The Macau University of Science and Technology’s (MUST) State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences arranged to watch the live broadcast of the launch of the cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-5, which carried the “Macao Student Science Satellite 1”, on Saturday, the private university said in a recent statement.
The Macao Student Science Satellite 1 project, the statement noted, was created with the support of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) and the China National Space Administration (CNSA), and the local government’s “great attention”.
The statement said that DFH Satellite Company Limited launched the “Macao Student Science Satellite” development project in December 2021. The MUST lab, along with the Chinese Educators’ Association of Macau and the Macao Catholic Schools Association held the “Ceremony of Competition Award, Naming and Launching of Macao’s First Science Satellite” on March 19, 2022. The China Manned Space Engineering Office approved the satellite’s launch via the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft in August 2022, the statement underlined.
According to the statement, the spacecraft was launched from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of the southern island province of Hainan on Saturday. The on-campus live broadcast was attended by over 100 people including Macao’s First Science Satellite’s student winners, teachers and students.
The live event, the statement noted, was also attended by Xu Ting, director of the Education and Youth Department of the Liaison Office, and Xu Zhiping, deputy director of the Education and Youth Department of the Liaison Office, among others.
The statement quoted MUST Associate Vice President, Laboratory Director and Chair Professor Zhang Keke as saying that the lab’s facilities, equipment, and human resources will be used to support the science satellite’s space science education activities aimed at the Greater Bay Area (GBA) and the young people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, as well as in Hong Kong and Macau.
Zhang said that these are in line with the responsibilities assigned by the China National Space Administration, the Liaison Office and the local government. The lab’s Assistant Professor Ou Jiaming also introduced functions and details of the students’ satellite, the statement said, while the guests also visited areas such as the satellite ground station on the sidelines of Saturday’s live broadcast of the cargo spacecraft’s launch.
This photo taken on Saturday and provided by MUST shows the attendees of the on-campus live broadcast of the launch of the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft from Hainan province.
