Sharjah24: Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Deputy Ruler of Sharjah and President of the University of Sharjah (UoS), witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday morning between the University of Sharjah, Armenia's Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory (BAO), and China's Deep Space Exploration Laboratory. The signing took place at the headquarters of the University of Sharjah.

The University of Sharjah, represented by Chancellor Hamid Majoul Al Nuaimi, signed the memorandum of understanding; the Armenian Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory, represented by Professor Areg Mickaelian; and China's Deep Space Exploration Laboratory, represented by Director Wang Zhongmin, also signed the agreement.

The agreement between the University of Sharjah and the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory calls for collaboration in the interchange of academics, researchers, and staff members. It aims to improve student exchange, jointly supervise master's and doctoral theses, collaborate on research activities, provide scholarships, e-learning programmes, consultations, training, teaching, curriculum development, and organise joint international workshops, conferences, and seminars. The agreement also covers the sharing of academic and scientific resources.

The agreement between the University of Sharjah and China's Deep Space Exploration Laboratory focuses on collaboration and providing an international platform for implementing, operating, and utilising the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) system. For a lengthy period of time, the ILRS performs scientific experiments autonomously on the lunar surface and in lunar orbit.
This cooperation includes the interchange of scientific and technological experiments, data exchange and analysis, teaching and training, and the development of space exploration capabilities.

In addition, the agreement calls for the development of an expert team to undertake research in three areas: science, engineering, and international cooperation, with the objective of developing a collaboration programme for the University of Sharjah's involvement in the ILRS system.

This programme entails identifying mission objectives, distributing duties and responsibilities, and, upon mutual agreement, executing a separate collaboration agreement.