Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed a bill committing Russia to working with authoritarian partner China to build a moon base.
China’s state-run Global Times I boasted. Russia is participating in the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) project along with more than 30 “nations and international organizations,” 20 of which have signed some sort of agreement to formalize their participation.
of Global Times He noted Egypt and Bahrain’s participation in China’s next lunar probe, Chang’e, but did not name other partners. Egypt is one of the countries that China has expressed interest in launching the lunar probe. roll out Along with Russia, Venezuela, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, South Africa, Thailand and Nicaragua, it announced plans to build a moon base in 2021.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (Mikhail Klimentiev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)
China’s unmanned probe “Chang’e 6” Landed China landed on the far side of the moon on June 2 and collected soil samples, making China the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the moon, after the United States, Japan, and India.
Chinese state media reported that the launch of Chang’e-7, which will involve Egypt and Bahrain, is scheduled for 2026 and will explore the south polar region of the moon. Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Thailand and a group called the International Lunar Observatory Association have also committed to providing payloads for the Chang’e-7 mission.
After that, China achieve The goal is to land humans on the Moon by 2030, lay the foundations for a lunar base near the Moon’s south pole by 2035, and have the base operational by 2045. The lunar base would serve as a stepping stone to exploration of Mars and beyond. The base would be constructed superficially using basalt mined from the lunar surface.
Since its first official announcement, China has promoted the moon base project as an international endeavor, and an animated video showcasing the plan in 2021 showed a NASA space shuttle launching from the base.
of Global Times A partnership between China and Russia would decisively wrest leadership in space exploration from the fading U.S. space program, he argued Thursday.
China’s repeated successes in deep space exploration will lead to greater prospects for international cooperation, said Wang Yanan, editor-in-chief of Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge magazine. Global Times.
“Firstly, through a series of successful space missions, China has demonstrated exceptional capability and reliability, which lays a prerequisite for a good partnership that can better achieve richer samples and more ideal scientific outcomes,” Wang noted.
Experts also noted that China has always maintained an open and inclusive attitude toward international cooperation, which is rare in today’s complex world situation. While the United States continues to chant the rhetoric of the “China threat” in the so-called space race, China has steadily made progress step by step and produced rich and tangible results, experts said.
Wang said Russia’s Soviet-era advances in astrophysics and chemistry would be combined with China’s advanced technology and huge industrial capacity to create synergies “greater than the sum of its parts.”
The agreement, signed by President Putin this week, Negotiated An agreement signed between Russia and China in 2022. The bill “will contribute to strengthening the strategic partnership between Russia and China,Russia’s leading role in space exploration, including the exploration and utilization of the Moon.”
Russia’s space agency Roscosmos and China’s National Space Administration (CNSA) said the joint project would include a lunar base, an orbital space station and several rovers for lunar exploration. A Russian bill signed by Putin reiterated that China and Russia would lead the project, but other countries are welcome to participate.
Roscosmos’ roadmap for the project envisages a shorter timeline than China’s, with a site being selected by 2025, construction starting the following year, and the base being operational by 2035.
