Yang Gao

Yang Gao is the Professor of Space Autonomous Systems at Surrey Space Centre of the University of Surrey, UK. Prof. Gao founded and heads the multi-awards winning Space Technology for Autonomous and Robotic systems Laboratory (STAR LAB), which speializes in robotic sensing, perception, visual GNC and biomimetic mechanisms for industrial applications in extreme environments. She has been the Principal Investigator of internationally teamed projects funded by UK Research Councils, InnovateUK, Royal Academy of Engineering, European Commission, European Space Agency (ESA), UK Space Agency, as well as industrial companies. She has also been actively involved in real-world space missions such as ESA's ExoMars, Proba3 and VMMO, UK's MoonLITE/Moonraker, and CNSA Chang'E3.

Prof. Gao is an elected Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS). She was named by the Times Higher Education in 2008 as one of ten UK's young leading academics who are making a very significant contribution to their disciplines, and was also awarded the Mulan Award in 2019 for Contributions to Science, Technology and Engineering. Research work under her leadership and supervision has also received many international recognitions such as the IAF's 3AF Edmond Brun Silver Medal, COSPAR's Outstanding Paper Award, Top places in ESA Grand Challenges, etc.

Prof. Gao holds a B. Eng (1st Hons) and Ph.D. on electrical and control engineering from the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.