Speaking of the development of domestic aerospace, it is obvious to all. In the decades of development, the development of many large-scale functions such as Chang'e lunar exploration, space station , Mars exploration has been successively created. In addition, the future plans to land on the moon and establish a lunar base are also under implementation. The future development of domestic aerospace may lead the world. Of course, the rapid development of domestic aerospace has also attracted the attention of many friendly countries and hope to carry out cooperation. In addition to international cooperation on the space station, we have recently received a large order from the UAE, "expressed" an lunar rover , with a contract amount of up to US$5 billion.
According to social media reports, on September 16, the National Space Administration (CNSA) and the UAE Space Center (MBRSC) signed an agreement. According to the agreement, it is planned to send a "Rashid 2" lunar rover to the South Pole of the moon by the end of 2026. According to the Middle East media report, the contract is worth up to US$5 billion, totaling RMB 30 billion.
This sky-high order worth 5 billion may also be the largest cooperative project ever received in the domestic aerospace field. Of course, the difficulty of the project is much higher than any previous cooperative launches. After all, most of the previous launches were commercial launches of more than one satellite. As long as satellite enters synchronous orbit, even if it is successful, the satellite is provided by the other party. If it does not work, it has nothing to do with the launch. In this cooperation, it is much more difficult to transport the Mars rover to the South Pole of the Moon. Although the moon is the closest celestial body to the earth, it is still very difficult to accurately send a complete lunar rover to the moon ground, and there are not many countries in the world that can do it. However, domestic astronauts have successively sent two lunar rovers "Yutu 1" and " Yutu 2 " to the moon. This launch experience is also an important reason why the UAE decided to choose domestic aerospace cooperation.
In addition, in terms of cooperation amount, 5 billion US dollars is still a lot. For example, since 1992, the domestic investment in aerospace in 20 years was about 35 billion yuan, and this time a cooperation contract has 30 billion, which means that an order has recovered the cost for about 20 years. Of course, this does not calculate the inflation of . After all, 30 billion in the 20s and 30 billion in the 20s cannot be equal, but this can still indicate that the amount of the large order of this "express" lunar rover is quite considerable. This large amount of funds will undoubtedly inject strong vitality into the future development of domestic aerospace.
It is said that after the agreement was signed, both parties felt that they had taken advantage of it. One side was the UAE and sent the lunar rover for $5 billion. There is no need to worry. If you build your own rocket and launch it, you will have to wait until what year or month, and it is much more cost-effective than finding the West. According to the data, the UAE's daily oil exports are about 2.5 million barrels, and its oil revenue in 2021 is close to US$300 billion, so spending US$5 billion is about one-60 of the UAE's annual revenue. The other party really feels that it has been a bargain. As a domestic person, he also feels that he has taken advantage of it. After all, how can there be such a large order for launching commercial satellites? This time it is almost the same as the investment in aerospace development in the first 20 years. It is too late to recover most of the costs at one time.
No wonder some military fans will compare this cooperation with the previous Saudi introduction of DF-5. You should know that the DF-5 was also a very satisfactory price that the other party offered, and these funds were also timely help. Although funds are not so urgent now, this large amount of money will definitely have great significance for the future development of domestic aerospace.
