China and Russia agree to build a joint lunar space station

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The leaders of the two countries’ space agencies have signed a memorandum of understanding on behalf of their national governments.

“China and Russia will use their accumulated knowledge in space science, research and development as well as the use of space equipment and space technology to develop a roadmap for an international lunar scientific research station (ILRS). construction, “a place in China said the group.

A statement from the Russian space agency Roscosmos said that the two groups intended to “promote cooperation on the creation of an open access ILRS for all interested countries and international partners, with the aim of strengthening research cooperation. and to encourage the study and use of outdoor space for peaceful purposes for the benefit of all mankind. “

The lunar space station will act as a “complex of test and research facilities” created on the lunar surface and / or in the lunar orbit, according to a Roscosmos statement. The facilities will be designed for a range of multidisciplinary research, including “test technologies with the ability to operate without long-term staff with the expectation of human presence on the moon.”

China and Russia will now work on a roadmap for how you can design, develop and operate the station, and plan “its presentation to the global space community,” Roscosmos said.

The two countries have also signed agreements to create a data center for the study of the moon and deep space. They plan to collaborate in the future on the Chang’e-7 missions in China and Russia’s Luna 27, both of which aim to study the lunar’s south pole.

Only two countries have collected rocks from the moon. For China, it is only the beginning
Russia was a founding partner of the International Space Station (ISS), along with the United States and other contributing countries and space agencies. The orbiting science lab marked 20 years since humans took over in November last year. To date, the ISS is the only active and permanent human space station. Unlike Russia, China is not involved in ISS missions, however, because part of U.S. federal legislation prohibits cooperation with Beijing on space projects.
Russia continues its space program back to the Soviet Union, which in 1957 became the first country to launch a satellite – Sputnik 1 – out of the Earth’s gravitational grip.

Amid the Cold War space race with the United States, the Soviets in 1960 sent the first living creatures into orbit and back again, including space dogs, Belka and Strelka. Then in 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin sent Americans into space.

In recent years, however, Russia has struggled to replicate the success of the early space program, suffering a series of problems including launch failures against the backdrop. -a range of funding cuts and alleged corruption.

China was late to the space race – they didn’t put the first satellite into orbit until 1970, by which time the U.S. had landed an astronaut on the moon – but it has quickly caught on.

Driven by billions of dollars in government investment, China has accelerated its space program over the past decade, firing spacecraft and satellites into orbit.

In 2019, China was the first country to send an unmanned rover to the other side of the moon. In July 2020, China launched its first unmanned mission to Mars – the Tianwen-1 probe, which entered the orbit of the red planet in February this year. The next step is to put a rover on the surface, which is expected to come in May or June.

And in December 2020, Chang’e’s mission of Chinese workers brought lunar samples back to Earth – making it the only third country to collect rocks from the moon.

There are also plans to send astronauts to the moon by the 2030s. If successful, China would only become the second country after the US to send a citizen to the moon.

CNN’s Anna Chernova contributed to this report.

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