Although I write on the issue of New-Space regularly, an opinion piece from an unexpected quarter occasionally appears, reinforcing the belief that the dial is finally shifting forward.

This is a direction that I consider very important for Hong Kong’s future as a global city. Not just in terms of opportunity to grow prosperity but in terms of modern relevance, potential for international impact and significance, and in an emerging and increasingly valuable area of national and global strategic importance: Space.

I am specifically talking about the NewSpace economy and Hong Kong’s strong potential to be a global investment and facilitation nexus for it. The NewSpace economy, worth $630 billion in 2023, is expected to be worth up to $1.8 trillion by 2035, according to the World Economic Forum. To this should be added Hong Kong’s potential role as an international hub for space sustainability — the protection of the low earth orbit (LEO) ecosystem from the existential threat of total collapse from the impacts of space debris on all and every satellite spacecraft and space station. Here, I refer to a recent China Daily opinion piece by Hong Kong-based entrepreneur Bill Condon, which exemplified the strong messaging that I and my colleagues have put forward. They include Inaki Amate (chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce), Mahesh Harilela (senior representative for a prominent Hong Kong family), and Adam Janikowski (an emerging, strong, NewSpace voice in Hong Kong), who together formed our “tiger team”. We organized a one-day workshop in March that brought together over 30 stakeholders across aerospace, investment, fintech, insurance, academia, banking, and chambers of commerce to formulate a set of eight policy recommendations for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government in this area, respectfully submitted in early April. We heard it was well received — but will it be acted on?

Other strong voices of support include Gregg Li (CEO and co-founder with Perry Lam, Hubert Lem, and me of the Orion Astropreneur Space Academy) and, of course, legislator Regina Ip, who championed the opening theme of “Space” at the recent Global Prosperity Summit 2025.

There are many other emerging, supportive voices, too numerous to mention here. At the same time, several independently articulated white papers and outputs on the matter have recently been presented to the SAR government from bodies like the Hong Kong (International) AeroSpace Charitable Foundation led by Henry Yip, an OASA submission, a submission from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and a research document from the City University of Hong Kong.

The numerous green lights the mainland has sent Hong Kong over the last few years in space-related areas are deliberate, strategic policy. We can and must exploit this to the maximum extent

Clearly, there is a groundswell of disparate entities raising their voices for space. We are now all singing from the same hymn sheet, even if we are not yet all in tune.

So let me get back to the opinion piece from Bill Condon. He was correct to give a big shout-out to the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, which, for 20 years has been at the vanguard of space activity within the university sector in Hong Kong, with significant engineering contributions in terms of robotic arms and cameras for the Chang’e series of moon missions, in particular, but also for Mars Tianwen 1. Now, HKUST, the new kid on the block in space in Hong Kong, has a fantastic role in a robotic lunar rover for Chang’e 8. They have recently emerged, thanks to the strong support of their previous deputy vice-chancellor, Professor Wang Yang, who has just joined the University of Hong Kong’s (HKU) senior management team, and some excellent recruits, like Professor Gao Yang. It demonstrates the significant impact that supportive senior management can have in moving the dial forward.

I also want to mention HKU’s role here, as its director of the Laboratory for Space Research (LSR) since 2017. Indeed, HKU had the first science satellite at any Hong Kong university back in July 2020, along with our Nanjing University partners — the Lobster Eye X-ray telescope — a 165 million yuan ($23 million) mission that was the pathfinder for the successful Chinese Einstein Probe X-ray telescope now in orbit. The LSR also ran a highly impactful international space sustainability conference in December 2024. Indeed, its success led many to suggest that Hong Kong would be the ideal place to establish a global space sustainability hub. We also received moon rock samples from Chang’e 5 and 6, which were sent to HKU along with our sister university, PolyU. Finally, the LSR co-leads a science camera on the Chang’e 7 lunar lander, which is due to touch down on the moon next year. It is a collaboration with the International Lunar Observatory Association, based in Hawaii. So Hong Kong’s universities are engaged, active, and increasingly relevant to the Chinese mainland space program.

Indeed, following all this university space-focused activity, I believe it is now time to establish a leading interdisciplinary, inter-university research nexus for interrelated research and development (R&D) activities in space and planetary sciences, space sustainability, and NewSpace across Hong Kong, Asia, and globally. We can develop and lead a Hong Kong global “space sustainability” hub, leveraging the combined strengths, capacity, links, and ecosystem of local universities and institutions. This hub will facilitate R&D in space law, arbitration, compliance, insurance, fintech, investment, and more. Finally, we should exploit the scientific, educational, and commercial opportunities of the rapidly emerging NewSpace economy via a focus on astropreneurship. The numerous green lights the mainland has sent Hong Kong over the last few years in space-related areas are deliberate, strategic policy. We can and must exploit this to the maximum extent. It includes future exploration programs to the moon, Mars, asteroids, giant planets, and beyond, as well as engagement with the Tiangong space station and commercial NewSpace activity. We see rapid decadal growth in these areas, including for us.

The time is ripe for Hong Kong to step up in space, and more and more senior voices are getting the message.

The author is director of the Laboratory for Space Research at the University of Hong Kong.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.