Hu Haichang

Hu Haichang (Chinese: 胡海昌; pinyin: Hú Hǎichāng; April 25, 1928 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China – February 21, 2011 in Beijing, China) was a Chinese mechanical and astronautic engineer. He was in charge of the early phase development for Dong Fang Hong I, which is the first artificial satellite of China. Hu was also a senior academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Biography

Hu was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province in April 1928. Hu graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering, Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, and his academic advisor was Chien Wei-zang.

After graduation, Hu joined the Institute of Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Beijing, which was mainly founded by Tsien Hsue-shen in 1950s. From 1968 until retired, Hu worked for the CAS Department of Spacecraft System Design.

Hu mainly generalized some versatile variational principles especially in elastic mechanics and promoted their corresponding applications such as in the spacecraft system design. Hu worked for China's spacecraft system design as early as 1966. Hu was in charge of the general system and structure design both for the Dong Fang Hong I and Dong Fang Hong II satellites in their early development phases.