BEIJING, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- The following is a summary of published science and technology news of China.

DEEP SPACE

China will carry out more deep space exploration missions in the next 10 to 15 years, said Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar exploration program and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, in a recent interview.

Wu said China has planned the fourth stage of its lunar exploration program, including Chang'e-6, Chang'e-7, and Chang'e-8.

On small celestial bodies, Wu said China plans to have asteroid sampling in the next 10 to 15 years and is preparing to carry out a planetary defense mission which will have an overall plan for the detection, early warning, and deflecting of small celestial bodies posing potential threats to Earth.

INT'L COOPERATION

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Thursday revealed the international payloads that will piggyback on the Chang'e-6 lunar exploration mission, and announced another call for international payload proposals for the Chang'e-7 mission.

The CNSA has announced that it will carry scientific instruments from France, Italy and the European Space Agency/Sweden on the Chang'e-6 mission's lander, and a Pakistani payload on the orbiter.

Since it announced the cooperation opportunity in April 2019, offering to carry 10 kg of payloads on both the lander and the orbiter of the Chang'e-6 mission, it has received more than 20 piggyback proposals, according to the CNSA.

PATENT FILINGS

A recent report showed that China had secured top spot in terms of global patent filings in 2021, way ahead of all other countries, which highlighted its strong impetus in building an innovation-oriented country.

China's Intellectual Property (IP) office received 1.59 million of the total 3.4 million patent applications filed worldwide in 2021, according to the World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) report released this week.

The patents filed in China are similar in magnitude to the combined total of the next 12 countries ranked from second to 13th, according to the WIPI, which compiled its latest data based on information provided by some 150 countries and regions.