China’s lunar base: major African nation joins Beijing’s international moon project
- Heads of China National Space Administration and Egyptian Space Agency sign cooperation agreement to work together on lunar station
- Analysts say China gains access to African space market and Cairo firms up relationship with Beijing while moving closer to having Egyptian walk on the moon
A cooperation agreement on the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) was signed between Zhang Kejian, director of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), and Sherif Sedky, chief operating officer of the Egyptian Space Agency, in Beijing on Wednesday.
The two countries will work together on the lunar station’s design, related space missions, the development of space systems, subsystems, facilities and ground-based segments, as well as talent training and capacity building, according to the CNSA website.
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John B Sheldon, a partner at AzurX, a space services company in Dubai, said the new partnership would benefit both sides in a number of ways.
For Egypt, “joining the ILRS is a diplomatic and public confirmation of their partnership with China, and will undoubtedly benefit Cairo for many years to come in terms of continued Chinese support for its growing space programme,” said Sheldon.
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Joining the ILRS also meant there was a strong possibility an Egyptian astronaut would walk on the moon alongside their Chinese colleagues within the next decade or so, he said.
Sheldon, who also publishes Middle East Space Monitor on Substack, said it was not surprising Egypt signed up to the ILRS – a project often seen as a rival to the US-led Artemis Programme – because of the deep and long-standing space ties between Egypt and China.
“Over the past several years, China has provided significant aid in terms of finance, know-how, and actual facilities and services to Egypt’s civil Earth observation programme,” he said. Meanwhile with America, “there is no US-Egyptian space cooperation beyond a few Nasa educational programmes”.
“The resolution of this satellite is very high compared to the previous satellites we have,” Sedky told Chinese state broadcaster CGTN on Monday. “Having the 2-metre resolution will serve a broader sector of interests for different governmental entities, and for different users of the satellite images,” he said.
China also helped build a satellite assembly, integration, and testing centre in Cairo, which is the largest of its kind in Africa and the Middle East.
“The centre is very important for us – and for China to help transfer satellite technologies to Africa,” Sedky told CGTN.
On Wednesday, Sedky and his Chinese counterpart also signed a memorandum of understanding on the cooperation and peaceful use of outer space. Besides the moon base, the two countries will also co-develop spacecraft and space infrastructure, share satellite data and jointly observe astronomy, among other collaborations.
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Egypt was the eighth country – and the second from Africa after South Africa – to sign up to the ILRS. It brings the number of ILRS partners to at least 14.
Meanwhile, the US-led Artemis Accords have attracted 33 signatories, with Angola the latest nation to join in late November.
