[May 7] Forum (2023-3): An Academic Presentation by Research Fellow Ding Chunyu from Shenzhen University

Forum (2023-3)

At the invitation of Associate Professor Zhou Feng of the School of Mechanical Engineering and Electronic Information, research fellow Ding Chunyu from Shenzhen University delivered an academic presentation at this school.

Title: Application and Research Progress of Ground Penetrating Radar in Lunar and Mars Exploration Missions

Location: Room 301 of No. 2 Teaching Building

Time: 10:00 am May 7 (Sunday)

Profile of the speaker:

Ding Chunyu, a research fellow and postgraduate supervisor of Shenzhen University, a Ph.D of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Presidential Outstanding Postdoctoral Fellow of Southern University of Science and Technology, and  core scientific member of CNSA Chang’e 4 mission, graduated from the Lunar and Deep Space Exploration Division of National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, with a Ph.D in Astronomy in 2017, and was selected for the first “International Cooperation Training Program for Postgraduates of the Chinese Academy of Sciences” and went to Italy for government-sponsored education in 2015. After receiving his doctorate, he successively worked in Sun Yat-sen University and Southern University of Science and Technology as an associate researcher and post-doctoral fellow, and joined Shenzhen University in 2021. He has long been engaged in lunar and Mars radar exploration and study of planetary surface evolution, and has been deeply involved in China’s “Chang’e Project” lunar exploration mission and the “Tianwen 1” Mars exploration mission. He has conducted systematic research on signal analysis, ground experiments, calibration, data processing, and scientific interpretation of microwave radars on the Moon and Mars, and has achieved a series of significant scientific results. So far, he has published 36 papers (15 papers as the first author/corresponding author) in Science Advances, Science Bulletin, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Geophysical Research Letters and other domestic and international academic journals, and has presided over 8 and participated in 3 research projects, including special program and youth program of National Natural Science Foundation of China, and high-level talents of Pengcheng Peacock Plan. He is a reviewer for Geology, IEEE TGRS, JGR: Planets, Journal of Deep Space Exploration and other domestic and international journals.

Report summary:

The Chang’e 3 lunar exploration radar is the first time that human beings use radar equipment in situ to detect the shallow geological structure of the lunar surface. Lunar exploration radar is the application of ground penetrating radar (GPR) in lunar exploration, which opens up a new perspective for ground penetrating radar technology in the detection of extraterrestrial objects, and it also marks a new milestone in China’s application of geophysical methods in planetary exploration. The lecture will focus on the scientific results obtained by the ground-penetrating radar (GPR) payloads in China’s lunar exploration project Chang’e 3, Chang’e 4, Chang’e 5 and the first Mars exploration mission “Tianwen 1”, including the subsurface structure of the Moon and Mars revealed by GPR, the thickness of lunar soil, the dielectric properties of substances under the lunar surface, and the special geological features of the superficial lunar surface (e.g., underground cavities and buried impact craters). Finally, he will also anticipate the prospects of ground penetrating radar in detecting other celestial bodies in the solar system.

                                                                             School of Mechanical Engineering and Electronic Information

May 6, 2023