Yung Kai-leung and the \"Named Professorship\": From a Mechanical Engineering Diploma to Space Instruments

In 1970, a student at the Hong Kong Technical College received a diploma in mechanical engineering; half a century later, a camera built by his team is sitting on the surface of Mars, taking photographs. Using Professor Yung Kai-leung's complete career arc as a thread, this piece unpacks PolyU's Named Professorship system—how it weaves together donors, founding figures, and cutting-edge contemporary research into a single professorial title. For an overview of professors and leaders, see faculty-and-leaders.md; for Yung's alumni identity, see also ./notable-alumni.md.

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# 1. What is a Named Professorship?

A Named Professorship (or Endowed Professorship) is a practice common across international universities—a professorial chair named after a donor, corporation, or commemorated figure, awarded to a scholar of outstanding achievement in the relevant field. It carries a dual significance: for the scholar, it is an honour and a form of recognition, typically accompanied by research resource support; for the donor or the person commemorated, it perpetuates the gift within an academic chair, representing a confluence of philanthropic culture and academic excellence (for the donation lineage, see 08 Finances · Benefactors and Donors).

The most representative example of a PolyU Named Professorship is Professor Yung Kai-leung. He has spearheaded the development of multiple PolyU instruments for the national space programme—the Camera Pointing System (Chang'e-3/4), the Surface Sampling and Packing System (Chang'e-5/6), and the Mars Camera (Tianwen-1). According to a PolyU press release^※, his chair title is "Sir Sze-yuen Chung Professor in Precision Engineering".

The Named Professorship system holds a threefold value for PolyU: it helps attract and retain top scholars (the honour and resources aid in recruiting first-class talent), spotlights philanthropic culture (perpetuating a gift in an academic chair, echoing the RMGS matching mechanism, see 08 Finances · Three Funding Pipelines for Research), and links history with the future (a chair named after a historical figure transmits that institutional spirit to a contemporary scholar). In a phrase: Named Professorships are PolyU's deft arrangement for "housing top scholars within a system, and using history to inspire contemporary research."

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# 2. Who is Yung Kai-leung, and what position does he hold at PolyU?

Yung Kai-leung (Ir Professor, BBS; b. 1949) is a Chair Professor and Associate Head of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering^※ at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and concurrently serves as the Director of the Research Centre for Deep Space Explorations (RCDSE)^※.

He is a registered engineer, a Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences (elected 2014)^※, and a member of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, using the title "Ir Professor". His research spans precision engineering, mechatronics, automatic control systems, computer-integrated manufacturing, and deep space exploration. He is the central figure coupling PolyU's precision manufacturing capabilities to the national space programme.

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# 3. How did he embark on the path to building space instruments?

Yung's starting point was the Hong Kong Technical College (PolyU's predecessor). He earned his diploma in mechanical engineering there in 1970^※, before pursuing further studies in the UK. He completed a BSc in Electronic Engineering at the University of Brighton (1975), then an MSc and DIC in Automatic Control Systems at Imperial College London (1976), and finally a PhD on "The application of microprocessors in process control" at the University of Plymouth (1985).

Working in the UK for nearly fourteen years, he served at BOC Advanced Welding, Ever Ready Group, and the Cranfield Unit for Precision Engineering—the latter closely tied to his research expertise. After returning to Hong Kong in 1986, he briefly worked as a consultant for the Hong Kong Productivity Council before joining the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at his alma mater, PolyU, that same year. He has remained there ever since. From a student starting his diploma in 1970, to a professor leading national lunar landing instruments five decades later, his entire research career has unfolded within a single institution.

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# 4. Which national space missions has he contributed to, and what were his roles?

Spanning nearly thirty years and stretching from low Earth orbit (Mir) to the Moon and Mars, these six missions constitute the most complete individual track record of any Hong Kong scientist deeply embedded in the national deep-space exploration landscape. PolyU officially confirms^※ that Yung is "the first scientist in Hong Kong to participate in developing instruments for the national space programme."

# 4.1 What exactly is the Chang'e-5 "Surface Sampling and Packing System," and how difficult was it?

In 2011^※, Yung received the national commission to lead the development of the "Surface Sampling and Packing System" for Chang'e-5—a robotic system capable of fully automated surface-soil collection, encapsulation, and sealing on the lunar surface. After nearly a decade of development, the system operated successfully on the Moon with the Chang'e-5 mission in December 2020, collecting over 1.5 kg of lunar soil and completing its encapsulation^※.

The system comprises over 400 components^※, largely made from titanium alloy, aluminium alloy, and stainless steel, with a total weight of roughly 1.5 kg. Equipped with two near-field cameras capable of withstanding temperatures up to 130°C, it had to operate reliably amid lunar surface temperatures reaching 110°C, extreme vacuum, and cosmic radiation. Yung stated bluntly, 「以機器人方式採集大量月壤是前所未有的壯舉……複雜流程鏈中任何一個細微故障，都可能令全部努力瞬間付諸東流。」 ("Robotic collection of a large quantity of lunar regolith is an unprecedented feat… a single tiny fault in a complex process chain risks rendering all the effort instantly futile.")

An upgraded version of the same system completed automated sampling and encapsulation on the far side of the Moon alongside the Chang'e-6 mission on 3 June 2024^※, collecting approximately 1.6 kg of lunar far-side soil^※—setting a historic first for surface sampling on the Moon's far side. Because direct communication with Earth is impossible from the lunar far side, the system's requirements for fully autonomous vision guidance and fault tolerance far exceeded those of the near-side mission.

# 4.2 What was the task of the Tianwen-1 Mars camera?

Tianwen-1, China's first independently executed Mars mission, landed on Utopia Planitia in May 2021^※. The "Mars Landing Surveillance Camera" developed by Yung's team was mounted on the Tianwen-1 lander to monitor the landing process and post-landing status, serving as one of the critical imaging devices confirming the probe's safe touchdown on the Martian surface.

This camera had to satisfy the full gamut of extreme interplanetary flight demands—deep-space radiation, vast temperature swings, months-long flight vibrations—while maintaining optical performance and mechanical stability. In an interview, Yung stressed that 「航天工程是一個需要巨大資本與時間的領域，因此不能有任何失誤」 ("space engineering is a field requiring enormous capital and time, and therefore there can be no room for error").

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# 5. What major honours has he received?

The Bronze Bauhinia Star (BBS, 2015^※) is an honour conferred by the Hong Kong SAR Government on professionals who have made outstanding contributions in fields such as scientific research and engineering. The Gold Medals at the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva, meanwhile, rank among the most authoritative global honours for invention, with Yung having secured them repeatedly over a span of nearly twenty years since 2007.

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# 6. What is the role of PolyU's Research Centre for Deep Space Explorations?

The PolyU Research Centre for Deep Space Explorations (RCDSE) was established in 2021^※, with Yung Kai-leung appointed as its inaugural Director. PolyU is the only higher education institution in Hong Kong to have continuously participated in the national space programme^※, having established a joint laboratory with the China Academy of Space Technology in 2010 and cultivated deep expertise in precision mechanisms for deep space exploration.

The Centre hosts joint laboratories and multiple research thrusts. Yung himself also serves as a member of the Academic Committee of the National Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (Mars Sample Return mission)^※ and as a member of the Expert Group for the Mars Sample Return mission of the Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Centre^※, directly contributing to the top-level planning for the nation's next phase of deep space exploration. In an interview with the mainland Chinese financial newspaper 21st Century Business Herald, he stated that young people entering aerospace research have 「前途無限」 ("boundless prospects")^※, encouraging research talent from Hong Kong and Macau to participate in major national science projects.

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# 7. How is his academic influence and legacy manifested?

Yung places strong emphasis on talent cultivation. A student he supervised, Mr. Ko Sui-man, has matured into a researcher in the deep space exploration field; Yung has described this form of legacy as 「傳授專業工程技能，更傳遞科研精神」 ("imparting professional engineering skills, and even more so, transmitting the spirit of scientific inquiry"). His research is not confined to space: his precision engineering methods have also been applied to the development of a robotic system for minimally invasive surgery^※, exemplifying the bidirectional value of "transferring space technology to civilian applications."

In an interview with a PolyU publication, Yung remarked that a scientist needs 「紮實的基礎研究能力」 ("a solid foundation in basic research capability") alongside 「跨領域溝通能力」 ("the ability to communicate across disciplines"), because innovation is always the product of teamwork. This philosophy threads through his entire career path, from handcrafting his own components to leading national space instruments. From studying at the Hong Kong Technical College in 1970 to the nation's twenty-first-century lunar and Martian exploration, the fusion of the scholar and the engineer within him forms a rare and complete arc within PolyU's biographical archives.

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# 8. Frequently Asked Questions (Q&A)

Q1: Does Yung Kai-leung count as a PolyU alumnus or a faculty member?

Both. He earned his mechanical engineering diploma from the Hong Kong Technical College in 1970, making him an alumnus. After returning to Hong Kong in 1986, he joined his alma mater as a faculty member and has remained ever since; he is now a Chair Professor. This "alumnus returns to teach" trajectory is not uncommon in PolyU's personnel genealogy (see also Lam Tai-fai), as detailed in ./notable-alumni.md.

Q2: Where does the chair title "Sir Sze-yuen Chung Professor in Precision Engineering" come from?

Sir Sze-yuen Chung was the first Chairman of the Council of the Hong Kong Technical College upon its establishment in 1972, a foundational figure in PolyU's governance (he himself held a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Hong Kong and was not a PolyU alumnus). PolyU established the named chair "Sir Sze-yuen Chung Professor in Precision Engineering," which is currently held by Yung Kai-leung—an instance within the Named Professorship system where an institutional founding figure and a top contemporary scholar are linked through a single title.

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