In 2005, Mao won Italy's Balzan Prize, one of the highest honors in the global academic community, for his research into the changing nature of materials under high pressure. For his achievements in the field of mineralogy, he has also won the Gregori Aminoff Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Roebling Medal, the highest award of the Mineralogical Society of America.
2005 年，毛河光以「物質在超高壓力下的性質變化研究」獲得全球學界最高的榮譽獎項之一──義大利巴仁獎；此外他在礦物科學方面的成就，也先後獲得了「瑞典皇家科學院愛明諾夫獎」、「美國礦物學會羅勃林獎」的肯定。