A photo of the moon taken by SpaceIL’s Beresheet spacecraft orbiting Earth.
SpaceIL
Russia and China are planning to further their geopolitical relationship, this time in space with the construction of a new lunar station.
The countries’ space agencies, Russia’s Roscosmos and China’s National Space Administration, signed a “memorandum of understanding” on behalf of their respective governments on Tuesday, pledging to create a new lunar space station.
The International Lunar Research Station, they said in a statement, will be “a comprehensive scientific experimental base with long-term autonomous capability, built on the lunar surface and / or in the lunar orbit.”
It will conduct “multidisciplinary and multi-objective” scientific research activities such as moon exploration and “use”, lunar-based observation and scientific experiments, they added.
Both countries will collaborate on the planning, design, development and operation of the station. No date had been set by which the project could start or be completed.
China and Russia are no strangers to space cooperation and want to build on that relationship. They noted that previous agreements have been made to collaborate on other projects, including China’s Chang’e-7 mission (a planned robotic reconnaissance mission expected to launch in 2023 or 2024) and a joint data center for exploration of the moon and deep space.
Roscosmos and the CNSA said they would “facilitate extensive cooperation in the ILRS” by saying it would “be open to all interested countries and international partners, strengthen the exchange of scientific research, and expand the exploration and use of the space through mankind for peaceful purposes ”.
The strengthening of ties between Russia and China, both on Earth and in space, continues a trend that has emerged in recent years. That deepening alliance, which spans increasing economic, military and political cooperation, even prompted Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2019 to call his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin, his “best friend,” in an unusual display of warmth. relationships.
This growing geopolitical friendship has come as their respective relations with the US have deteriorated in recent years, with US sanctions on Russia and billions of dollars in US tariffs on Chinese imports implemented under former President Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, competition in the space arena has not waned since the so-called “space race” of the mid-20th century, in which rivals the Soviet Union and the US competed in missions to launch and advance space technology and knowledge. .
New entrants to the space exploration and commercial space travel industry include Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, which now regularly conducts crew and cargo missions for NASA and other organizations to the International Space Station. To date, SpaceX has made 23 visits to the ISS.
Veterans of space exploration are nevertheless still big players. NASA also plans to return to the moon in 2024, with its Artemis program that includes plans to land the first woman and the next man on the moon’s surface. It would be the first moon landing since the last Apollo moon mission in 1972.