HELSINKI — China has added a United Arab Emirates’ university to its list of partners for the country’s moon base ambitions.
A Memorandum of Understanding between the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL) and the University of Sharjah (UoS), United Arab Emirates (UAE), on cooperation on the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) was signed Nov. 14, DSEL announced Sunday.
Wang Zhongmin, director of DSEL’s International Cooperation Center, and UoS Chancellor Hamid Majoul Al Nuaimi represented their respective parties at an MoU signing ceremony. The ceremony took place before the start of the 14th Arabic Conference of the Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences at the UoS.
The agreement between the two parties focuses on collaboration and providing an international platform for implementing, operating and utilizing the ILRS, according to Sharjah 24.
Cooperation will include the interchange of scientific and technological experiments, data exchange and analysis, teaching and training, and the development of space exploration capabilities. The UoS was established in 2015. The University’s Sharjah Academy For Astronomy, Space Sciences and Technology (SAASST) has a number of laboratories including a cubesat facility.
The China-led ILRS envisions constructing a permanent lunar base in the 2030s, with precursor missions in the 2020s. The initiative is seen as a China-led, parallel project and potential competitor to the NASA-led Artemis Program.
China has established an organization, named ILRSCO, in the city of Hefei in Anhui province to coordinate the initiative. The U.S. meanwhile is attracting countries to sign to the Artemis Accords, which outlines principles for cooperation in space exploration, and underpins NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration campaign. Bulgaria became the 32nd country to sign up Nov. 9.
The UAE’s position on ILRS is not clear. The country signed up to the Accords in October 2020. Wu Weiren, now…
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