A Long March-2D carrier rocket carrying the Tianhui-4 satellite blasts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, Dec. 29, 2021. (Photo by Wang Jiangbo/Xinhua)

A Long March-2F carrier rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft and a crew of three astronauts, lifts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi desert in northwest China on June 17, 2021, the first crewed mission to China’s new space station. AFP

Chang’e 3 lander on lunar surface. China has released SpaceOS III, a new-generation operating system for spacecraft. Developed by the Beijing Institute of Control Engineering under China Academy of Space Technology, the operating system has independent intellectual property rights. Earlier versions of SpaceOS have been used in more than 300 spacecraft. (Credit: CNSA)

DFH-4 Based Satellite. The Beijing Institute of Control Engineering began developing SpaceOS in the 1970s. Its first application was in 2006 in a satellite of the Dongfanghong-4 communication satellite platform. In 2013, SpaceOS II was used in the Chang’e-3 lunar probe. Photo: CAST