The Third International Conference on Space Science and Technology (Chongqing Session) took place in the southwestern municipality of Chongqing last week, attracting more than 500 experts and enterprise representatives from more than 10 countries and regions.

The event was sponsored by Beijing Institute of Technology and Chongqing University, and was organized by the academic journal Space: Science and Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Aerospace Information Research Institute and the BIT Chongqing Innovation Center.

Taking place from Thursday to Sunday, the conference aimed to accelerate frontier research and innovation through international cooperation, boost interdisciplinary collaboration and spark new ideas, and gather wisdom for new-era space exploration, according to a statement from the organizing committee.

The conference featured attendance and keynote speeches by Ye Peijian, an academician of the CAS and one of China's top space scientists, and a number of preeminent space researchers from home and abroad.

It consisted of one main forum and six sub-forums, hosting more than 50 themed speeches related to the exploration of giant planets and the outer boundaries of the solar system, flexible deployable structures and smart material technologies, intelligent management and control of spacecraft in-orbit services, and space-based electronic information technologies.

Participants also shared their opinions about deep-space exploration, lunar research station construction, and next-generation space communications, according to the statement.