China and Russia join forces to build an international space station on the moon.
Leaders of both countries’ space programs signed an agreement earlier this week for the joint construction of what they call the International Scientific Lunar Station – a complex of experimental research facilities located on the surface or in the moon’s orbit.
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A memorandum of understanding on the project was signed by Dmitri Rogozin, Chief Executive Officer of Roscosmos State Corporation, and Zhang Kejian, head of China’s national space administration, Tuesday.
The two countries have said they will use their collective experience in space exploration to develop a roadmap for the construction of the lunar base. Details of what the proposed station looks like are not clear at this time.
‘The International Lunar Research Station is a comprehensive scientific experiment base that can perform multidisciplinary and multi-objective scientific research activities such as the moon’s own exploration and exploitation, lunar-based observation, basic scientific experiments and technical verification on the lunar surface or lunar orbit, and long-term autonomous operation, ”said the Chinese National Space Administration. said Tuesday.
Russian space agency said in a statement, the complex will support a range of research experiments, “with the possibility of prolonged unmanned operations with the prospect of human presence on the moon.”
The research station will be open to all interested countries and international partners in an effort to strengthen research collaboration and promote space exploration ‘for peaceful purposes in the interests of all mankind’, China’s space agency said.
The move is Beijing’s latest attempt to explore the moon with rivals such as NASA, which is barred from working with China under a 2011 law. China wants to export crews to the moon by 2030s. If successful, it is only the second country to place one on the lunar surface behind the US
The agreement also indicates that Russia, which has had a decades-long relationship with NASA on the International Space Station (ISS), sees its future in space exploration primarily as a collaborative effort with China.
NASA has reached agreements with nine other countries to participate in the US Artemis program. The program aims to carry out ‘humanity’s return to the moon’ with plans to send astronauts to the lunar surface over the next decade to achieve a long-term, sustainable human presence.
While the US and Russia have had a long cooperative relationship in their space exploration efforts, Russia is not one of the countries participating in the US lunar program.
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