PolyU warmly welcomed Academician WU Weiren, Chief Designer of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Programme, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Director and Chief Scientist of the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory and Chairman of the International Deep Space Exploration Association, who delivered a talk titled “Chasing Dreams in Space, Exploring the Cosmos” on 17 September 2025. During the talk, he shared insights with more than 600 students, faculty, alumni and guests on the Nation’s latest developments and strategic plans for its aerospace missions.
Mr Wu is a leading expert long engaged in research and engineering practice in aerospace telemetry, tracking and communications and in systems engineering for deep space exploration. Mr Wu and his team have led various historic missions in the Chang’e Programme, making significant contributions to the Nation’s lunar and deep space exploration. They are currently advancing the construction of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), a China‑initiated, multinational project.
In his talk, Mr Wu reviewed the history of global space exploration and highlighted China’s major achievements, such as the manned space programme, lunar exploration, BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, and high-resolution Earth imaging satellites. He noted that China completed the three phases of lunar exploration, “orbiting”, “landing”, and “returning”, within two decades, achieving several world firsts. The Chang’e-5 mission returned lunar samples, leading to the discovery of a new mineral, Changesite-(Y). Mr Wu also mentioned that over 30 lunar locations now bear Chinese names, including Statio Tianhe, the Chang’e-4 landing site, breaking Western dominance in lunar naming. Looking ahead, Mr Wu emphasised the economic and scientific potential of deep space resources, such as minerals and helium-3, and highlighted future opportunities in sectors like space-based solar power, tourism, agriculture and pharmaceuticals, which could drive economic growth and innovation. After the talk, Mr Wu engaged in a dialogue session with PolyU students, which was moderated by Prof. WU Bo. The audience engaged in a productive discussion with Mr Wu.
As the only university in Hong Kong to have participated in multiple national space missions, since 2010, PolyU has been participating in the Nation’s space exploration programmes and collaborating with the China Academy of Space Technology to develop and manufacture sophisticated space instruments. In recent years, PolyU has established the Research Centre for Deep Space Explorations (RCDSE) and the “Joint Research Centre of Advanced Aerospace Propulsion Technology” in collaboration with the Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology.
The RCDSE is led by Director Prof. YUNG Kai-leung, Sir Sze-yuen Chung Professor in Precision Engineering, Chair Professor of Precision Engineering and Associate Head of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Associate Director Prof. WU Bo, Fiona Cheung Professor in Spatial Science, Associate Head (Research) of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, both of whom have contributed to the success of the Nation’s lunar exploration missions, including Chang’e-3, Chang’e-4 and Chang’e-5, as well as the Mars exploration project Tianwen-1.
PolyU has obtained approval to borrow lunar soil samples collected by the Chang’e-6 and Chang’e-5 mission from the Lunar Sample Management Office under the China National Space Administration’s Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Centre to support a range of research projects. At the same time, PolyU scholars are also actively engaged in national aerospace and deep space exploration initiatives, including research studies conducted on the Shijian‑19 satellite and projects to mitigate the risk of hypervelocity impacts from space debris on satellites and space stations.
Press release: https://polyu.hk/NUiRP
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| Research Units | Research Centre for Deep Space Explorations |
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