Professor Yung Kai-leung, Director of the University Research Centre for Deep Space Explorations (RCDSE); and Professor Wu Bo, Associate Director of RCDSE; have recently been honoured with the Outstanding Award (Individual) for China’s Lunar Exploration Mission Chang’e-5 and the Outstanding Award (Individual) for China’s First Mars Exploration Mission, respectively.

The accolades were presented by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China National Space Administration and four other ministries to the two distinguished scholars in recognition of their contributions to the Nation’s space exploration achievements.

PolyU President Professor Jin-Guang Teng congratulated the two professors and said the University will continue to push forward the frontiers of technology and science and contribute to other national space missions. The PolyU team’s contribution to the Chang’e-5 mission was also recognised with a group award.

PolyU is the only tertiary institution in Hong Kong to have gained international space exploration experience. For more than a decade, in support of the Nation’s ambition to become a space powerhouse, PolyU has been contributing to various space missions including the Chang’e-3, -4 and -5 missions to the Moon and the Tianwen-1 mission to Mars. It lent its expertise to help identify landing sites and design and manufacture space instruments, including the Mars Landing Surveillance Camera and the Camera Pointing System besides the Surface Sampling and Packing System.

Professor Yung Kai-leung

Award:	Outstanding Award (Individual) for China’s Lunar Exploration Mission Chang’e-5
Mission:	Chang’e-5, China’s first lunar sample return mission in 2020
Contribution:	Led a team to develop and manufacture the “Surface Sampling and Packing System”, which automatically collected and packed lunar surface samples

Professor Wu Bo

Award:	Outstanding Award (Individual) for China’s First Mars Exploration Mission
Mission:	Tianwen-1, China’s first Mars probe to complete orbiting, landing and roving in one mission in 2021
Contribution:	Led a team to apply the advanced topographic mapping and geomorphological analysis technologies to identify safe and scientifically valuable landing sites on Mars in collaboration with national space institutions