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Hong Kong economy
OpinionComment
Quentin Parker
Quentin Parker

Opinion | Space has the answers to several of Hong Kong’s problems. Just look up

  • Even as Chinese space exploration takes off, the recent policy address is strangely silent on how the space sector can contribute to Hong Kong
  • This is disappointing because ground-to-sky sensing technologies, for instance, would serve the city, including the Northern Metropolis, well

Reading Time:3 minutes
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The return capsule, carrying three astronauts from China’s Shenzhou-16 spacecraft, is about to touch down at the Dongfeng site in Inner Mongolia on October 31. China has opened up the recruitment of taikonauts to Hong Kong, and the city’s emerging space sector has much to offer. Photo: EPA-EFE/Xinhua
Quentin Parker
In Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s last policy address as chief executive in 2021, there was at last a specific reference to Hong Kong’s role in the nation’s space exploration projects.
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This was music to the ears of our universities and emerging companies that are either engaged in the mainland’s space exploration endeavours or seizing other opportunities arising from the burgeoning global space economy – an industry which could be worth US$1 trillion by the end of the decade, according to Morgan Stanley.

Indeed, following Lam’s address, the mainland opened up the recruitment of taikonauts to Hong Kong and Macau, the China Manned Space Engineering Office invited Hong Kong universities to submit proposals, precious samples of moon rocks collected by the Chang’e 5 lunar mission were obtained for study by the University of Hong Kong (HKU), and various NewSpace start-ups emerged in Hong Kong.

All this recently culminated on October 20 in the first-ever NewSpace conference held at Cyberport – a first not just for Hong Kong, but the entire Greater Bay Area.

At the same time, there has been an increasing governmental focus on the development of the Northern Metropolis. The vision is for green, technology-driven infrastructure to underpin planning of this project.
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This is an exciting prospect for NewSpace because much of the infrastructure needed could be better developed if we incorporate data from ground-to-sky sensors that include hyperspectral satellite imaging from space. This would be useful in monitoring temperature, local weather, pollution, flora, erosion, logistics, the infrastructure footprint and much more.

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