Tapping the Space Potential

China was set to lift another batch of three taikonauts aboard Shenzhou-18 spaceship into the space in the second half of April, to replace the current crew and continue the construction work of the Tiangong space station.

Since 1999 when the Shenzhou-1 spaceship was launched, the past 25 years have witnessed great progress in space exploration in China. The country independently develops its manned space flight programmes, and the construction of its space station is continuing smoothly. In addition, China has been making progress in lunar landing and other planetary probe programmes. The country is now one of the most active participants in space exploration.

In addition to its own development, China also actively promotes international space cooperation, making great contribution to the cause of space exploration by mankind.

Every country has the right to peacefully explore and utilise the space, which can, in turn, promote a country’s sustainable development in areas such as agriculture, climate monitoring, bio-technology, disaster prevention, remote sensing and telecommunications, among others.

Owing to historical reasons, African countries are still at an early stage of space exploration, with a huge “digital gap” with some developed countries.

However, African countries are determined to utilise space for their development. According to the 2023 African Space Industry Annual Report launched by Space in Africa, an analytics and consulting organisation focusing on the African space and satellite industry, as of June 2023, 15 African nations have invested over $4.71 billion in 58 satellite projects (including three multilateral satellites), and an additional 105 satellites are expected to be launched by 2026. Between 2000 and 2023, African nations reached over 166 bilateral space agreements involving more than 100 institutions from 32 countries worldwide, with 89 of these agreements being signed over the last three years.

China has built and launched satellites for several African countries, such as Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan. China’s BeiDou Navigation System (BDS) is widely used in African countries in traditional areas such as traffc and transportation, land surveying and mapping, and agricultural production, as well as new areas such as digital city construction and digital mining, making contribution to Africa’s social progress and poverty alleviation. More importantly, China is supporting African countries to independently develop their space utilisation capacity by training African scientists and technicians in satellite design, manufacturing, launch and control, and fostering a batch of local talents for space flight.

Since 2014, China has provided government scholarships to 32 postgraduates from eight African countries such as Togo, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nigeria and Sudan to study in Beihang University.

According to China-Africa Cooperation Vision 2035, China and Africa are expanding cooperation in areas such as satellite Internet, big data, smart city, aeronautics and astronautics and application of satellite remote sensing. Looking to the future, China-Africa cooperation in space science is expected to immensely grow and benefit African people.