The plaque unveiling ceremony of MUST Lunar and Planetary Science Laboratory, which is also the first partner laboratory of Chinese Academy of Sciences set up outside of the mainland China, was held in MUST on Nov. 19th. Academician Bai Chunli, President of Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with Mr. Liu Shiyao, Representative of Chief Executive of Macau Special Administrative Region, Mr. Li Gang, Head of Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government (LOCPG) in the Macau S.A.R., Mr. Ma Chi Ngai, President of Macau Science and Technology Development Fund, Dr. Liu Chak Wan, Chancellor of MUST, Prof. Liu Liang, President of MUST, were present at the ceremony. Other attendees included local elites, presidents from different universities and middle schools, leaders of scientific and technical communities, representatives of LOCPG and Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, members of MUST Foundation, MUST School Board, and Consulting Committee, University Principal Officers, Academic Committee members of Key Partner Laboratory, and representatives of MUST teachers and students. The ceremony marks that the laboratory has become a new academic platform for modern science and technology in Macau.
Established in March of 2000, Macau University of Science and Technology is a young and energetic university that has been developing rapidly. According to the new “Ranking of Universities in the Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan”, released by Center for World-Class Universities, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, MUST is ranked 57th, which is a big step forward. In recent years, the university has been committed to the implementation of professional education and the development of academic research. Researchers’ innovative study in multidisciplinary is encouraged and supported, which enables them to win local and even national awards in the fields of science and technology.
Since the beginning of the 21th century, many countries have strived to explore the moon and other planets. China launched Chang’e 1, 2 and 3 successively, marked the success of soft-landing on the Moon. Recently, to prepare for Chang’e 5, a satellite successfully returned from the moon to the earth. Following the long-term plan of probing the deep space, China will put the exploration of Mars, asteroids, and other planets into its schedule. Even though it hasn’t been a long time since MUST started the lunar and planetary research, as one of the first universities which have deep space exploration programs in Hong Kong and Macau, MUST has gained great academic achievement and received the first award of science and technology in Macau. The research findings have been used as teaching materials for students and other Macau citizens to popularize scientific knowledge.
As the first partner laboratory of Chinese Academy of Sciences set up outside of the mainland China, MUST Lunar and Planetary Science Laboratory has become the pioneer in the cooperation of scientists from the Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan in the field of deep space exploration. The collaboration of key laboratory and partner laboratory will bring the advantages of their regional resource and manpower resource, which is significant for raising the two laboratories’ overall abilities, research level, international influence and competitiveness. The collaboration also plays an important role for activating academic ideas, extending research approach, achieving the goal of applying the scientific data from national lunar exploration program and deep space exploration program. The close cooperation and joint development of the partner laboratory and the key laboratory will contribute to further development of the scientific research of the moon and planets in China.
At the plaque unveiling ceremony, President Liu Liang said that the university will develop the State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicines and the lunar and planetary scientific research at the same time. Due to the support from principles and scholars of Chinese Academy of Sciences, MUST Space Science Institute took part in the first and the next two Lunar Exploration Programs – “Chang’e 1, 2 and 3 Lunar Exploration Programs”, becoming the first university in Hong Kong and Macau which joins the national lunar exploration program. As the first partner laboratory and key laboratory approved by Chinese Academy of Sciences, which is set up outside of the mainland China, its establishment is considered as a way of affirming the school’s space scientific research level, and a way to promoting its academic development. MUST will recruit excellent scholars, train the research teams, enlarge the research scale and improve the ability of doing research, aiming to develop “MUST Lunar and Planetary Science Laboratory” into the partner laboratory and key laboratory of Chinese Academy of Sciences which embodies its national level. It is hoped that in the near future, “MUST Lunar and Planetary Science Laboratory” will work with “Key Laboratory of Lunar and Deep Space Exploration, Chinese Academy of Sciences”, to speed up the development of the national lunar and planetary scientific research, and become the national key laboratory in the field of space science.
