China is finding it hard to get national-level participation in its new moon base project, despite adding new partners

HELSINKI — China keeps adding new members to its International Lunar Research Station initiative, but many of them are from smaller regions, which suggests that there are difficulties in attracting larger partners.

The Asociación de Astronomía de Colombia (ASASAC) recently signed a cooperation agreement with China’s Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL). ILRS DSEL finalized the agreement on March 27. announced Kyrgyzstan’s Arabaev Kyrgyz State University also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with DSEL earlier this month.

PT Universal Satelit Indonesia (UniSat) joined in December. signed The University of Sharjah of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Hawaii’s International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) are among the non-governmental entities that have also signed MoUs with DSEL. signed up Other signatories include the University of Sharjah of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Hawaii’s International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA).

“China seems to face more difficulties than expected in bringing partners on board its ILRS program. Including civilian associations and universities likely reflects a lack of better alternatives,” according to Marc Julienne, head of China research at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI). SpaceNews.

The French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) also noted that China signed a cooperation agreement on ILRS with only one country: Russia. It has signed Memorandums of Understanding with only two states, namely Kyrgyzstan and Indonesia, while it signed lower-level “joint statements on cooperation” with Arabaev Kyrgyz State University and Colombia's Asociación de Astronomía de Colombia. EgyptJulienne further comments that China only has a cooperation agreement with one country: Russia. It has signed Memorandums of Understanding with only two states, Kyrgyzstan and Indonesia, while it signed lower-level “joint statements on cooperation” with Arabaev Kyrgyz State University and Colombia's Asociación de Astronomía de Colombia. South Africa is one of the two states with whom China has signed Memorandums of Understanding. and PakistanThe International Lunar Research Station is a China-led initiative parallel to and separate from NASA’s Artemis program. Both aim to establish a sustainable lunar presence and attract partners. Venezuela, Belarus and Azerbaijan.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has impacted ILRS efforts. China has noticeably refrained from mentioning Russia as an ILRS partner since then, although Russia is still involved.

Following the start of its invasion, Russia’s space sector has also suffered, and its Luna 25 moon lander mission, nominally part of ILRS, ended in failure.

Uruguay became the 36th country to sign the Artemis Accords last month, which outline best practices in lunar and deep space exploration. China has stated its intention to establish an organization named , to coordinate the ILRS initiative, headquartered in the city of Hefei in Anhui province. Julienne noted that China’s space cooperation is now looking to the “Global South,” due to a lack of better alternatives and broader diplomatic reasons. Julienne stated that China is now focusing on engaging “Global South” countries in its ILRS initiative, as these countries already have space programs and collaborate with the U.S., Europe, or Japan, or have no or limited experience in the field. Russia’s space sector has also suffered following the start of its invasion, while its Luna 25 moon lander mission, nominally part of ILRS, ended in failure.Uruguay became the 36th country to sign the Artemis Accords last month and China plans to establish an organization to coordinate the ILRS initiative, which will be headquartered in the city of Hefei in Anhui province. Julienne noted that China’s space cooperation is now looking to the “Global South,” due to a lack of better alternatives and broader diplomatic reasons..

Julienne mentioned that China is now aiming to engage “Global South” countries in its ILRS initiative, as many of these countries already have space programs and collaborate with the U.S., Europe, or Japan, or have limited experience in the field. China faces major challenges in engaging “Global South” countries in its ILRS program, as these countries either collaborate with the United States, Europe, or Japan and have already signed the Artemis Accords, or they have little or no experience in the field of space. In the first case, China has little chance of winning these countries over the U.S. In the second case, for countries with little or no experience in the field, space is often not a priority, and therefore they don’t make strong partners for China. ILRSCOChina has said it intends to establish an organization, named , to coordinate the ILRS initiative, which will be headquartered in the city of Hefei in Anhui province.

Julienne stated that China’s space cooperation is now looking to the “Global South” due to a lack of better alternatives and broader diplomatic reasons.

Julienne pointed out the main challenge for China in engaging “Global South” countries in ILRS, as these countries either have a space program and collaborate with the United States, Europe, or Japan, and many of them have already signed the Artemis Accords with the U.S., like Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Uruguay, or they have no or embryonic space program, like Venezuela, Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Pakistan.

In the first case, China has little chance of winning these countries over the U.S., says Julienne. In the second case, for countries with little or no experience in the field, space is often not a priority and therefore they don’t constitute strong partners for China.

Subnational partners might offer a way to have a broader impact and work together, even with the UAE, which is a signatory of Artemis. participating in the Gateway.

Lunar infrastructure

Diplomacy is just one aspect of the new lunar programs. Both the Artemis and ILRS projects demand significant economic and technological resources. NASA has demonstrated its super heavy-lift SLS rocket. SpaceX is currently working on making Starship operational.

China is developing the Long March 10 rocket for human spaceflight beyond low Earth orbit. It plans to send its first astronauts to the lunar surface before 2030 using two Long March 10 launches. Crew will launch on one rocket, with an in-development lunar lander stack to launch separately on another.

The larger Long March 9 rocket—which appears to have undergone a number of design changes, notably for reusability—is expected to become operational in the 2030s. That launcher would facilitate large lunar infrastructure missions. These were outlined in a China-Russia ILRS roadmap unveiled in 2021.

China last week launched its Queqiao-2 lunar communications relay satellite. It entered an initial 200 x 100,000-kilometer orbit 112 hours later. This will be trimmed into a 24-hour-period, highly-elliptical “frozen” orbit. Two smaller satellites were aboard the launch, named Tiandu-1 and Tiandu-2. These are pathfinders for a planned wider Queqiao constellation to provide lunar navigation and communication services.

Queqiao-2 will facilitate the Chang’e-6 lunar far side sample return mission, launching in May. It will later support the future Chang’e-7 and Chang’e-8 lunar south pole landings. The missions are precursors intended to establish a “basic model” of the ILRS. They will also test key technologies including in-situ resource utilization. The relay satellite could also play a role in international cooperation.