[ad_1]
Russia and China have unveiled plans for a joint lunar space station, with Russian space agency Roscomos saying it has signed an agreement with the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) to develop a “complex of experimental research facilities established in the surface and / or in the orbit of the moon ”.
CNSA, for its part, said the project was “open to all interested countries and international partners” in what experts said was China’s largest international space cooperation project to date.
Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin wrote that he invited CNSA chief Zhang Kejian to the Russia’s first modern lunar lander launched, Luna 25, scheduled for October 1. It is Russia’s first lunar lander since 1976.
Russia sent the first human to space, but in post-Soviet times it was eclipsed by China and the United States, both of which made strides in space exploration and research.
This year Russia is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its very first manned space flight. He sent Yuri Gagarin into space in April 1961, followed by the first wife, Valentina Tereshkova, two years later. US space agency Nasa launched its first manned space flight a month after Russia, sending Alan Shepard to Mercury-Redstone 3.
China – which has sought a closer partnership with Moscow – launched its Tianwen-1 probe in 2020, which is now in orbit around Mars. In December 2020, he brought rock and soil samples from Mmoon back to Earth, the first such mission in over 40 years.
Chen Lan, an independent analyst specializing in the Chinese space program, said the joint lunar space station was “a big deal.”
“This will be the biggest international space cooperation project for China, so it’s important,” Lan said.
NASA’s Perseverance rover conducted its first test drive on the planet last week. The United States intends to complete a human mission to the planet, although the planning is still preliminary.
Moscow and Washington are also collaborating in the space sector; However, Russia has not signed the US-led Artemis Agreement for NASA-led lunar exploration. As part of the Artemis program announced in 2020 under President Donald Trump’s tenure, NASA plans to land the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024.
Roscosmos lost in 2020 its monopoly on manned flights to the International Space Station (ISS) after the first successful mission of the American company SpaceX. Elon Musks’ SpaceX has become a key player in the modern space race, and has announced plans to fly several members of the public to the moon in 2023 on a trip funded by a Japanese billionaire.
With Agence France-Presse
[ad_2]
Source link