Russia’s decision to partner with China on a planned lunar research station and not participate in the US-led Artemis lunar program was disappointing after more than two decades of collaboration on the International Space Station, says NASA’s top manned space officer.
Russian and Chinese space officials signed a memorandum of understanding on March 9 to collaborate on an international lunar research station. The joint moon program is “open to all interested countries and international partners,” the Chinese National Administration said in a statement.
The concept being pursued by China and Russia may include robotic and manned elements on the moon’s surface, likely at the moon’s south pole. The countries said the exploration program could also be a long-term scientific platform in orbit around the moon.
The International Lunar Research Station “will conduct multidisciplinary and multi-objective scientific research activities such as lunar exploration and use, lunar-based observation, basic science experiment and technical verification,” said the Chinese space agency.
Chinese and Russian officials said the countries will “jointly establish a roadmap” for the construction of the lunar research station, and will work closely together in the planning, demonstration, design, development, implementation and operation of the outpost. They will also promote the project to “international space communities,” the space agencies said in a statement.
China has an advanced lunar robot research program. In 2019, China landed the first spacecraft on the far side of the moon, and last year the Chinese Chang’e 5 mission returned the first samples of the lunar surface since 1976, when the Russian sent its last robotic mission to the moon.
Russia is developing a lander called Luna 25 that could launch to the moon before the end of this year, the first mission in a revival of the Soviet-era Luna program. Two follow-up missions, Luna 26 and Luna 27, will orbit the moon and attempt to land near the South Pole. Launched in 2025, the Luna 27 lander will carry instruments from the European Space Agency, including a drill and an advanced mini-lab to analyze the lunar soil in search of water ice.
European countries have agreed to conduct experiments on Chinese lunar missions as well.
China’s next lunar mission, Chang’e 6, is scheduled for launch in 2023 or 2024. Building on last year’s Chang’e 5 mission, Chang’e 6’s goal will be to collect samples and return them to the Earth from a location near the moon’s south pole.
Around the same time, China plans to launch the Chang’e 7 mission, an ambitious multi-spacecraft expedition with a lunar orbiter, a lander, a rover, a “hopper” to fly over the lunar surface, and a communications satellite.
Before the end of the 2020s, China plans to launch another robotic mission called Chang’e 8 to a location near the moon’s south pole. Chang’e 8 will test technologies for space production and resource harvesting from the moon that can be used by a manned landing mission.
Chinese and Russian officials did not say last week when the International Lunar Research Station could be operational, but China has previously said it could be ready for manned lunar landings in the 2030s.
The International Lunar Research Station is similar to NASA’s Artemis program, which will include a mini-space station near the moon called the Gateway, plus ongoing manned missions to the moon’s south pole. The aim of the Artemis program is to establish a permanent human presence on the moon and to refine technologies necessary for future travels to Mars.
NASA has signed Memoranda of Understanding with ESA and the governments of Japan and Canada to collaborate on the Artemis missions. They are all partners on the International Space Station in low Earth orbit and will provide key elements of the Gateway Space Station.
“I think we were disappointed,” said Kathy Lueders, associate administrator of NASA’s Directorate for Human Exploration and Operations. “I think the International Space Station has been a really great international partnership, but one of our great partnerships has been with our Russian counterparts.”
The International Space Station is expected to remain operational until the end of 2020, when NASA hopes a commercial company will be ready with a private research post in low Earth orbit. If that happens, NASA and other government space agencies could purchase access to the commercial space station for astronauts and science experiments, instead of exploiting the entire research complex.
Russia has “been a partner who has done things very, very differently, and we have learned a lot from it,” Lueders said last month when Russia announced its intention to work with China. “To be honest, we have learned a lot. We tend to be a little bit sophisticated engineers, and they’re just robust … So we’ve learned from the partnership with them, and we were hoping to continue that partnership around the lunar surface.
“We now understand that they have different priorities, and currently they have said that this is not a partnership that fits what they think. But I hope over time we will bind future partnerships.
“I feel very strongly that NASA is the way for us … to forge bonds that will tie us through good times and bad. So I hope to find even more ways to help us build bridges between nations and work together peacefully in the future, ”said Lueders.
“The collaboration between NASA, Roscosmos and other space agencies has played a major role in the long-term success of the International Space Station,” said Monica Witt, a NASA spokesperson. “We are eager to expand the relationships and lessons learned from the ISS as we build the Gateway, which will be the cornerstone of sustainable lunar operations while demonstrating key technologies and processes for a historic human. mission to Mars.
“While Roscosmos has informed NASA that it does not want to be part of the Gateway partnership at this time, they have offered to further investigate interoperability and we welcome such a discussion,” Witt said in a written statement.
NASA wanted Russia to build an airlock to support astronauts’ spacewalks outside the Gateway. Witt said NASA still plans to add an airlock to the Gateway in 2028, saying the agency will “pursue other options for the airlock provider.”
The US space agency has also entered into agreements known as the Artemis Accords, which set forth principles for exploration and expectations for norms of behavior in space. Its principles include peaceful exploration, transparency, interoperability, emergency relief, the registration of artificial space objects and the disclosure of scientific data.
The first signatories to the Artemis Accords include the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Luxembourg, Italy, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.
Russia has not indicated its willingness to sign the agreements. NASA is legally barred from bilateral space exploration partnerships with China.
NASA plans to use a mix of launches with the agency’s new heavy-duty Space Launch System rocket, commercial rockets, the Orion crew capsule, and privately-developed, government-funded lunar landers for the Artemis missions.
Russia is NASA’s largest partner on the International Space Station, a partnership established after the end of the Cold War in 1993. But the rifts between the partners are increasing as diplomatic relations have deteriorated in recent years.
Last October, the head of Roscosmos – the Russian space agency – said the Artemis program is “too US-oriented.”
“Our US partners are actively promoting it,” said Dmitry Rogozin, director general of Roscosmos, in a virtual panel of the International Astronautical Congress in October. “In our opinion, Lunar Gateway, as it stands, is too US-centered.”
“Russia is likely to refrain from large-scale participation,” Rogozin said of the Gateway.
Rogozin said last year that Roscosmos wants to ensure that its next-generation spacecraft can dock with Orel crewmembers with the Gateway. The Orel spacecraft is under development to replace the Russian Soyuz crew capsule and will be designed to transport astronauts to low Earth orbit and to destinations beyond.
The Orel spacecraft “is designed for future nationally manned missions and can also be used on behalf of our partners as a backup option to launch or return astronauts from space if needed” Rogozin said.
China is also developing a new generation of crew capsule that can bring home astronauts from the moon.
“Speaking of our program, it is primarily a national program. The United States, along with its partners, is continuing the Artemis program, ”said Rogozin. “Even if Russia does not take the opportunity to participate in the Artemis program, it does not necessarily mean that our vessel should not be adapted to moor together.”
In a tweet Monday, Rogozin wrote: “Russia and China’s plans for the moon are open to wide international participation. This is not about confrontation, but about cooperation in the exploration of the moon. “
Mark Kirasich, NASA deputy associate administrator for advanced exploration systems, said last month that the US space agency will continue to work with Russia on technical standards to ensure that US and Russian spacecraft can dock in space.
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