Russian Space Forum: South Africa shares spatial ambitions and aims for the moon

South Africa expressed its spatial ambitions during the first Russian Space Forum in Moscow on Thursday.

The event brought together representatives of government agencies, space industry and business from countries including South Africa, Zimbabwe, China and India.

The CEO of the South African National Space Agency, Humbulani Mudau, reaffirmed the country’s commitment to the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), China’s lunar base project.

“We’re also seeing ourselves in 2028 in partnership with the Chinese National Space Agency, present at the moon with the experiment that we’ll be putting there,” he said.

China and South Africa signed a memorandum of understanding in 2023 that marked Pretoria’s formal entry into the ILRS programme.

China’s Chang’e 8 mission is expected to reach the moon in 2028-2029 in preparation for the future ILRS.

Humbulani Mudau also welcomed “a new dispensation” that “is going to create a lot of opportunities, unlike during the ISS where a few countries were able to participate.”

Also speaking at the forum, Director General of Roscosmos Dmitry Bakanov said that Russia is working on its own orbital station, “which will replace the International Space Station starting in 2028 and will gradually take its place.”

South Africa’s spatial ambitions do not seem to be limited to Russian and Chinese projects. In recent days, the South African National Space Agency also told TV channel SABC News that it played a key support role in NASA’s Artemis II mission, which sent astronauts around the Moon.