China Initiative Events

In the New Space Era, China has the most ambitious space program in addition to the United States. As the two major powers in international space exploration, the efforts of China and the US have significantly shaped our knowledge of space and its utilization. Living in the same space, China and the US are sharing the same exploration targets and scientific goals. However, their cooperation is limited in the space domain and conflict may occasionally occur. This talk will introduce China’s human and robotic space program, compare it to that of the US, and place a special focus on the future relationship of China and the US in space.

Dr. Yuqi Qian is a Research Assistant Professor from the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Hong Kong. He holds a doctoral degree in Planetary Geology and Comparative Planetology from the China University of Geosciences in 2022 and was a visiting Graduate Student at Brown during 2019-2021. Dr. Qian has dedicated his studies to unravel the geological processes of the Moon behind modern remote sensing approaches and returned lunar samples, with a special focus on China’s Lunar Exploration Program. He has deeply involved in the China’s first lunar sample return mission, Chang’e-5, and the world’s first farside sample return mission, Chang’e-6, as well as Chang’e-7 and 8 to the lunar South Pole. Dr. Qian has published more than 40 papers with more than 1000 citations, contributing to construct the geological history of Procellarum KREEP Terrane and South Pole Aitken basin based on results of China’s lunar program. Dr. Qian is a member of the science and application committee of the China’s first crewed lunar mission, and is helping to send humans back to the Moon before 2030.