08 June 2018
Russia and China have signed a memorandum of understanding on lunar and deep space exploration. The agreement was signed following Putin’s talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Roscosmos said in a statement. Dmitry Rogozin, the new Director General of the Russian space agency and the country’s former Deputy Prime Minister, struck the cooperation deal with the Administrator of CNSA, Zhang Kedzhan. The agencies didn’t reveal specific details relating to the agreement, but the latest move is the third instance of Roscosmos’ gradual shift toward CNSA in last few months. The memorandum follows up on a 3 March Roscosmos-CNSA agreement to cooperate on lunar and deep space exploration by establishing a joint data center.   
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12 June 2018
China's recently launched two Gaofen series satellites mark the establishment of a ground-air observation system that reduces China's dependence on foreign data. With the recent satellite launches, China has nearly established a Gaofen data system involving variable space resolutions and cover widths, spectral coverages and revisit periods. "From the Gaofen satellites, we can expect China's military surveillance and remote sensing satellites to have similarly strong performance," Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on 11 June.
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12 June 2018
President Xi Jinping said in a speech at the two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit on 10 June in Qingdao, Shandong Province that China is ready to offer meteorological services to all parties through its Fengyun 2 weather satellites. Many of the SCO countries are characterised by high mountains, deserts, oceans and a lack of meteorological information. The number of meteorological disasters in the region is more than double the world average. President Xi also called for solid cooperation in areas such as education, science, technology and disaster relief.
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14 June 2018
The relay satellite for the Chang'e 4 lunar probe has entered the planned orbit, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced on 14 June. The Queqiao satellite entered the Halo orbit around the second Lagrangian (L2) point of the Earth-Moon system, about 65,000 km from the Moon, at 11:06 a.m. on 14 June after a journey of more than 20 days. "The satellite is the world's first communication satellite operating in that orbit, and will lay the foundation for the Chang'e 4, which is expected to become the world's first soft-landing, roving probe on the far side of the Moon," said Zhang Hongtai, president of the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST).
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