HELSINKI – European-Chinese cooperation in lunar exploration could end despite successful cooperation in the ongoing Chang’e-6 mission.
ESA delivered a payload for China’s Chang’e-6 complex sample return mission to the far side of the moon, which launched on May 3. The mission aims to collect and return samples from the far side of the moon, providing unprecedented insights into the moon’s composition and history.
An instrument developed by the Swedish Institute for Space Physics was aboard the Chang’e-6 lander that landed in and sampled the mid-latitude Apollo Crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin earlier this month.
The European team working with the Negative Ions at the Lunar Surface (NILS) instrument confirmed the success of their scientific mission. The payload made the first detection of negative ions on the lunar surface.
“The discovery of a new component of plasma on the moon’s surface opens a new window for space physics and for human and robotic missions in an era of renewed lunar exploration,” ESA said.
China is preparing for two lunar-South Pole missions with Chang’e-7 around 2026 and the Chang’e-8 in-situ resource and technology utilization mission no sooner than 2028.
However, the successful NILS experiment collaboration with Chang’e-6 could mark the end of an era of lunar cooperation between ESA and China.
“At this time there are no decisions to continue cooperation on board Chang’e-7 or -8,” said Karl Bergquist, ESA International Relations Manager. Space News.
Further down the line, ESA will not be involved in the Chinese-led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS).
“ESA will not participate in ILRS as this is a Sino-Russian initiative and space cooperation with Russia is currently under embargo,” Bergquist said.
It is the latest blow to Sino-European space cooperation. ESA also stated last year that it would no longer pursue opportunities to send European astronauts to the Tiangong space station. China and ESA had previously organized training exchanges.
ILRS, partners and Russian ratification
China and Russia officially presented a joint roadmap for the project in Saint Petersburg in June 2021. The moon base will initially be robotic and built via super-heavy rocket launches in the 2030s. It will also host crewed missions.
Moscow and Beijing had aimed to attract ESA and its member states to participate in the project. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 spelled the end of all prospects for cooperation.
China has played a leading role in the ILRS since 2022. The project’s headquarters will be located in China. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) and its Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL) have been central to efforts to attract partners, with Russia sometimes not mentioned as a partner. Many of these efforts, like China’s broader diplomatic efforts, have been focused on the “global south.”
Eleven countries are now affiliated, as well as other bodies. According to Russian reports, Turkey has also applied to join the ILRS. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on June 12 ratifying an intergovernmental agreement with China on the establishment of the ILRS.
The European Space Agency is now working on the Gateway and Artemis programs. A number of Member States have signed the Artemis Accords. 42 countries have now signed the agreements.
TArtemis and ILRS projects and related diplomatic efforts can be seen as separate groups. However, there is a small degree of overlap. This includes Bahrain, a signatory of the Accords, which recently agreed to work with Egypt to develop a hyperspectral imager for Chang’e-7.
In terms of post-ISS plans for human spaceflight – which previously included Tiangong – ESA has signed agreements for the commercial space stations Starlab and Vast.
In any case, cooperation with China will continue in the near future. The samples collected by Chang’e-6 are currently in lunar orbit awaiting a return to Earth, expected around June 25.
ESA will provide ground station support for Chang’e-6, as well as for Chang’e-5 through its tracking station network, ESTRACK.
The Maspalomas station in Gran Canaria, Spain, will track the Chang’e-6 spacecraft as it returns to Earth around June 25. The Kourou station in French Guiana tracked the spacecraft for several hours after launch to confirm its trajectory.