If one day a global space agency saves Earth by deflecting an asteroid or gets every government to share Mars colonization costs, organizers of a science conference in China’s largest city last week said the Shanghai meeting should be remembered for helping make it happen.

Rolled out in recent years on the program’s track for science and discovery were Long March rockets, four manned spaceflights, the now-orbiting Tiangong space station, an asteroid rendezvous project and scores of satellites including a constellation for a soon-to-be global Beidou navigation system.