After decades of lunar exploration since the Apollo era, lunar samples have become the largest treasure returned by human beings, which have unlimited potentials to understand the Earth-Moon system. So far, lunar samples have been collected by China’s Chang’e-5, 6 missions, USA’s Apollo-11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 missions, Soviet Union’s Luna 16, 20, 24 missions, and recovered as lunar meteorites. The recent acquisition of Chang’e-5 samples from the youngest mare region in the Procellarum KREEP Terrance, the Chang’e-6 samples from the lunar farside in the South Pole Aitken basin, and the recent opening of NASA’s Apollo samples in the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis program bring a new era of lunar sample studies that are likely to solve the most significant questions of lunar science lasting since the Apollo era.

To share the recent findings of Chang’e-5, 6, Apollo, Luna samples, lunar meteorites, and other lunar sample related studies, to prepare for future lunar sample return analyses such as those returned by China’s and USA’s human lunar missions, and to foster international cooperation in lunar sample studies of China and their international partners, the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) jointly propose this International Lunar Sample Research Symposium 2025 on November 21-24, 2025. It aims to present the most intriguing findings from all kinds of lunar sample studies, including but not limited to: 

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

12) New Techniques

We welcome all lunar scientists globally to attend this International Lunar Sample Research Symposium and to celebrate the recent discoveries relating to lunar samples!

About Institute of Geology and Geophysics, CAS

Leading the design of China’s first satellite, initiating the nation’s Mars exploration project, discovering the world’s largest rare-earth ore deposit, and supporting national major engineering projects such as Three Gorges Dam, are among the many successes of the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGGCAS). The institute has played a pivotal role in China’s strategic development and in fueling national socioeconomic growth. Following decades of rapid development, IGGCAS has evolved into a modernized comprehensive research institution comprising seven research departments and over 60 laboratories. It focuses on geology, geophysics, geochemistry, geological engineering and planetary science. It is equipped with comprehensive and advanced instruments capable of detecting deep earth, deep space, deep ocean and deep time. IGGCAS researchers are leading cutting-edge research that explores the Earth’s innermost core and extends right out to the fringes of galaxies.

About the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, HKU

The Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at HKU is a leading geoscience research unit in Asia, with international fame and reputation. It now has four research groups, including solid earth and earth history, planetary sciences, global change and environmental science, and applied/urban geoscience. The planetary science group is the largest research group in the department, with all major research directions of planetary science including Planetary Geology, Comparative Planetology, Planetary Habitability, Astrobiology, Planetary Magnetosphere, and Planetary Dynamics. It has participated in most of China’s lunar and planetary exploration missions (e.g., Chang’e-5, Chang’e-6, Tianwen-1, Tianwen-3, Tianwen-4) and becomes a major player in international space endeavors recently.

This symposium is also sponsored by the Laboratory for Space Research at HKU. LSR is an interdisciplinary and free association of scientists, technologists and “astropreneurs” based across 2 faculties at HKU with an increasing, senior, cohort of powerful external affiliates. LSR’s strategic directions depend on success in grasping opportunities in HK, Mainland, and elsewhere. A major rationale for the LSR is to collaboration with Mainland to take advantage of the strongly emerging Chinese space programs and associated ground-based big science initiatives.