Recently, announced by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Time Service Center (NTSC), the Chinese Academy of Science was awarded four National Natural Science Funds in 2008. The project "Study the physics and technique of satellite carrying POP Rb atomic clock" applied by Prof. Zhang Shuogang was funded by the Key Program in the Department of Mathematical and Physical Sciences; the project "The autonomous navigation algorithm study of the spacecraft by applying X ray pulsar" applied by Prof. Chen Ding was funded by the Young Scientists Fund; the projects "Study on the precision position detection and orbital theory of natural satellite" and "Study the united punctuality method for different kinds of atomic clocks in time base" were funded by the General Program.

There were totally 16 projects applied for the Natural Science Funds in 2008 in NTSC, where 4 of them were awarded. The support rate was 25%. The total funds were 2.78 million Chinese Yuan and it was significant improvement comparing before.