Xie Jun, deputy chief designer of China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System,  delivers a speech at a lecture at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University on June 24, 2021. (EDMOND TANG / CHINA DAILY)

Two of China’s prominent scientists in satellite navigation and lunar exploration gave lectures at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University on Thursday morning.

Xie Jun, deputy chief designer of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), shared his experience with more than 100 students, scientific researchers and scholars. He is also the chief designer of the system's third-generation satellite. 

The lectures are part of a series of activities held during a five-day visit of a high-level delegation comprising six of the nation’s top aerospace experts and others

The BDS is independently constructed and operated by China. Its deployment has been completed with the last satellite launched in June last year. China officially commissioned BDS on July 31, 2020, opening the new BDS-3 system to global users.

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Asked why many countries want to develop their own satellite system, Xie said spatio-temporal reference is directly related to a country’s major infrastructure that is related to the nation’s security, such as the banking system, which does not allow time bias. Therefore, this could have huge significance regarding national security.

“It’s like you have to build your premises on your own territory. It is the safest option,” he told a roomful of young eager faces.

The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, he said, plays the same important role in people’s daily life as a beacon in outer space, which is as important as other infrastructures like water, electricity and the internet.

The development of the system is aimed at serving national security interests and the needs of the country’s socioeconomic development, Xie said, adding that it doesn’t only serve the Chinese but also the world.

Xie was joined by Zhang He, the executive director of the Chang'e 4 probe project, which made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon in human history on Jan 3, 2019.

The lectures were broadcast live on PolyU’s YouTube and WeChat channels.

They are part of a series of activities held during a five-day visit of a high-level delegation comprising six of the nation’s top aerospace experts and others.

On Wednesday, Qi Faren, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the first chief designer of Shenzhou spacecraft, gave a two-hour lecture at the university, which was well-received by local scientists and students.

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The rare high-level exchanges were also attended by Hu Hao, chief designer of China's third-phase lunar exploration project; Long Lehao, chief designer of China's Long March Rockets Series; and Sun Zezhou, chief designer of Tianwen 1.