Image of the moon taken by the Beresheet SpaceIL spacecraft in orbit.
SpaceIL
Russia and China are making plans to advance 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, on Tuesday signed a “memorandum of understanding” on behalf of their respective governments expressing their commitment to creating a new lunar space station.
The Lunar International Monitoring Station, they said in a statement, “will be a broad scientific evidence base with the capability of long-term autonomous operation, built on the lunar surface and / or the lunar orbit.”
It performs “multidisciplinary and multidisciplinary” scientific research activities such as lunar study and “practice,” lunar-based observation and scientific experiments, they said.
The two countries work together on the design, planning, development and operation of the station. No date has been set for when the project can start, or be completed.
China and Russia are no strangers to cooperation within space and are looking to build on that relationship. They noted that there had been previous agreements to collaborate on other projects including the Chang’e-7 mission in China (a robotic lunar exploration mission scheduled to launch in 2023 or 2024 ), and a combined data center for lunar and deep space study.
Roscosmos and the CNSA said they would “enable broad cooperation in the ILRS” saying it would be “open to all interested countries and international partners, strengthen scientific research exchanges, and encourages the study of humanity and the use of outdoor space for peaceful purposes. “
Russia and China are strengthening ties, both on Earth and in space, following a trend that has emerged in recent years. That deep alliance, which spans greater economic, military and political cooperation, led even Chinese President Xi Jinping to call his Russian coalition Vladimir Putin his “best friend” in 2019, in an infamous show of warm relationships.
This strong geopolitical relationship has come as their relations with the U.S. have deteriorated in recent years, however, with U.S. sanctions on Russia and billions of dollars worth of U.S. taxes on it. Chinese imports, implemented under former President Donald Trump.
At the same time, competition in the space field has not detracted from the “space race” of the mid-20th century, in which Soviet and US competitors competed in missions to space technology and knowledge. launched.
Newcomers are entering the space exploration and commercial space travel industry with the likes of 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.
Space exploration veterans are still big players, though. NASA also plans to return to the moon in 2024, with its Artemis program that includes plans to land the first and next female on the lunar surface. It was the first lunar landing since the last Apollo lunar mission in 1972.