Russia Will Build A Lunar Space Station With China Because It's Done With NASA

Russia and China just signed an agreement to build and work on an International Scientific Lunar Station that will orbit the Moon, the two countries’ space agencies announced on Tuesday.

The agreement comes after months of talks between these countries as Russia was considering joining NASA’s Gateway program. NASA is planning to build a gigantic coalition consisting of other countries and private entities in the coming decade.

The upcoming International Scientific Lunar Station of Russia and China will be “a complex of experimental research facilities created on the surface and/or in orbit of the Moon,” according to a report by The Verge. The goal of the project is to support a wide range of research experiments and be capable of unmanned operation in the long term with the possible human presence on the Moon.

China has got international support for its ambitions to place infrastructure on the Moon and send Chang’e missions there. And now, the agreement between Russia and China was signed virtually by their respective space chiefs. While NASA is not allowed to work with China, the space agency has been in a decades-long partnership with Russia on the Internation Space Station. However, Russia has hesitated to prolong this partnership.

Under the agreement, Russia and China will work on their own lunar space station, involving planning, demonstrating, designing, developing, implementing, and operating scientific research station projects, according to a statement of the China National Space Administration.

The new partnership between these two countries could reshape the future of space travel. This not only becomes an attempt independent of NASA-led projects but also allows for newcomer nations to the space age another option of which space power to join.

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