My TakeChina’s rise gives Hong Kong graduates a chance to shine

Many of the city’s people are blind to the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities available on the mainland, especially in science and technology. It’s time to jettison the prejudices and preconceptions

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Professor Yung Kai-leung with a model of the Mars camera at Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 9:00pm, 16 May 2021Updated: 10:27pm, 16 May 2021

The north beckons for Hong Kong’s STEM graduates. It’s often said that there are only so many research or technical jobs the city can offer for those who major in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. But on the mainland, the sky’s the limit, quite literally.

China’s Zhu Rong rover that has successfully landed on Mars carries a “Made in Hong Kong” camera installed to ensure the landing was smooth.

The Mars Landing Surveillance Camera, weighing just 390 grams and designed to withstand extreme temperatures, was built by researchers at the Polytechnic University.

Another PolyU team helped the China National Space Administration choose the landing site, located in Utopia Planitia, a region in the northern hemisphere of the Red Planet, with advanced computerised mapping and geotechnical evaluation.

The camera team had also helped the last Chinese lunar mission to design a sampling tool, to retrieve soil and rocks, which have been returned to Earth on a fully automated robotic programme.

Members at the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre celebrate after China‘s Tianwen-1 probe successfully landed on Mars. Photo: Xinhua