Lunar Time and the BRICS’s Space Ambitions†
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The U.S.-China race to set a standard lunar time has captured global attention. Standardizing lunar time is, however, only the first step. The real race lies in whether any time set by the United States or China can be applied effectively to space operations from which other countries can benefit. If other countries see results, this will ensure their sustained endorsement of the lunar time used in the operations benefiting them. Only with such solid support will the endorsed lunar time become the prevailing standard.
China recently rolled out a three-stage plan to apply its timing system to a series of lunar operations that could produce revolutionary results. With its space ambitions, the expanding BRICS may be able to help China—whose impressive spaceflight records should appeal to the BRICS countries—bring its three-stage plan to fruition and share the fruits of such success. When this happens, China’s lunar time has a good chance to prevail.
The United States’s “Coordinated Lunar Time”
“The current lack of a standard lunar time makes it difficult to accurately position and navigate multiple lunar operations occurring simultaneously […].”
The current lack of a standard lunar time makes it difficult to accurately position and navigate multiple lunar operations occurring simultaneously, putting everyone involved in the operations at risk.
To prepare for the growing number of lunar operations launched by different governments and businesses, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (“NASA”) has announced a plan to establish a Coordinated Lunar Time, in response to a policy directive issued by the White House in April.
The Coordinated Lunar Time will be based on a weighted average of the times indicated by atomic clocks placed on the Moon. The exact locations of these atomic clocks must be carefully determined because, as NASA points out, “atomic clocks placed at the Moon’s surface will appear to ‘tick’ faster by microseconds [i.e., one millionth of a second] per day”. For objects travelling through space at high speeds, any failure to consider a difference in microseconds per day will, after merely a week or two, lead to significant miscalculations of these objects’ locations. NASA has further explained that the Coordinated Lunar Time will “be scalable for Mars and other celestial bodies throughout our solar system, enabling long-duration exploration”.
NASA’s plan appears promising, especially because the plan is expected to be supported by countries that have signed the Artemis Accords. In 2020, in coordination with the U.S. Department of State and seven other initial signatory nations (i.e., Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom), NASA established the Artemis Accords to “provide a common set of principles to enhance the governance of the civil exploration and use of outer space”.
However, the Artemis Accords are not binding. Among the 44 signatory nations are countries that are members or potential members of the BRICS (e.g., Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates). China and Russia—neither of whom have signed the Artemis Accords—may lure these countries to pursue their separate space ambitions under the BRICS framework.
China’s Three-Stage Plan
“In July, a team of leading Chinese researchers unveiled a plan that goes beyond setting the lunar time.”
In July, a team of leading Chinese researchers unveiled a plan that goes beyond setting the lunar time. The main goal of the plan is to offer accurate “positioning, navigation, and timing” for flights between Earth and the Moon and for lunar surface operations so as to enable 20 or more travelers to the Cislunar space (i.e., the region between Earth and the Moon) to simultaneously communicate with Earth through images, audio, or video.
The plan will be implemented through three incremental stages, with the final stage marked by the operation of 30 satellites and three lunar stations to produce tangible results: the transmission of data at a rate of 10 gigabytes per second and narrowing of the navigation accuracy for lunar activities and Earth-Moon travel to 10 meters and 50 meters, respectively.
According to the team, the development of this ambitious plan is attributed to a few considerations, including the following:
The competition for resources such as orbital slots and radio frequencies is already on and will only get more intense in the future. There [is] an urgent need for China to establish a top-level road map to develop cislunar space infrastructure and gain a competitive edge in the emerging cislunar economy.
The BRICS’s Space Ambitions
In 2022, the BRICS established a Committee on Space Cooperation, marking a major step taken by the bloc to promote space cooperation among its members. In May 2024, the BRICS Heads of Space Agencies Meeting was held to discuss, among other issues, the execution of the BRICS Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation Platform—through which data are shared among the BRICS space agencies to help jointly address the climate crisis and other global challenges—and the potential creation of the BRICS Space Council, as proposed by Russia and supported by South Africa.
In late October, the BRICS Summit will be held in Kazan, Russia. More details about space cooperation among members of the BRICS and the specific role to be played by China may emerge. Notably, China’s position regarding its cooperation in and concerning space with other BRICS countries was articulated clearly by ZHANG Kejian, Director of the China National Space Administration, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum held in 2023. He explained:
On behalf of the Chinese side, I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely invite as many emerging economies as possible to join us in sharing knowledge and working together across a range of areas. These include lunar and deep-space exploration, developing satellite communications, and so on. That way, we can fully leverage the role of space technology in the socioeconomic development of our countries. […]
We must develop joint ventures that meet our shared development goals and which serve our common national interests. Chinese lunar and planetary exploration projects (the program for which was initiated by China and Russia) provide wide-ranging opportunities to serve the interests of the BRICS countries and other emerging economies.
[emphasis added]
If China’s position regarding its space cooperation with other BRICS countries, as captured by the above paragraphs, remains the same and if emerging economies can be effectively engaged regardless of their inability to contribute significant amounts of resources, China is likely to garner strong support for its space operations. With such support, China’s lunar time has a real chance to become the global standard.
- The citation of this article is: The Editorial Board of SINOTALKS®, Lunar Time and the BRICS’s Space Ambitions, SINOTALKS.COM®, SinoExpress™, Oct. 16, 2024, https://sinotalks.com/sinoexpress/202410-english-lunar-time-BRICS-space. ↩︎
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