A new deal shows Russia moving away from NASA and joining China on missions to the Moon.
The heads of the Chinese and Russian space agencies signed an agreement on Tuesday that says the two countries will work together to build a "scientific" station on the Moon.
The agreement states that the two countries will work together to create an “International Lunar Science Station” and plan to invite other countries to join. The agreement was signed by Zhang Kejian, director of the China National Space Administration , and Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space corporation, Roscosmos.
The announcement of the signing of the agreement and the upcoming cooperation was made by Roscosmos.
Not many details have been released about the ambitious project at the moment. All that is known is that Russia and China want to create research facilities on the surface and/or in orbit around the Moon. The goal is to build facilities on the Moonthat will gradually allow for the presence of humans.
China has previously revealed its ambitions to build an international lunar station at the Moon's South Pole, starting with robotic missions and continuing with human missions in the early 2030s. The country has many plans and hopes that in the period 2036-2045, people will be able to be on the Moon and mainly at the South Pole, where it is believed (according to NASA) that there are huge reserves of water ice. These plans were initially discussed at a meeting of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space last year.
Previously, the European Space Agency had also expressed interest in collaborating with China on missions to the Moon.
This latest announcement about Russia-China cooperation comes after the United States the continuation of the Artemis, which would put NASA astronauts on the Moon within 3-4 years. NASA would also like to establish a lunar base and assess the viability of water resources at the South Pole.
So, NASA created the so-called “Artemis Accords,” various agreements with space agencies in other countries that want to participate in the Artemis Program. The participating states are asked to agree to 10 basic rules regarding their space activities. Two of them are the existence of transparency and the sharing of scientific data. Several countries have already signed and it is expected that more will be added.
Russia’s absence from these agreements was noticeable. Russia has been working with the US, and other countries, on various missions for more than two decades. However, Dmitry Rogozin said that the Artemis Accords are “very US.” The fact that Russia has signed a deal with China likely means that NASA’s long-standing partnership with Roscosmos may be coming to an end.
Source: Ars Technica
