Nanfang Daily, Nanfang Plus:
The Chang'e-6 spacecraft carried international payloads from France, Italy, the ESA, and Pakistan. Could you provide details on these collaborations? What additional international cooperation projects are planned for future lunar and deep-space exploration missions? Thank you.
Bian Zhigang:
As you mentioned earlier, China is committed to collaborating fully with global peers in aerospace exploration. I'll pass the floor to Mr. Liu Yunfeng for further details.
Liu Yunfeng:
Thank you for your question. The situation of the international payloads on Chang'e-6 has been of great interest to everyone. Mr. Bian has already introduced that there were a total of four international payloads. I will introduce them one by one. On May 8, the cube satellite from Pakistan successfully separated from the Chang'e-6 probe after the near-moon braking maneuver, captured images of the moon, and transmitted them back, thus successfully completing its mission. On May 10, the CNSA handed over the data from the cube satellite to the Pakistani side. On June 2, after the lander and ascender module landed on the moon, France's lunar radon detector, and the lunar surface negative ion analyzer of the ESA, smoothly carried out scientific explorations. Italy's laser retroreflector is working normally; the radon detector operated on the lunar surface for 32 hours, and the lunar surface negative ion analyzer functioned for 3 hours and 50 minutes. It should be said that the performance of these international payloads has been outstanding.
China has always adhered to the principles of equality and mutual benefit, peaceful use, and inclusive development, actively carrying out international cooperation in space. In the Chang'e-4, Chang'e-5, Chang'e-6 and Tianwen-1 missions, China has conducted various forms of international cooperation with space science and technology institutions in many countries, including payload carrying, measurement and control support, orbital data exchange, and joint research on lunar samples. For the upcoming Chang'e-7 mission, six international payloads have been selected. Last year, the announcement for international cooperation opportunities for Chang'e-8 was released, offering around 200 kilograms of payload space to the international community, while more than 30 cooperation applications have so far been received. In the ILRS project, the CNSA has signed cooperation agreements with more than 10 countries. Currently, China is formulating feasibility studies and will collaborate with partners on various aspects such as tasks, project design, joint implementation and scientific data sharing for future projects. Thank you.
