Wang Xiji

Monument for the T-7M, China's first sounding rocket, in Laogang, Pudong, Shanghai

After returning to China, Wang taught at the Dalian Institute of Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Shanghai University of Science and Technology.[4] In 1958, when Wang was serving as professor and vice chair of the Department of Engineering Mechanics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, he was abruptly appointed chief engineer of the Shanghai Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. Only after he arrived at his new workplace did he learn that China had started its satellite program and the institute was responsible for developing rockets for satellite launches.[5] The institute had very few experienced scientists. Other than Wang Xiji and his former classmate Yang Nansheng, who was the deputy director of the institute, there were only two visiting professors, Bian Yingui (卞荫贵) and Li Minhua.[5] The rest of the institute consisted of a few hundred university students with an average age of 21. Even Wang and Yang had little knowledge about rockets and had to learn on the fly.[5][2]

Working with severe shortages of technical experience, fund, and equipment, Wang's team managed to develop China's first sounding rocket, the T7-M.[5][2] After a failed first launch in January 1960, the second launch on 19 February 1960 was successful.[5][2] Wang later developed 12 types of sounding rockets, including many recoverable and reusable designs.[6]

In the 1960s, Wang proposed the design for the Long March 1, China's first space launch vehicle, which launched China's first satellite, the Dong Fang Hong I, in 1970.[2] He subsequently led the design of China's first recoverable satellite, the Jian Bing 1.[2] After an initial failure in 1974, it was successfully launched in 1975, making China the third country in the world to launch a recoverable satellite.[6] Wang's recoverable satellites achieved a higher success rate than the Corona (Discoverer) program of the United States and the Zenit series of the Soviet Union.[6]

In the late 1960s, Wang proposed the Shuguang project for crewed spacecraft. Although initially approved by Mao Zedong, it was later cancelled for shortage of funds. When China restarted the Shenzhou program in the 1990s, Wang served as a senior supervisor of the project, which succeeded in putting the first Chinese astronaut into orbit in 2003.[2]

In 2002, Wang chaired a national policy committee that created a report outlining the future directions for the space and missile programs of China.[1]

In 2015, Wang proposed building a space-based solar power station with at least 5–6 square kilometres (1.9–2.3 sq mi) of solar panels, 36,000 kilometres (22,000 mi) above earth.[7] The energy would be transmitted to earth in the form of microwave or laser. The idea first appeared in Isaac Asimov's 1941 science fiction short story "Reason".[7]