China Space Days?event reveals Hong?Kong's flag on Chang'E 8 robot

This year, my third China Space Day event was spent in Shanghai, after Wuhan last year and Hefei the year before.?It was held?in the imposing Shanghai World Trade Center, close to the Mercedes-Benz stadium—a?lovely,?significant, physical nod to Shanghai's long-standing role as an international business city.

Once again, China's growing space presence was on display, showcasing?its impressive sophistication and breadth, and?there was much to commend, discuss, and appreciate across the several?days of activities?before and after the official national launch day celebrations on Apr 24th.

For the first?time?I had the privilege to not only attend the grand opening ceremony but also to be invited to give two talks?on the previous day, one in a special session of Professor Yulin Deng's forum on space health issues, and the other during a special conference?organized?by the Chinese Society of Astronautics, of which apparently I have the?honor?of being the first non-Chinese member, something I still find hard to believe.

Both talks I gave were on the same basic topic: space sustainability.?This?is a subject that has been hard to broach, but is perhaps the most?critical?issue for space?utilization?in the 21st?century.?It is no?coincidence?that the Shenzhou 20 crew, who have worked well at the Chinese Space Station, have more work to do in adding additional defenses to the space station against the threat posed by?the ever-increasing number of fast-moving space debris.

Here, a particle weighing only a few grams impacting at a typical speed of 7 to 8 km/s has the kinetic energy equivalent of an exploding hand grenade. There are now likely more than 150 million such debris objects 1 centimeter in size or smaller, whizzing around in low Earth orbit at incredible speeds, not to mention the 45,000+ space objects greater than 10 centimeters in size that are already being tracked from the ground.?

All these kinetic energy bombs pose an increasing threat to our economic New Space activities, space science and exploration missions,?and?to both?the International and Chinese space stations.?Serious integrated,?coordinated,?international action is urgently required; doing nothing is not an option.

In a speech at the opening ceremony, the Director of the United Nations' Office for Outer Space Affairs, Aarti Holla-Maini, praised China's accomplishments but also stressed the need for increased cooperation among all space-faring nations to tackle this issue head-on.? Last December, she also gave opening remarks via video at the Space Sustainability Workshop held at Hong Kong?University.?

The opening ceremony was also impressive in the decent time allocated to?recognizing?the achievements of the teams of Chinese engineers, technologists?and?visionaries who have together propelled the Chinese space program into the realm of?a serious?space power in less than 20 years.?

Cultural elements of music, song, dance?and?art?were also interspersed?between the various high-level speeches and awards,?giving?the whole event an uplifting and proud atmosphere,?which?even I, as an Australian and HKU-based?guest, felt.?It was great to see our collaborators from the Shanghai Institute of Aerospace Systems Engineering winning an important achievement award for their work on the?extremely?successful Chang'E missions.?

Another significant event was the announcement of the science payloads for Chang'E 8. Here for?the first time, the Hong Kong flag was proudly visible on the promotional video for a robotic rover, due to the participation of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in this primary payload; a special moment for our city and testament to our value and capacity to contribute to significant mainland space missions.

As usual, along with the official series of mini-conferences on various?space-related?topics of national and international importance, often running in parallel sessions, including a significant one on climate change for space, major exhibitors from dozens of Chinese aerospace companies were present, across the road from the?central?exhibition halls.?

The exhibitors included rocket manufacturers,?space-worthy?component suppliers, space engine providers, designers, technology pathfinders, 3D printing specialists, satellite providers, artificial intelligence space platforms, and many more.?They were all proudly showing off their wares, often in spectacular fashion, with a variety of scale models of satellites, spacecraft, reusable rockets, rovers, landers, robots, and more.?It was hard not to get caught up in the belief that anything in space is now possible.

A full-scale mock-up of the new,?cutting-edge?Qingzhou (or light ship) cargo spacecraft was also?on display.?This?can deliver a substantial cargo volume of?mostly?scientific?instruments?of?up to 27 cubic?metres?that can weigh up to 2 metric tons, via a system of 4-tier compartments in a more?cost-effective?and efficient manner.?This?includes up to 300 liters of?so called?cold-chain 'victuals', such as fresh fruit and vegetables, for hungry taikonauts yearning for more normal fare.

Also on simultaneous display was the twin?sample?of lunar near and far-side moon rock, as brought back by the Chang'E 5 and 6 missions.?This?was pertinent to the announcement in the main hall of all the international universities?that have been?loaned moon rock from Chang'E 5.?These included the Open University of the?United Kingdom,?and the Brown and Stony Brook universities in the United States.?

To?me,?this is an open-handed demonstration and genuine sharing gesture for global scientific partnership and collaborations?if?ever there was one.?We need much more of this.

The author is the Director of Lab for Space Research at the University of Hong Kong.