On September 22, Dr. Ma Xingrui, Administrator of China National Space Administration (CNSA), attended the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) Roundtable Meeting, and discussed the related topics of the 2014 Heads of Space Agencies Summit, together with the heads of space agencies from the countries including France, Nigeria and Romania. Ma, on behalf of CNSA, gave his views on international cooperation, International Space Station and deep space exploration.

Ma emphasized the great importance of international cooperation for promoting the world space development, and expressed that China will continue to strengthen the space cooperation with other countries and make important contributions to the peaceful use of outer space.

At the meeting, Ma made an introduction to current situation of China’s deep space exploration. Firstly, China Lunar Exploration Program is making good progress. Chang’e-2 lunar explorer has created many “first” in the world. Now it is more than 50 million kilometers away from the Earth and flying to further deep space. The Chang’e-3 mission for carrying out lunar landing is going on smoothly and will be launched in early December this year. Secondly, China is planning its Mars exploration program. China hopes to strengthen cooperation with countries all over the world in lunar and Mars exploration.

For the report that China will build its own space station by 2020 or so, Ma said, China will build its space station for the following three purposes: the first is to systematically integrate, apply and improve China’s space technology; the second is to carry out projects in the field of space science and applications by use of an international space station; and the third is to promote the development of international space technology by strengthening cooperation with other countries.