It’s no secret Washington is nervous about China’s growing list of outer space achievements and their even bigger ambitions.
“For the first time in decades, US leadership in space and space technology is being challenged,” said Troy Meink, America’s principal deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) at the 39th Annual Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. The NRO builds and operates America’s fleet of spy satellites.
At the same conference, the Head of the US Space Command General Stephen Whiting, emphasised that: “Frankly, China is moving at a breathtaking speed. Since 2018, China has more than tripled their on-orbit intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites.”
Besides low earth orbit satellites, China’s recent space related accolades is nothing short of amazing. They include Beijing’s 2013 Moon landing, building a crewed space station called Tiangong, sending a robotic rover to Mars, and becoming the first country to make a controlled landing on the far side of the Moon. Just last month, China launched a relay satellite and two mini satellites for the Chang’e 6 located on the far side of the Moon. All three probes successfully entered lunar orbit on 24 March.
This same time period saw China greatly expanding its space cooperation with African space programs. Beijing’s reliable and evolving Long March rocket family has launched satellites for African countries including Algeria, Nigeria, and Sudan, as well as for the newest African BRICS members Ethiopia and Egypt. The Chinese have also used their construction expertise to recently build Ethiopia’s ground station to receive high-quality satellite data at the Entoto Observatory and Space Science Research Center in Addis Ababa.
Egypt will soon host the African Space Agency headquarters in Cairo and is further increasing its cooperation with Beijing. China finished building a satellite assembly and test centre in Cairo in in June 2023. In December the same year, China and Egypt signed a series of space agreements including cooperating on the China-led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS).
China plans to involve many of its BRICS allies in their ILRS Project. In 2021, Beijing signed an MOU with the other BRICS space heavyweight Russia to build the ILRS that will be a “comprehensive scientific experiment base” on the lunar surface and/or in lunar orbit to carry out “multidisciplinary and multiobjective scientific research activities.” South Africa joined the project in September 2023 and the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) will cooperate in the demonstration, mission implementation, operation and application, education and training of the ILRS project.
South Africa, an original BRICS member, still has one of the most advanced space industries in Africa. They continue to partner with Beijing in multiple space related areas. The China National Space Administration points out China-South Africa space cooperation extends from near-Earth operations to lunar and deep-space explorations. Moreover, within the framework of the BRICS Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation, South African and Chinese space agencies plan to collaborate on remote sensing data exchange and application, and on satellite ground stations.
