Sun Jiadong. [Photo by Deng Jia/Asianewsphoto]

Sun Jiadong

Sun Jiadong is an academic at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the chief designer of China's lunar probe project.

A graduate of Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy of the former Soviet Union, Sun is also known as China's "Father of Satellites".

He has been leading satellite research since 1967, including the development of China's first guided missile, first man-made earth satellite, first remote-sensing satellite, and the Beidou navigation satellite.

In 2009, he was granted the nation's top science and technology award.