ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has signed an initial cooperation agreement with China to join its lunar base programme that aims at building a research station on the moon’s south pole.
Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar and Chinese Premier Li Qiang witnessed the signing of agreement earlier this week.
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) said the cooperation between the two countries would cover areas including the engineering and operational aspects of the Chinese lunar base programme.
Last month, space agencies of China and South Africa signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) programme.
The MOU, marking South Africa’s official participation in the ILRS program, was signed early this month by the Chinese Ambassador to South Africa Chen Xiaodong on behalf of the CNSA and Humbulani Mudau, head of the South African National Space Agency, the CNSA said in an announcement on its website.
South Africa’s participation shows the cooperation between China and South Africa extends from near-Earth space to the moon and deep space exploration, which will contribute to the space science and technology advancement between the two countries, said the announcement.
The two sides will carry out extensive cooperation in the demonstration, engineering implementation, operation and application, education and training of the ILRS.
In addition, under the framework of the BRICS cooperation on remote sensing satellite constellation, the two space agencies have cooperated on remote sensing data exchange and application, and satellite ground stations.
China has already inked same cooperation agreements with Russia and Venezuela as it wants to make a landing on the moon by 2030.
