China and Russia announce plan to build lunar space station

NASA’s deep space exploration plan, the Gateway, has a new rival as China and Russia have signed an agreement to build a lunar space station.

On March 9, Russian space agency Roscosmos and China’s National Space Administration (CNSA) reached the agreement to construct the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) “on the lunar surface and/or on the lunar orbit.”

Following the gigantic scientific collaboration, the CNSA, for its part, said the lunar space station will be “open to all interested countries and international partners.” The project would “promote humanity’s exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purpose,” it said in a statement.

No ‘exact date’ for when the lunar space station’s construction will start

“Within the framework of creation of the ILRS, China and Russia will use their experience in space science, research and development, and use of space equipment and technology to jointly formulate a road map for the construction of the ILRS,” the statement read. Neither country provided information on when construction would begin.

Russia, then the Soviet Union, put the first human-made satellite into Earth’s orbit in 1957, followed by the first human, Yuri Gagarin, being to travel into space in 1961.

But Moscow has lagged behind both United States and China, following the Soviet era. It has lost its long-held monopoly as the only country able to carry astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) after succesful manned launch by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX.

Beijing, meanwhile, has launched its space program, putting Tianwen-1 probe into orbit around Mars and has retrieved rock and soil samples from the Moon. A Chinese rover also landed on the far side of the Moon.

With the goal of returning humans to the Moon by 2024, NASA has selected SpaceX to deliver the first two segments of the moon-orbiting Gateway space station through the Artemis program created under the Trump administration, per Space.com.

“The Gateway will be an outpost orbiting the Moon that provides vital support for a sustainable, long-term human return to the lunar surface, as well as a staging point for deep space exploration,” describes NASA.

NASA and Russia’s Roscosmos are collaborating on the ISS, but the latter has been reluctant to continue the space cooperation with the US-based space agency as part of the Moon program, said The Verge.

“While Roscosmos has informed NASA that it does not wish to be part of the Gateway partnership at this time, they did offer to continue exploring interoperability and we welcome such a discussion,” NASA spokeswoman Monica Witt explained.

As for China, it is staying in touch with Paris in the field of space science as France’s space agency CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall held a videoconference meeting with Zhang Kejian, Administrator of the CNSA, to assess “the bilateral space cooperation between the two agencies, which encompasses Earth observation, universe sciences and space exploration.”

“Other potential areas for cooperation in relation to the Moon and Mars were also discussed during today’s meeting,” the statement added.