Russian expert: Russian-Chinese cooperation in space has become everyday

Over the past years, Russian-Chinese cooperation in space has become everyday, said Valentin Uvarov, deputy chairman of the Expert Council on Improving the Legislative Regulation of the Space Industry under the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy, a member of the International Institute of Space Law, to Sputnik.

The expert noted that in recent years the necessary regulatory framework has been created for such cooperation, in particular, on the GLONASS and Beidou systems, the construction of a joint lunar station, and other aspects.

“The signed agreements give concrete results in various areas of space activity, from individual joint experiments to the very plans for the exploration of the Moon. Cooperation between Russia and China in space has become ambitious and permanent,” he said.

He called the mutual use of GLONASS and Beidou systems one of the most promising areas. In September, it was reported that China would deploy three Beidou stations in Russia, while Russian GLONASS stations would appear in China to provide a more reliable and high-quality navigation signal.

“The project is extremely important not only for Russia and China. The convergence of coordinate systems and the time scale means that now our countries will be able to use many more satellites, both Russian and Chinese, which means that positioning will be much more accurate,” he said, noting that this cooperation is already bringing concrete and important results.

Uvarov recalled that following President Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia in March, the leaders of the two countries announced that Russia and China would jointly develop their space programs.

“These are manned programs in near-Earth orbit and the construction of a Russian-Chinese International scientific lunar station at the South Pole of the Moon. In addition, Russian instruments should be delivered to the Chinese station Tianwen-2, which will go into space in 2025 to collect soil from the asteroid,” he said. According to him, the Russian Federation and China can also cooperate in matters of remote sensing of the earth and the fight against space debris.

Uvarov also noted that the Russian Federation and China would cooperate in countering the militarization of outer space. In March, the leaders of the Russian Federation and China, in a joint statement, opposed attempts to use space for armed confrontation and declared their readiness to oppose such activity.

“The militarization of space is extremely dangerous. New international agreements are needed, and to promote such initiatives and documents at the international level, Russia and China could use the tools and support of the SCO and BRICS,” he said.

Uvarov also noted that it would be useful for Russia to study China’s legal and practical experience in attracting business to space projects.