China & Russia to sign space agreement to construct base on Moon by 2035: Reports

China has revealed that it will be signing a space pact with Russia later this year to construct an International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) on the Moon. The revelation was made by the China National Space Administration's (CNSA) Vice Administrator Wu Yanhua during a press conference held on January 28 in Beijing. It is worth mentioning that the announcement comes after the Russian space agency Roscosmos had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China in March 2021 for commencing the project for the lunar base. 

"We are intensively engaged in negotiations and have basically reached a consensus. The agreement is quite possible to be signed as soon as possible this year", Wu said according to a report by The Eurasian Times.

(A layout of China-Russia's planned lunar base; Image: CNSA)

Lunar base likely to be ready by 2035

Meant to serve as a research facility, the lunar station's construction is likely to begin in 2026 after choosing a construction area and will be ready for use by 2035. The Sino-Russian duo aims to build the research station in three phases. The first would be till 2025 when the partners will select a construction area, design the ILRS and send several missions to the moon for technology demonstration for a soft landing. 

The second phase would last from 2026 to 2030, wherein both the countries would conduct joint operations such as delivering lunar soil samples to Earth and testing technologies for the command centre of the ILRS. The third phase would span till 2035 following which the ILRS will be ready for multidisciplinary research activities, as per CNSA.

Russian news agency Sputnik had reported that the base could also have a spacecraft reserved on the moon for the astronauts. "The possibility of some kind of reserve lunar ascent/descent vehicle is one new and important idea. And things will be more calm on the moon (for cosmonauts) if there is a reserve ship which can take off," retired cosmonaut Vladimir Solovyev was quoted by Sputnik as saying. 

China fuels the space race

China's partnership with Russia to build a lunar base is being seen as a counter to NASA's Lunar Gateway, which is a planned space station around the moon, that will be built under the Artemis mission. NASA is planning to return humans to the moon under a series of Artemis missions, which is set to begin in 2022 with an uncrewed flight. Notably, China also has three lunar missions- Chang'e 6, 7 and 8 already planned, which would be launched from 2024 onwards. 

(Image: Unsplash)