ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti joined Chinese colleagues in Yantai, China to take part in their sea survival training on 15 August, 2017.
5.10.2018
European Space Agency Director General Johann-Dietrich Wörner addresses press at IAC 2018 in Bremen, Germany on October 2, 2018. ESA
The European Space Agency is working to further cooperation with China in areas including human spaceflight and lunar exploration, agency director general Johann-Dietrich Woerner said on Tuesday.
Mr Woerner, who also went on to present matters related to the next ESA council, was speaking at an ESA press conference at the 69th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Bremen, Germany.
Asked about developments in ESA's relationship with China in terms of human spaceflight, space science and lunar exploration, Mr Woerner responded with an overview of collaboration and an update on the Moon Village concept.
"We have these ESA astronauts learning Chinese. We are discussing with them but have not so far reached a full agreement on whether we can fly European astronauts on Chinese spacecraft. But this is under discussion."
Last August two astronauts, Sam Cristoforetti and the recently-graduatedMatthias Maurer, joined counterparts in China for joint sea survival training, which could lead to ESA astronauts flying to the future Chinese Space Station.
"At the same time we did also experiments in microgravity, for instance with crude oil. I never understood that before but crude oil for these oil companies its important to have very accurate measurement of the viscosity of crude oil and in microgravity you can measure the viscosity much better than under the influence of gravity. So we did that experiment with China."
The mission referenced was Shijian-10, a retrievable microgravity experiment satellite and one of four missions making up a first Chinese strategic space science programme.
"Right now we are preparing a mission which is called SMILE, on space weather activity, so it’s a nice mission. And concerning the Moon activities of China, we have some agreement with regard to supporting them with tracking.
"You heard yesterday that China offered a lander payload capacity of 100 kilogrammes, so we might take a look at that," Woerner added, referring to the 10 kg made available on the Chang'e-6 sample return mission.
China's activities 'part of Moon Village'
China is planning an expanded robotic lunar exploration programme that will target the Moon's poles, and hopes to launch the pioneering Chang'e-4lunar far side rover in December. Woerner said that Chinese officials are considering these as part of Woerner's Moon Village concept of open cooperation and activity on the Moon.
“What they mentioned—as someone asked about Moon Village—they said that these activities of China vis-à-vis the Moon are part of the Moon Village. So they said that in the meeting this morning," he explained.
Zhang Kejian, head of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), was also present in Bremen for discussions and held positive talks with NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine.
"So they are moving in this direction, the Americans are with us, the Russians are with us," Woerner said.
There remain limits and barriers to wider cooperation in space with China, however.
Asked what the main challenges in cooperating with China are, Woerner said that, “We have different political systems. Sometimes with intellectual property rights we have some different thinking, therefore so far we are concentrating on science cooperation.”
The Chang'e-5 lunar sample return spacecraft undergoing testing.
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