PolyU hears national aerospace experts share rare experience

Two of China's prominent scientists in satellite navigation and lunar exploration gave lectures at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University on Thursday (June 24) morning.

Xie Jun, deputy chief designer of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), shared his experience with more than 100 students, scientific researchers and scholars. He is also the chief designer of the system's third-generation satellite.

The BDS is independently constructed and operated by China. Its deployment has been completed with the last satellite launched in June last year. China officially commissioned BDS on July 31, 2020, opening the new BDS-3 system to global users.

Xie was joined by Zhang He, the executive director of the Chang'e 4 probe project, which made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon in human history on Jan 3, 2019.

The lectures were broadcast live on PolyU's YouTube and WeChat channels.

They are part of a series of activities held during a five-day visit of a high-level delegation comprising six of the nation's top aerospace experts and others.

On Wednesday, Qi Faren, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the first chief designer of Shenzhou spacecraft, gave a two-hour lecture at the university, which was well-received by local scientists and students.

The rare high-level exchanges were also attended by Hu Hao, chief designer of China's third-phase lunar exploration project; Long Lehao, chief designer of China's Long March Rockets Series; and Sun Zezhou, chief designer of Tianwen 1.

(With inputs from China Daily)