Russia, China Sign Deal to Protect Space Tech Rights – Space Agency

The Russian and Chinese governments signed an agreement on measures to protect technologies in connection to cooperation on peaceful space exploration and usage as well as creation and exploitation of launch vehicles and land-based space infrastructure, according to the statement of Roscosmos.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia and China signed a pact on Saturday that sets out legal framework for protecting their rights to sensitive space technologies in joint projects, Russian state space agency Roscosmos said.

Roscosmos chief Igor Komarov and the China National Space Administration (CNSA)’s Xu Dazhe signed the pact during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Beijing.

"The Russian and Chinese governments have signed an agreement on measures to protect technologies in connection to cooperation on peaceful space exploration and usage as well as creation and exploitation of launch vehicles and land-based space infrastructure," the statement read.

The agreement seeks to regulate Russian-Chinese space cooperation on rocket engines and launch vehicles. According to Roscosmos, the two spacefaring nations are laying groundwork for new forms of space cooperation, which has been on the upswing since 1992.