Russia’s principal space agency, Roscosmos, and China’s National Space Administration (CNSA) will be working towards bilateral cooperation in space, said Roscosmos chief and former deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin on Monday. Speaking at the 71st International Astronautical Congress, which is being held virtually, Rogozin said, “I would like to highlight the special and trusting nature of our relations with China, particularly with China National Space Administration and its head Zhang Kejian. We also see great prospects for us here.”
The United States (US) and its allies have previously raised concerns about Russia and China’s space cooperation. Notably, the US State Department raised the alarm about Russia’s use of “what would appear to be actual in-orbit anti-satellite weaponry.” In July, Washington and London accused Moscow of testing the launch of a ‘weapon-like projectile’ into space, which they claimed has the potential to target satellites that are already in orbit. The Russian defence ministry responded to the allegations by stating that it was merely checking on its space equipment by using new technology. The ministry added that the event involved the orbit of a small space vehicle to closely inspect one of the country’s national satellites, which was transmitting information back to ground control.
In the same month, Rogozin announced that Roscosmos was planning to set up a lunar base in collaboration with the CNSA. “We agreed to begin studying building a lunar scientific base. The project is open to all, even the Americans,” Rogozin said. The project includes the deployment of a lunar space monitoring system to study deep space with the hope of spearheading international cooperation for asteroid-comet safety. During his announcement of the programme, Rogozin hinted that Russia and China were also exploring ways to introduce a joint operating system for the commercial distribution of high-precision remote sensing results from Earth, increasing their contribution to global security and intelligence efforts.
In 2018, following bilateral talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, the two sides agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding on deep space and lunar exploration as the US’ relations with both countries began to deteriorate. Space exploration also constitutes a crucial aspect of the bilateral 2018-2022 cooperation programme signed between Beijing and Moscow, which includes information-sharing and cooperation on space debris research, Earth remote sensing, satellite system, and the development of special materials, apart from space exploration. The two countries have been considering the creation of a lunar research station since 2015, even though space remains a key and rare area of cooperation between Russia and the US. In the event of worsened ties with Washington, Roscosmos also drafted a contingency document outlining a plan that would shift the country’s official space cooperation operations to China.
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