This article analyzes the background and the necessity of the establishment of noetic science which was initiated by Qian Xuesen. The article also presents a whole string of Qian’s views on the object of study, basic approach and ideological root of noetic science. The article describes in particular that noetic science is one of the eleven department of the contemporary system of science and technology. It contains three hierarchies, as fundamental science, technical science and engineering. The preliminary achievements in each hierarchy in the recent two decades are presented.