1920, HIT is known as the “Cradle of Engineers.”
In 1996, HIT was selected as one of the first universities under China’s “Project 211,” and in 1999, it became one of the nine universities to receive priority support under “Project 985.” In major global rankings, HIT is ranked 128 by US News, 256 by QS, 152 by THE, and 117 by Clarivate.
Guided by its motto “Strict Standards, Solid Skills”, the university has cultivated 124 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 173 university party secretaries and presidents, and 149 provincial and ministerial-level leaders. HIT currently has 9 national first-level key disciplines, 6 national second-level key disciplines and 23 academicians among its faculty.
Aerospace Characteristics
HIT has developed distinctive strengths in aerospace and engineering. It founded China’s first School of Astronautics, launched the first satellite independently developed by a university, and achieved the country’s first satellite-to-ground laser link. The university has produced many pioneering innovations, including China’s first talking chess-playing computer, its first new-system radar, the first arc-welding and spot-welding robots and the first nanosatellite fully designed and managed by students.
HIT contributed key technologies for the world’s largest radio telescope (FAST), developed a robotic arm that completed the world’s first human–machine coordinated in-orbit maintenance experiment on Tiangong-2, and created a new-generation Hall-effect thruster successfully applied in space. It was the first worldwide to realize controllable in-orbit deployment of shape-memory polymer solar cells.
HIT’s technologies have supported major national missions, including Chang’e-5 (China’s first lunar sample-return mission) and Chang’e-6 (the world’s first far-side lunar sampling mission). HIT also contributed to Tianwen-1, providing the mobility system and transfer ramp for the “Zhurong” Mars rover, and to extravehicular activities with robotic arms. To date, the university has successfully launched 36 satellites.
In addition, HIT completed the world’s first extreme-condition safety containment test for the “Hualong One” nuclear reactor, filled an international gap in this field, and achieved breakthroughs in structural biology by resolving the T-cell receptor–coreceptor complex, marking a milestone in adaptive immunity research.
HIT has led the construction of China’s first national large-scale science project in the aerospace field, the Space Environment Simulation Research Infrastructure, supporting fundamental research for long-term spaceflight. The university has received numerous honours, including the 2018 National Preeminent Science and Technology Award and the Outstanding Contribution Award for China’s Manned Space Program.
Space Environment Simulation Research Infrastructure
Led by HIT, the Space Environment Simulation Research Infrastructure, also known as the “Ground-based Space Station,” replicates key space conditions on Earth, including vacuum, extreme temperature cycling, particle radiation, electromagnetic radiation, dust, atomic oxygen, weak magnetic fields, and plasma. It enables studies on the effects of the space environment on materials, devices, and biological systems, providing a research platform for developing highly reliable, long-life spacecraft and supporting long-term human space habitation.
The project, launched in 2017, was officially accepted by the state in February 2024. With a total investment of nearly 2 billion RMB and covering 350,000 m², it is the first national large-scale science project in Northeast China, and the only one in China dedicated to space environment–material interaction research. It comprises facilities for integrated space environment simulation, space magnetic environment simulation, and space plasma environment simulation, and is open to both domestic and international users.