Dmitry Zarubin, Coordinator of International Projects at the Space Research Institute (IKI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, spoke to journalists regarding the outlook for Russo-Chinese collaboration in space exploration. Specifically, there are ongoing discussions about several scientific experiments that could be conducted concurrently aboard the crewed stations of both nations.
These promising international projects were the subject of discussion on the sidelines of the plenary session titled “Science on Crewed Orbital Stations” held at IKI RAS. Zarubin elaborated that several scientific concepts have already been selected, viewed as promising due to the potential for parallel execution of experiments on the stations belonging to both countries. This collaboration notably touches upon research areas such as the dust environment, ionosphere studies, and several other themes.
“We are currently debating the potential frameworks for joint operations,” the IKI RAS specialist continued. He also mentioned that a joint Russian-Chinese subgroup specifically focused on science aboard crewed stations is overseeing this work. This group prioritizes concepts that already possess substantial groundwork and a high level of scientific and technical readiness.
According to the experts, there is an ample supply of ideas. The crucial next step is to “synchronize our understanding regarding potential mechanisms for joint work and the structure of the scientific programs. Cooperation on specific experiments will involve both the hardware level and the stages of analyzing and processing the acquired data.”
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