Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – China’s National Space Administration said in a statement on Tuesday that China and Russia have agreed to jointly build a lunar space station that will be “open to all countries.”
The leaders of the two space agencies in the two countries signed the Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of their national governments.
China and Russia will “use their accumulated experience in space science, research and development, as well as the use of space equipment and space technology to draw up a joint map for building an International Lunar Scientific Research Station (ILRS),” the China Space Agency said.
A statement issued by the Russian Space Agency “Roskosmos” also said that the two organizations intend to “strengthen cooperation to establish an ILRS system open to all interested countries and international partners, with the aim of strengthening research cooperation and promoting the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes for the benefit of all humanity.”
The Lunar Space Station will be a “complex of experimental and research facilities” that have been established on the surface of the moon or in its orbit, according to Roscosmos. The facilities will also be designed for a range of multidisciplinary research, including “test techniques with long-term autonomy with potential human presence on the moon”.
Roskosmos explained that China and Russia will now work on a plan for how to design, develop, operate the station, and plan “displaying it to the global space community.”
The two countries also signed agreements to establish a joint data center to explore the moon and deep space, and plan to cooperate in the future in the Chinese “Chang’e-7” and “Luna 27” missions, which aim to explore the south pole of the moon.
Russia was a founding partner of the International Space Station, along with the United States, other contributing countries, and space agencies. The orbiting science lab celebrated its 20th anniversary in November of last year.
To date, the International Space Station remains the only permanently operating and manned space station. Unlike Russia, China does not participate in the International Space Station initiatives, in part due to US legislation that prohibits cooperation with Beijing on space projects.
Russia’s space program dates back to the Soviet Union, which in 1957 became the first country to launch a satellite, Sputnik 1, outside the grip of gravity.
China was late in the space race, as it did not send its first satellite into orbit until 1970, after the United States had landed an astronaut on the moon.
However, China has caught up quickly. Supported by billions of dollars in government investment, China has rapidly accelerated its space program over the past decade, launching several space laboratories and satellites into orbit.
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