Professor Chen Nanliang has contributed significantly to China’s space program.

Chen invented a key fiberglass knitting technology used to make the carriers for the solar panels of China’s first space module, Tiangong-1.

The technology will also be used on Tiangong-2, which is set to be launched next year, according to Chen, 52, professor at the College of Textile Science at Donghua University in Shanghai.

Chen said he never dreamed he would become a textile expert because he always wanted to be a doctor when he was a boy.

In 1980, Chen’s parents persuaded him to enter East China Textile Institute of Science and Technology, the predecessor of Donghua University, since they didn’t want him to be sent to a remote area of the country. At the time, many medical students were required to work in remote areas for several years after graduation. Chen was not interested when he first began studying knitting as a major. But later he found knitting was also applied in producing industrial materials, not just clothes, curtains and carpets. Upon graduation, Chen became a lecturer at the university and continued his research into fabric and knitting technology.

During the 1980s, China experienced rapid development in textiles. In the 1990s, many textile manufacturing companies were shut down due to backward machines and technologies.

“Those days made me more determined to learn cutting-edge textile technologies,” Chen told Shanghai Daily. “Otherwise we would have always lagged behind other countries.”

In 1995, Chen went to the Czech Republic to learn warp knitting of artificial blood vessels. However, the technology was never put into mass use because it was too expensive.

“Few people could afford to use artificial blood vessels at that time and the market for bio-pharmaceutical products seemed to have a bleak future,” Chen said.

But Chen never gave up pursuing diversified high-end knitting technologies. In 2000, he went to Germany to learn a multi-axial warp knitting technology, which he applied to air blowers. This attracted the attention of the China National Space Administration.

Chen was asked to make carriers for Tiangong-1’s solar panels, which look like wings on the space lab’s main body. The solar panels provide electricity for the lab. The requirements were extremely high as Tiangong-1 was sent into a low earth orbit, where there is a considerable amount of space debris and rich atomic oxygen.

As Tiangong-1 was going to be in space for a long duration, Chen picked antioxidant fiberglass for the carriers. Traditional solar panels, like those installed on the Shenzhou spaceships, were usually made of aluminum alloy. Unlike common glass, fiberglass is as thin as one-tenth of a hair, making it soft and light, yet very strong.

However, weaving the fiberglass proved problematic for Chen and his team. After three years, they finally invented a warp knitting technology of semi-rigid fiberglass and made the first machine to knit fiberglass.

The latticed carrier they made was 30 to 40 percent lighter compared to the conventional carrier made of metal, making it more suitable for Tiangong-1, Chen said. When Tiangong-1 was launched in September 2011, Chen said he was very nervous and watched the broadcast on TV.

“It felt like there was a stone in my heart while I was watching,” he said. “It felt like forever before the anchor said the launch was a success and I could relax.”

Russia is the only other country that also has the technology.

“Up until this point, textile technology was seldom applied in the aerospace industry,” Chen said. “The Tiangong series is a good start.” Chen said the experience inspired him to produce more aerospace products using the technology. He is now working on the development of a satellite-borne wiring net antenna, which will be applied in space in the future.

Apart from his scientific research, Chen said he has remained a dedicated teacher for more than 20 years at Donghua University. Though Chen was offered career opportunities at a hospital and companies with attractive benefits, he chose to stay at Donghua.

“I like to be around students,” Chen said. “Teaching and research have become part of my life and they can not be separated.”