Russia and China intend to create a cooperative Moon base in three stages, and work on five missions to Earth’s satellite has already begun, according to an official agreement published on the Russian government portal on Thursday.
The Russian-Chinese International Scientific Lunar Station (ISLS) will be created in three stages: research, creation, and operations, according to the agreement.
The second stage will see the creation of a control center, bulk cargo delivery, a secure high-precision soft landing on the Moon’s surface, and the start of collaborative operations, according to the announcement.
The paper also states that the aim of the third phase, operation, is “the study and exploration of the Moon, verification of technologies, assistance to international partners in landing a man on the Moon with the help of a completed ISLS,” and it even advocates landing a man on the Moon.
Russia and China intend to conduct five collaborative missions to deploy components in orbit and on the Moon’s surface, the report stated.
Moscow and Beijing have invited international partners to join in the construction of the lunar station; the Russian Roscosmos State Corporation and the Chinese National Space Administration will negotiate separate bilateral agreements for this purpose.
“This agreement is good for twenty years. Its validity is automatically extended for subsequent 5-year periods, unless either party notifies the other party in writing through diplomatic channels of its intention to terminate this agreement at least one year before the expiration of the initial validity period or the expiration of any subsequent validity period,” according to the document.
