China and Russia are joining forces to build an International Space Station on the Moon.
Earlier this week, leaders of the space programs of both countries signed an agreement to jointly build what they call the International Scientific Lunar Station – a complex of experimental research facilities on the surface or in the orbit of the moon.
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A memorandum of understanding on the project was signed by Dmitry Rogozin, general manager of the Russian state-owned company Roscosmos, and Zhang Kejian, head of the Chinese National Space Administration, Tuesday.
The two countries said they will use their joint space research experience to develop a roadmap for the construction of the lunar base. Details of what the proposed station will look like are not clear at this time.
“The International Lunar Research Station is an extensive scientific experimental base that can be conducted multidisciplinary and multi-objective scientific research activities such as the lunar’s own exploration and use, lunar-based observation, basic science experiment and technical verification on the lunar surface or lunar orbit, and long-term autonomous operation, “the Chinese National Space Administration said Tuesday
Russia’s space agency said In a statement, the complex will support a variety of research experiments, “with the possibility of long-term unmanned operation 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 cooperation and promote space exploration “for peaceful purposes in the interest of all humanity,” said the Chinese space agency.
The move marks Beijing’s latest attempt to explore the moon alongside rivals such as NASA, which has been banned from working with China under a 2011 law. China wants to conduct manned missions to the moon by 2030. If successful, it would only be the second country to place a human on the lunar surface behind the US
The agreement also suggests that Russia, which has a decades-long relationship with NASA on the International Space Station (ISS), sees its future in space exploration primarily as a partnership with China.
NASA has made agreements with nine other countries to participate in the US. Artemis programThe program aims to bring about the “return of humanity to the moon” with plans to send astronauts to the lunar surface in the next decade to establish a long-lasting, sustainable human presence.
While the US and Russia have had a long-standing cooperative relationship in their space exploration efforts, Russia is not among the countries participating in the US lunar program.
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