China and Russia want to build a shared building Moon base.
The two countries agreed to the plans on Tuesday (March 9), saying the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) would be “open to all interested countries and international partners.”
The “Memorandum of Understanding” between the two countries announced by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), described the ILRS as a “ comprehensive scientific experimental base with the capability of long-term autonomous operation, built on the lunar surface and / or in the lunar orbit that will conduct multi-disciplinary and multi-objective scientific research activities such as the exploration and use of the moon, moon-based observation, basic science experiment and technical verification. “
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In other words, the base will be self-sufficient to operate without a constant supply of the Earth. It will exist on the lunar surface, in orbit, or both. And it will be a jumping-off point for basic science, exploration and ‘utilization’ of the moon’s resources, as well as a proof-of-concept for the technologies needed to support human life to date. Soil
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Neither country has ever landed a human crew on the moon, and they have not set a target date to begin construction of the ILRS. However, Russia remains a leading space-faring country after the space race of the 20th century, and China has built increasingly impressive space stations and probes in recent years, as Live Science and sister site Space.com have reported. In the years between the space shuttle’s retirement in 2011 and the first manned SpaceX launch in 2020, the two countries had the only vehicles in the world that could put humans into orbit.
While CNSA said the ILRS is open to any country that might want to get involved, and the United States has been working with Russian astronauts in space since the 1970s, NASA is not working with China because The diplomat came forwardThe world’s richest country froze the most populous country from the International Space Station project in the 1980s and 1990s, after which Congress and President Barack Obama made it illegal in 2011 for NASA to partner in any way with any Chinese entity or for US suppliers to sell satellite parts to the county.
As The Diplomat wrote, these moves have not stopped China from building its own space stations. And with the International Space Station aging, it seems that policy will not stop Russia – the US’s main partner in that project – from transferring its talents to this partnership. But if the lunar base is built and no rules change, the no-collaboration rule may deter US astronauts from visiting the first permanent facility on the moon.
Originally published on Live Science.