CUHK
News Centre

The Chinese University of Hong Kong was invited to join the Universities Space Research Association (USRA). During the Council meeting held last month, the USRA Board of Trustees voted unanimously to recommend CUHK’s membership to its Council. Professor Lin Hui, Director of Institute of Space and Earth Information Science (ISEIS) was invited to attend the USRA annual meeting in Washington D.C. next month.

Dr. Frederick A. Tarantino, President of USRA led a delegation to visit CUHK last November. They met with Professor Lawrence J. Lau, Vice-Chancellor of CUHK, and visited ISEIS. They were very interested in ISEIS research projects such as the algorithm for space debris automatic tracking, radar satellite remote sensing methods for monitoring the urban ground subsidence and marine oil spill, and remote sensing spectral analysis for monitoring the growth of genetically modified (GM) rice. These advanced research projects are very important to the safety of outer space, the ecosystem and food production.

Sponsored by NASA, USRA was founded in 1969 under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences. USRA focuses on space-related technical competencies with the goal of expanding knowledge and developing technology for the benefit of the academic community, space-related industries, and help contribute to achieving NASA’s mission to “pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research”. Currently, USRA members include about 100 universities such as Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University, Princeton University, and University of Toronto.

With CUHK joining USRA, it is hoped that more collaborations with China in space can be achieved via ISEIS of CUHK.