China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) is increasing its role in the nation's space program as the city plans to launch a dedicated lunar orbiter to study the crucial threat posed by meteoroid impacts to the country's future lunar research base.

The orbiter will be named "Yueshan" (月闪 in Chinese), which means "moon flashes," as confirmed by Su Meng, executive director of the Laboratory for Space Research at the University of Hong Kong.

Moon flashes, also known as a type of "transient lunar phenomena" or "lunar transient phenomena," are intense bursts of light on the moon's surface caused by objects like meteoroids striking it. Since the moon lacks an atmosphere to cushion impacts, these objects hit the surface directly at high speeds, posing a serious threat to any lunar habitats or infrastructure China aims to build.

The Yueshan orbiter is responsible for providing continuous, long-term monitoring of these impact events. Its data will be crucial for scientists to evaluate the safety of prolonged human activities on the moon.

No such devices have been built before, Su told reporters, adding that the Yueshan could boost Hong Kong's influence on global deep-space exploration.

Hong Kong, as a vibrant part of China, is set to participate in more national space missions like the Chang'e-7, Chang'e-8 lunar missions, and the Tianwen-3 Mars sampling mission. The region also looks forward to its first astronaut, as Hong Kong-born payload specialists are already undergoing training by China's space agency.