The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)

香港理工大学

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is a public university in Hung Hom, Kowloon, whose history dates back to 1937. It describes itself as the only university in Hong Kong that has repeatedly taken part in national space missions, and it manufactures all of its space flight instruments at the university's Industrial Centre. PolyU's space work is led by Professor Yung Kai-leung, Sir Sze-yuen Chung Professor in Precision Engineering, Chair Professor of Precision Engineering in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Director of the Research Centre for Deep Space Explorations, which the university set up in 2021. In 2022 PolyU also established a Joint Research Centre of Advanced Aerospace Propulsion Technology with the Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology.

Since 2010 PolyU has worked with the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) on space instruments and has used topographic mapping to help evaluate and select landing sites, supporting the Chang'e-3, Chang'e-4 and Chang'e-5 lunar missions and the Tianwen-1 Mars mission. Its first lunar hardware was the Camera Pointing System, a precision pointing mechanism mounted atop the Chang'e-3 lander in 2013 and the Chang'e-4 lander in 2019 to track the rover and capture panoramic images of the landing area. It was the first Hong Kong-developed instrument to reach the lunar surface, on both the near and far sides, kept working well beyond its design life, and has attracted more than HK$60 million in industry funding for follow-on technology transfer.

For sample return, PolyU developed and manufactured the Surface Sampling and Packing System for Chang'e-5, launched on 24 November 2020. The system includes two samplers that withstand 200 degrees Celsius, one for loose and one for sticky regolith, two heat-resistant near-field cameras for vision guidance, and a primary packaging and sealing system for the sample container, which the lander's robotic arm places into the ascender under vision guidance. An improved version flew on Chang'e-6 and on 3 June 2024 completed fully automatic multi-point surface sampling and sealing on the lunar far side, the first far-side sampling in history. For Chang'e-6 PolyU designed and built Samplers A and B, the high-temperature near-field cameras mounted on the robotic arm beside them, which guided sampling, sample deposition and precise insertion of the container into the ascender, and the sample container with its sealing mechanism. The Research Centre for Deep Space Explorations also runs a Space Resources Laboratory with lunar soil storage and analysis facilities.

PolyU is a partner of the Hong Kong Space Robotics and Energy Centre, the InnoHK centre led by HKUST that is building the Hong Kong Operation Robot for Chang'e-8. PolyU's Professor Wu Bo was appointed deputy director of that centre when it was set up.