NEWS & EVENTS

HKU DELEGATION VISITED IGG AND NAOC, CAS TO DEEPEN COOPERATION IN PLANETARY SCIENCE

2024.10.30

Space exploration—particularly missions to the Moon, Mars, Jupiter and asteroids, has garnered much attention around the world in the modern time. China has successfully conducted the Chang’e-1 to 6 lunar missions, returning the youngest mare basalts and the first farside samples of the Moon. The Tianwen-1 mission has also achieved remarkable milestones by orbiting, landing, and roving on Mars. Looking ahead, China is planning for even more ambitious missions: exploring the south pole of the Moon with Chang’e-7 and 8, sending humans to the lunar surface through crewed missions and International Lunar Research Station, returning samples from asteroid (Tianwen-2) and Mars (Tianwen-3), and investigating the Jupiter system (Tianwen-4). This substantial investment to space, along with the data and samples collected, has brought unprecedented opportunities for the development of planetary science. Such efforts may help answer the most fundamental scientific questions about the Solar System and our own Earth as a planet, especially its early time.

 

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is increasingly playing a vital role in China’s lunar and planetary explorations, emerging as a leading university in planetary science within the Greater Bay Area, particularly over the past five years. HKU is the first university in Hong Kong to study China’s lunar samples, conducting extensive research on the landing sites of Chang’e-6, Tianwen-1 and 3, as well as the target of Tianwen-4, thus providing critical support for these missions. In this trend, a delegation led by Professor Guochun ZHAO and Professor Zhonghui LIU (Interim Head) from HKU Department of Earth Sciences visited the Institute of Geology and Geophysics (IGG) and the National Astronomical Observatories (NAOC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on October 18, 2024 in order to deepen cooperation in planetary science and further integrate HKU into China’s lunar and planetary missions. In this visit, members from the Department of Earth Sciences at HKU discussed detailed plans for cooperation and joint projects with scientists from IGG and NAOC, CAS in planetary science and explorations.

 

For full detail, pleae visit

 

https://www.scifac.hku.hk/news/exploring-new-frontiers-hku-s-visit-to-igg-and-naoc-cas-enhances-planetary-science-cooperation