China and Russia jointly decided to build a space station on the moon. China, which was unable to participate in the International Space Station (ISS) project, joined hands with Russia to counterattack against the US’s concerns over technology takeover.
“Installation of experimental research facilities in the orbit of the moon”
Request to participate in countries of interest
Against the US-led’moon station’
On the 9th (local time), according to the Global Times, a Chinese state-run media, on that day, the Director of the CNSA and Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian Federation of Space Corporation (Los Cosmos), announced the joint construction of the International Moon Science Research Institute (ILRS). A memorandum of understanding was signed. The memorandum of understanding included the construction of a complex research facility complex (space station) to support astronauts to experiment on the lunar orbit and the surface. From design to operation, the two countries jointly carry out the project. CNSA and Roscosmos said the facility will be open to countries other than China and Russia.
In June 2019, the Chinese authorities said, “We have approved cooperation between the Chinese space station project, in which 17 countries and 23 organizations participate,” and said, “We have not excluded specific countries, but the US has not reached our standards.” This was the nature of the face-to-face response to the US’ exclusion from China. In the early 1990s, the United States involved 16 countries, including Russia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Japan, in the ISS project, but China’s application was rejected. Then, until the early 2000s, these countries had sent dozens of space shuttles and cargo ships such as Soyuz and Progress to assemble the ISS.
Accordingly, China launched its own space station’Tiangung 1’in 2011, becoming the third country with docking technology after the United States and Russia. However, in March 2016, communication with the Earth was cut off, and in 2018, it fell in the South Pacific. There were criticisms that “it almost caused damage to other countries”, but China continued to move in space.
CNN estimates that space exploration technology has also developed rapidly as the Chinese government has poured billions of dollars over the past decade. In January 2019, the unmanned probe Changeo 4 was launched, making it the first mankind to land on the back of the moon. Since then, in December of last year, Changeo 5 also landed on the moon and succeeded in collecting lunar soil. It was 40 years after the US in the 1960s and the former Soviet Union in the 1970s.
China’s space movement gained momentum by joining hands with Russia. The Sino-Russian space alliance fits well with Russia, who is trying to rebuild the glory of the former Soviet Union. Recently, Russia has made plans to explore the moon three times over the next five years. It plans to launch the Luna 25 on October 1st and land it near the lunar Antarctic. It has been 45 years since the lunar lander Luna 24 was launched in 1976. It seems that it was judged that it would be more advantageous to secure the initiative to join hands with China than to participate in the US-centered manned lunar base construction project.
China and Russia previously agreed to cooperate with the Changeo 7 (China) and Luna 27 (Russia) projects. China plans to send Changeo 7 to the lunar Antarctica by 2027, while Russia plans to send exploration rover Luna 27 as part of a project to establish a manned settlement on the moon.
The U.S. is currently pursuing an Artemis program that sends astronauts to the moon by 2024 and residents from 2028. Seven countries including Australia, Canada, Japan, Italy, Luxembourg and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have signed an agreement to participate in the project.
Reporter Jeong Eun-hye [email protected]
