HK-made space device played key role

BEIJING: With its self-developed system helping China accomplish the country’s first lunar sample-return mission, a research team from Hong Kong Polytechnic University said its nearly 10-year effort finally paid off.

The team, led by Professor Yung Kai-leung, associate head of PolyU’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, developed and manufactured the automatic Surface Sampling and Packing System in collaboration with the China Academy of Space Technology. The system collects, packs and seals samples from the lunar surface.