Uni Emirates Arab University Supports China's Moon Station Program

Uni Emirates Arab universities are partners with the ILRS program (photo: dock. CNSA)

JAKARTA The International Moon Research Station (ILRS) program driven by China for the first time has received support again. This time, support came from universities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

From the Spacenews report, Sharjah University at the UAE signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tuesday, November 14. This memorandum was also signed by theDeep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL), a contractor for the ILRS project.

The parties present at the MoU signing ceremony were DSEL International Cooperation Center Director Wang Zhongmin and Sharjah University Chancellor, Hamid Majoul Al Nuaimi. The MoU was approved before the 14th Arab Astronomical and Space Science Conference took place.

With the participation of Sharjah University, ILRS has now received support from 11 partners consisting of countries, organizations or agencies, to education groups. All of these partners will collaborate in the application, operation, and utilization of ILRS.

These eleven partners will get an exchange of scientific experiments, technology, and data analysis, teaching and training related to the development of ILRS, as well as the development of space exploration capabilities.

The ILRS is a program deployed by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos). Led by China, the ILRS will build their base on the moon in the 2030s.

DSEL, which operates under CNSA, will become a major contractor in this program. The plan is that ILRS will be built with five missions, namely the construction of nuclear energy, communication, astronomical observations, and other infrastructure for sites visited by astronauts.

The ten other partners who joined this program were Belarus, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Venezuela, South Africa, Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO), nanoSPACE AG (Switzerland), International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA), and the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT).