ILRS cooperation adds three countries, intl agencies

The International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) has added Nicaragua, the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization, and the Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences as collaborating countries and organizations, GT learned from the Space Day of China 2024 opening ceremony on Wednesday. 

China will cooperate with these three parties in various aspects such as engineering implementation, operation, and application of the ILRS. According to the China National Space Administration (CNSA)'s ILRS Partnership Guidelines, the ILRS aims for peaceful use, equality and mutual benefit, and common development. Through joint construction with multiple countries, the ILRS will establish a comprehensive scientific experiment facility on the lunar surface and in lunar orbit, capable of long-term autonomous operation, short-term human involvement, expandability, and maintainability.