'China values cooperation in aerospace industry'

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'China values cooperation in aerospace industry'

2017-12-05 12:29 Last Updated At：15:01

Cooperation in the aerospace industry is pivotal to astronautic development, as it helps eliminate distrust and fosters mutual confidence among countries, said Romania's first astronaut Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu, who recently returned from the 21st International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) Human in Space Symposium in China's southern city of Shenzhen.

"Only cooperation in various fields, including in space, can make nations know each other better and remove any traces of suspicion and build mutual trust."

As the former president of the Association of Space Explorers (ASE), Prunariu praised China's efforts in promoting space cooperation in an interview with Xinhua.

"After the Belt and Road Initiative, I think China has a Galactic Initiative in mind. It has invited all developing nations to conduct experiments on its space station planned to operate into orbit in 2022."

"In 2022, China will have its own space station, and it is currently encouraging all developing countries to take part in space exploration programs for the benefit of mankind," he added.

In 2016, China signed with the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) an agreement to open the country's future space station for science experiments and foreign astronauts to herald better accessibility to space for developing countries.

According to Prunariu, the move for China is "to ensure national security and to gain its place, prestige and recognition on the global stage as a strong nation with a developing space industry and a high level of technology." At the same time, it proves “that China considers the UN as highly important in international cooperation," which is the first time in the history of the United Nations (UN), said Prunariu.

"China is strikingly advanced in space activities and has been focusing on manned flights," he said, adding that "time has shown that China is promoting space activities and is open to developing space projects as well as advanced science and technology."

Blue Ghost lander captures stunning sunset shots on the moon before falling silent

2025-03-19 04:45 Last Updated At：04:51

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A private lunar lander has captured the first high-definition sunset pictures from the moon.

Firefly Aerospace and NASA released the stunning photos Tuesday, taken before the Blue Ghost lander fell silent over the weekend. One shot included Venus in the distance.

Firefly’s Blue Ghost landed on the moon on March 2, the first private spacecraft to touch down upright and perform its entire mission. It kept taking pictures and collecting science data five hours into the lunar night before it died for lack of solar energy.

NASA's Joel Kearns said Blue Ghost's series of sunset shots are the first high-resolution images from Earth's neighbor. Scientists will need to analyze them in depth, he noted, before making any determination about the horizon glow captured in at least one of the photos and whether it was created by levitating dust. That theory was put forth more than a half-century ago by Apollo 17's Gene Cernan, the last astronaut to walk on the moon.

“What we've got is a really beautiful, aesthetic image showing some really unusual features," Kearns said at a news conference.

Blue Ghost carried 10 experiments for NASA under the space agency's commercial lunar delivery program. While all objectives were met, officials said, the on-board drill could only penetrate 3 feet (1 meter) into the moon versus the 10 feet (3 meters) that had been planned.

Firefly said it will try to activate the lunar in early April following the two-week, bitter cold lunar night, although engineers are doubtful it will crank back up.

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