BEIJING – China and Russia on Tuesday singed a memorandum of understanding to jointly established an international research station on moon.
The agreement was signed in a virtual session by China’s National Space Administration (CNSA) Director Zhang Kejian and Dmitry Rogozin, general director of Russia’s Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities.
According to the plan, the station will be built on the surface or in the orbit of the moon and will become a comprehensive base for long-term and autonomous experiments. This is breaking news for international space community, state-run Global Times reported.
A statement issued by the CNSA said that both countries will uphold the principle of joint consultation, construction, and sharing to execute the plan for constructing research station on the moon.
The project will be “open to nations that are interested in the project as well as all partners of the international community,” it added.
It said the project aims at promoting humanity’s exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purpose.
“The international lunar scientific and research station will be a comprehensive base for long-term, autonomous experiments, providing a platform that is tasked to enable exploration and use of moon, and a slew of basic scientific experiments and technology verification projects either on the lunar surface or in the lunar orbit,” said the CNSA.
China and Russia will use their experience in space science, R&D and use of space equipment and technology to jointly formulate a road map for the construction of the ILRS, and carry out the close collaboration on planning, demonstration, design, development, implementation and operation of the ILRS, including the promotion of the project to the international space communities, said the official statement.
