International Symposium on Lunar and Planetary Science 2014 organized by the Macau University of Science and Technology, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and China University of Geoscience, Wuhan, and sponsored by Macau University of Science and Technology Foundation of the Science and Technology Development Fund of Macao SAR held in the Macau University of Science and Technology on June 3-5. Famous experts, scholars from the United States, Germany, Japan, mainland China and Taiwan came here to meet the teachers and students of the Space Science Institute of Macau University of Science and Technology. Mr. Chan Wan-hei, Administrative Committee Member of the Science and Technology Development Fund of Macao Special Administrative Region; Prof. Ip Wing-huen from National Central University, Taiwan; Prof. Xiao Long from China University of Geosciences, Wuhan; Chair Prof. Liu Liang, President of Macau University of Science and Technology and other university officials presented at the opening ceremony.
Chair Prof. Liu Liang, President of Macau University of Science and Technology delivered a welcome remark at the opening ceremony. He said from 2006, the University had initiated the pioneer research in the field of planetary sciences and established the Space Science Institute in 2011. After launching ChangE-1, ChangE-2 and ChangE-3 by China, supported by the research funding from the Macao Science and Technology Development Fund, the colleagues in the Apace Science Institute have been working very hard on the analysis of the exploration data of those three missions, as well as the data from other missions launched by other countries beyond China. To date, more than 100 research articles have been published in the national and international journals. Just recently, the first offshore partner key laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Partner Laboratory for the Key Laboratory of Lunar and Deep Space Exploration, Chinese Academy of Sciences, found its home in the University. He believes that this Partner Key Laboratory must be a strong power to drive my colleagues’ research in this field onto international excellence. And the University will continuously provide all supports for this promising research area. ”
Mr. Chan Wan-hei said this conference provides a new opportunity for participants to exchange their latest research achievements in these fields. He believes the conference hosting in Macao, contributes to the promotion of the local research of science and technology. He also said that FDCT has just launched a 200 million one-time special funding scheme for the universities applying for budget of research equipment. He expects this helps to raise the standard of the research condition and, as the consequence, will substantially elevate the research quality and academic level.
In this symposium, four famous scholars in planetary sciences were invited as follows: Professor Mark Robinson from Arizona State University, USA; Dr. Kai Wünnemann from Museum für Naturkunde, Germany; Professor Yongliao Zou from National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China; Dr. Junichi Haruyama from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan.
There will be 40 paper presentations in the symposium, including those by the researchers and young scientists from Macau University of Science and Technology.
