The European Space Agency (ESA) and the China National Space Administration (CNSA) are discussing additional areas of space cooperation. The new Director General of ESA Josef Aschbacher tweeted on April 1: “I just met with Mr. Zhang Kejian, Head of the Chinese National Space Administration. I congratulated him on the recent recovery of lunar samples through the Chang’e-5 mission. I look forward to the science achievements of this unique mission!”
During the video meeting, both sides outlined their upcoming activities, with China recently approving a 14th Five Year Plan for 2021-2025, and discussed lunar and deep space exploration, Earth observation, and cooperation in ground stations. Karl Bergquist, ESA’s international relations administrator, told SpaceNews that ESA and CNSA went over ongoing activities, including telemetry, tracking, and control-support activities for the Chinese exploration program. ESA assisted both the recent Chang’e-5 and ongoing Mars Tianwen-1 missions with ground station support.
