The Global Times (March 14, 2021) had reported an NPC delegate saying on the sidelines of the NPC Plenum on March 11 that a single-function biology experiment platform payload, Sparkle-1, is expected to be launched via a Long March carrier rocket by September, while a multi-functional platform supporting biological experiments may be put into orbit by 2022. The Global Times said as China has scheduled 11 launch missions in the next two years for the building of its first space station, the founder of a private space technology start-up based in Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, Cheng Wei told the Global Times that the firm has been keeping its pace close to the national program, with an ambitious goal of initiating an orbital space biology lab around 2025. It aims to conduct studies relating to changes in humans' vital signs in space to explore the development of future manned space missions, while also planning to load a self-generating life support system onboard its lab to study the feasibility of long-term human stays on the moon or other extraterrestrial bodies. Named after 'rocket plus' the Greek symbol representing the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, Cheng's firm, Rocket Pi, has a four-step framework toward its ambitious goals.

(Comment: The plans should raise concerns globally in the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic and enquiries to ascertain its source.)