Nicaragua is set to join in the construction and operation of China-led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced in late April. Yet the new collaboration and its strategic implications are not without controversy.

“China seeks to ideologically influence Nicaragua in an anti-Western context through the ILRS project, despite its lack of space experience,” Eduardo Varnagy, a professor in the School of Political and Legal Sciences of the Simón Bolívar University in Caracas, Venezuela, told Diálogo on May 16.

The China-led ILRS envisions the construction of a permanent lunar base by the 2030s with precursor missions to test resource technology in situ at the lunar south pole starting in the next couple of years, digital magazine Space News reported.

The agreement between Nicaragua’s National Secretariat for Outer Space, Moon, and Other Celestial Bodies Affairs (SNAE) and CNSA was signed during the opening ceremony of China Space Day 2024 in Wuhan, Nicaragua’s pro-regime news site 19 Digital reported. The agreement covers education, capacity building, joint research, professional exchanges, and space architecture.

Nicaragua became the tenth country to join the ILRS, with limited space activities due to severe economic and technological constraints, Space News reported. It is however a signatory to the Outer Space Treaty. China and Russia formally announced the ILRS project in June 2021.

Nuclear reactor

Beijing and Moscow plan to build an automated nuclear reactor to power the proposed lunar base, Newsweek magazine reported. Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, announced in March it was looking into the use of nuclear-powered rockets to transfer cargo to the moon, but was still trying to figure out how to build the spacecraft safely.

“We are seriously considering a project to reach the moon and assemble, between 2033 and 2035, a nuclear power reactor together with our Chinese partners,” Yuri Borisov, head of Roscosmos, told Russian state media RIA on March 5.

In addition, Borisov stressed that the ILRS station will consist of several modules, highlighting the need for a lasting nuclear power source, Newsweek reported. Given the length of the lunar night, about 14 Earth days, solar panels would not be able to maintain the power supply for such an extended period.

While Borisov’s proposal to install a nuclear power plant on the Moon is “odd,” his statement reflects the growing rapprochement between Russia and China, and China’s willingness to establish a long-term strategic partnership to counter and potentially challenge Western influence, U.S.-based think tank Institute for the Study of War said in a report.

“Radical leftist regimes, in Nicaragua as well as in China and Russia, have a military essence behind their civilian guise,” Varnagy said. “Many of their space projects are disguised under the guise of liberal science, but in reality, they are driven by military science and citizen control.”

Artemis

On the other hand, NASA, in collaboration with the U.S. State Department, established the Artemis Agreements in 2020, together with seven other founding nations, to guide cooperation in exploring the moon in a peaceful, safe, and transparent manner. More than 28 countries have joined these agreements, NASA said.

According to Mexican news site A21, developed countries are promoting space training programs to create the necessary human capital for space exploration. In addition, they are generating awareness about the importance of projects such as Artemis, to boost the development of new technologies and applications for future lunar missions.

“Meanwhile, the ILRS program has other components and intentions that are not yet visible, but will eventually become apparent,” Varnagy said. “It is crucial to be alert to these radical empires seeking to ally themselves in space, to confront those who do not share their ideology. The Artemis Accords have a humanitarian mission.”

NicaSat1

According to Nicaraguan daily Artículo 66, Laureano Facundo Ortega Murillo, Investments advisor (and son) of the Ortega-Murillo regime, met in March with a delegation of the Center for International Cooperation of the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory of China, to include the country in the project that involves trips to the moon.

Once upon a time Laureano Ortega Murillo had also promised Nicaragua the NicaSat1, a $300 million Chinese satellite, which would have made Nicaragua independent in terms of communications by 2016. The project never materialized, with only photos of Laureano Ortega Murillo in meetings and a scale model he brought back from one of his trips as proof that it was in the making, Artículo 66 reported.

“Nicaragua has no scientific or research interests in space. Its main motivation for getting involved in space projects is to obtain advantages to strengthen and improve its citizen control strategies, which allows it to entrench itself in power indefinitely,” Varnagy concluded.