China and Russia plan to build a lunar research station together.
Leaders of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and RoscosmosThe Russian Federal Space Agency signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday (March 9) on the construction of a lunar outpost called the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS).
The ILRS is a comprehensive scientific experimental base with the capability of long-term autonomous operation, built on the lunar surface and / or [in] lunar orbit that will conduct multidisciplinary and multi-objective scientific research activities, such as exploration and exploitation of the moon, observation on the moon, basic scientific experiment[s] and technical verification, “CNSA officials wrote in an announcement on Tuesday.
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CNSA and Roscosmos will facilitate extensive cooperation in the ILRS, open to all interested countries and international partners, strengthen scientific research exchanges, and promote humanity’s exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes.[s], “added officials.
The CNSA announcement did not provide a targeted timeline for the lunar research station, nor did it similar release released by Roscosmos.
The United States is working on its own ambitious lunar eclipse NASA’s Artemis program. If all goes according to plan, in the mid-2020s, Artemis will send astronauts to the lunar surface and establish a long-term, sustainable human presence on and around the moon by the end of the decade. NASA hopes such work will help it get astronauts to Mars in the 2030s, agencies said.
NASA is not alone with Artemis. The agency has entered into transactions with numerous private sector partners, and eight other countries have Artemis Agreements, to show the way for their participation in the program. (A ninth country, Brazil, has indicated that it also intends to sign the agreements.)
Russia and China do not count among the signatories. Russia has worked closely with the United States in space, especially on the International Space Station program, but Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, recently said the country is probably not an Artemis partner.
China could not substantially participate in the NASA lunar push, at least not without new US legislation. Since 2011, NASA and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy have been banned from collaborating on space projects with their Chinese counterparts, unless Congress approves such cooperation in advance.
Mike Wall is the author of “Out there“(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.