The space agencies of Ukraine and China will work on the issue of expanding the current program of Ukrainian-Chinese space cooperation for 2011-2015 with new large-scale projects, the State Space Agency of Ukraine has told Interfax-Ukraine.
The agency said that agreement on this was reached in Kyiv during
talks with a delegation of the China National Space Administration
(CNSA) headed by General Manager of China Aerospace Science and
Technology Corporation Ma Xingrui.
Apart from an analysis of the realization of the program, the sides
also discussed the holding of the second meeting of the
Ukrainian-Chinese intergovernmental commission scheduled for late
September in Beijing, and the participation of a Ukrainian delegation in
the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Beijing on September
23-27, 2013.
As a part of the visit to Kyiv, the CNSA delegation also met former
president of Ukraine (1994-2004) Leonid Kuchma and President of the
National Academy of Science of Ukraine, Borys Paton. They also visited
the state-run Specialized Instrument-Making Enterprise Arsenal (Kyiv).
On September 11, 2013, the Chinese delegation also held talks at the
Pivdenne Design Bureau, Pivdenmash and public joint-stock company
Dniprotiazhmash.
Ukraine and China signed a program on cooperation in research and peaceful uses of space for 2011-2015 in September 2010.
The program includes over 50 priority and promising joint projects.
They concern the creation of a joint space system for Earth observation,
a joint ionospheric satellite to create an earthquake prediction
system, as well as the creation and delivery to Chinese partners of a
wide range of equipment for rocket and space technology.
Cooperation in the exploration of the Moon and Mars, rocket engine
building, space welding and projects in the solar energy area are among
the promising cooperation areas of the Ukrainian-Chinese cooperation
program.
Cooperation between Ukraine and China in the space sector is based on
an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the exploration and
use of space for peaceful purposes, which was signed in 1995, as well as
on long-term cooperation plans.
