China and Russia, two powerful countries are known for their resources and technology, have agreed to partner up and build a lunar space station that will be open to all countries.
China and Russia to create a Lunar Space Station
The China National Space Administration said in a statement on Mar. 9 that the leaders of China and Russia's space agencies have signed a memorandum of understanding on behalf of their national governments.
China's space agency stated that China and Russia will use their accumulated experience in research, development, and space science, as well as the use of space equipment and space technology, to create a road map for the construction of an international lunar scientific research station or ILRS.
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Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, also released a statement and said that the two organizations planned to promote cooperation on the creation of an open-access ILRS for all countries interested in exploring the Moon and deep space.
The ILRS is also open to international partners as its goal is to strengthen research cooperation and promote the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes in everyone's interest.
The newest Lunar Space Station is said to be a complex of experimental and research facilities and it will be created on the surface of the Moon and/or in orbit of the Moon, according to the statement of Roscosmos.
The space station facilities will be designed for a range of multidisciplinary research, including testing the latest technologies and researching the prospect of sending humans on the Moon to live.
China and Russia will team up and work on a road map on how to design, develop and operate the Lunar Space Station, and both countries will plan on how it will be presented to the world.
Both China and Russia have signed agreements to create a data center to explore the Moon and deep space. Both plan to cooperate in the future on China's Chang'e-7 and Russia's Luna 27 missions, as both aim to survey the lunar south pole.
China and Russia's history in space
Russia and the United States founded the International Space Station (ISS) in 1963. The orbiting science laboratory celebrated its 20th anniversary in Nov. 2020 and has remained the only operational and permanently inhabited space station.
Russia's space project can be traced back to the Soviet Union, and in 1957, Russia became the first country to launch a satellite to space, the Sputnik 1.
The Soviets were also able to send the first living creatures into orbit and back again in 1960. The most notable ones were the space dogs, Strelka and Belka. In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin pipped the Americans into space.
Recently, Russia was not successful in replicating its early space program success and has experienced numerous setbacks, including probe launch failures, according to CNN.
As for China, they were late into the space game and did not send their first satellite into orbit until 1970, by which time the United States had already landed the first man on the Moon. During the past few decades, China accelerated its space program and fired space labs and satellites into orbit.
Now, China is head to head with the U.S. when it comes to space exploration and research.
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Written by Sieeka Khan
