To advance global collaboration in lunar science, the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at The University of Hong Kong (DEPS-HKU) and the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGG-CAS) jointly hosted the International Lunar Sample Research Symposium 2025 from 21 to 24 November. The event attracted 230 participants from China, the USA, France, the UK, Japan, India, and other regions around the world.
Recent advances in lunar exploration have opened an important new chapter in lunar sample research. China’s Chang’e-5 and Chang’e-6 missions have returned samples from the lunar nearside and farside, while the newly unsealed NASA’s Apollo samples are being re-examined by new techniques. Together, these samples provide valuable new opportunities to address key questions that have remained unresolved since the Apollo era.
The symposium, jointly proposed by HKU and IGG-CAS, serves as a regular international forum for sharing the recent findings from Chang’e-5 and Chang’e-6 missions, Apollo samples, lunar meteorites, and other lunar sample-related studies.
The symposium also aims to prepare the community for upcoming human lunar missions—both in China and internationally—that will contribute to future plans for returning tens of kilograms of lunar samples.
This year’s programme covers 12 themes, including: 1) Lunar Sample Return Missions, 2) Origin of the Moon, 3) Lunar Differentiation, 4) Lunar Magmatism, 5) Lunar Magnetism, 6) Lunar Impact Processes and Chronology, 7) Lunar Meteorites, 8) Lunar Space Weathering, 9) Lunar Volatiles, 10) Lunar Resources, 11) Lunar Analogues, and 12) New Techniques. During the two-day symposium, leading experts delivered 10 keynote lectures, alongside 28 presentations and 45 poster presentations, covering all major areas of lunar science.
HKU is the first university in Hong Kong to study the nation’s lunar samples. It has been approved four times by the China National Space Administration to analyse lunar samples from the Chang’e-5 and Chang’e-6 missions. HKU researchers, are deeply engaged in the Chinese and international lunar exploration programmes, contributing through landing site analysis, scientific data interpretation, and returned lunar sample studies.
The International Lunar Sample Research Symposium further strengthens HKU’s role in this field by bringing together lunar sample researchers from China and around the world. Held in Hong Kong, the symposium connects the global scientific community with the latest developments in China’s lunar programme and encourages broader participation in ongoing and future lunar research.
About the Symposium Organisation
The symposium was co-chaired by Mok Sau-King Professor and Chair Professor Professor Guochun ZHAO from DEPS-HKU and Professor Fuyuan WU from IGG-CAS. It was organised by a local committee led by Dr Yuqi QIAN (DEPS-HKU) and Professor Wei YANG (IGG-CAS).
The scientific organising committee — Professors Nicolas DAUPHAS (Chair of Cosmochemistry, DEPS-HKU), James HEAD (Brown University), and Clive NEAL (University of Notre Dame) ensured the scientific quality of the conference met international standards.
This symposium received support from the Laboratory for Space Research at HKU, NWU-HKU Joint Center of Earth and Planetary Sciences, and GIGCAS-HKU Joint Laboratory of Chemical Geodynamics.
Learn more about the symposium: http://www.ilsrs.org
