Key basic scientific problems on near-space vehicles ���ݺ���

����As Lao Tzu said��"A huge tree grows from a tiny seedling a nine-storied tower rises from a heap of earth." Basic research is the fundamental approach to fostering innovation-driven development��and its level becomes an important yardstick for measuring the overall scientific and national strength of a country. Since the beginning of the 21st century��China's overall strength in basic research has been consistently increasing. With respect to input and output��China's input in basic research increased by 14.8 times from 5.22 billion yuan in 2001 to 82.29 billion yuan in 2016��with an average annual increase of 20.2%. In the same period��the number of China's scientific papers included in the Science Citation Index ��SCI��increased from lower than 40��000 to 324��000;China rose from the 6th to the 2nd place in global ranking in terms of the number ofpublished papers. In regard to the quality of output��in 2016��China ranked No. 2 in the world in terms of citations in 9 disciplines��among which the materials science ranked No. 1;as of October 2017��China ranked No. 3 in the world in the numbers of both Highly Cited Papers (top 1%�� and Hot Papers (top 0.1%����with the latter accounting for 25.1% of the global total. In talent cultivation��in 2006��China had 175 scientists (136 ofwhom from the Chinese mainland�� included in Thomson Reuters' list of Highly Cited Researchers��ranking 4th globally and lst in Asia.Meanwhile��we should also be keenly aware that China's basic research is still facing great challenges. First��funding for basic research in China is still far less than that in developed countries-only about 5% of the R&D funds in China are used for basic research��a much lower percentage than 15%-20% in developed countries. Second��competence for original innovation in China is insufficient.Major original scientific achievements that have global impact are still rare. Most of the scientific research projects are just a follow-up or imitation of existing research��rather than groundbreaking research. Third��the development of disciplines is not balanced��and China's research level in some disciplines is noticeably lower than the international level-China's Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI�� in disciplines just reached 0.94 in 2016��lower than the world average of 1.0.Lao Tzu said�� "A huge tree grows from a tiny seedling; a nine-storied tower rises from a heap of earth." Basic research is the fundamental approach to fostering innovation-driven development�� and its level becomes an important yardstick for measuring the overall scientific and national strength of a country. Since the beginning of the 21st century�� China's overall strength in basic research has been consistently increasing. With respect to input and output�� China's input in basic research increased by 14.8 times from 5.22 billion yuan in 2001 to 82.29 billion yuan in 2016�� with an average annual increase of 20.2%. In the same period�� the number of China's scientific papers included in the Science Citation Index (SCI��increased from lower than 40��000 to 324��000; China rose from the 6th to the 2nd place in global ranking in terms of the number ofpublished papers. In regard to the quality of output�� in 2016�� China ranked No. 2 in the world in terms of citations in 9 disciplines�� among which the materials science ranked No. 1; as of October 2017��China ranked No. 3 in the world in the numbers of both Highly Cited Papers (top 1%�� and Hot Papers (top 0.1%���� with the latter accounting for 25.1% of the global total. In talent cultivation�� in 2006�� China had 175 scientists (136 ofwhom from the Chinese mainland�� included in Thomson Reuters' list of Highly Cited Researchers��ranking 4th globally and lst in Asia.Meanwhile�� we should also be keenly aware that China's basic research is still facing great challenges. First�� funding for basic research in China is still far less than that in developed countries-only about 5% of the R&D funds in China are used for basic research�� a much lower percentage than 15%-20% in developed countries. Second�� competence for original innovation in China is insufficient.Major original scientific achievements that have global impact are still rare. Most of the scientific research projects are just a follow-up or imitation of existing research��rather than groundbreaking research. Third�� the development of disciplines is not balanced�� and China's research level in some disciplines is noticeably lower than the international level-China's Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI�� in disciplines just reached 0.94 in 2016�� lower than the world average of 1.0.