Russia and China unveiled plans for a joint lunar space station.
Context
Russia and China unveiled plans for a joint lunar space station.
About the Lunar Space Station
- Joint program: It will be a joint project between Russian space agency Roscomosand China’s National Space Administration (CNSA).
- Objective: To develop a “complex of experimental research facilities created on the surface and/or in the orbit of the Moon”.
- International cooperation:The project will be open to all interested countries and international partners.This will be the largest international space cooperation project for China.
- First launch: Russia's first modern lunar lander, Luna 25, scheduled for October 1 — the first lunar lander to be launched by Russia since 1976.
Space Station
- A space station, also known as an orbital station or an orbital space station, is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat.
- It lacks major propulsion or landing systems.
- Stations must have docking ports to allow other spacecraft to dock to transfer crew and supplies.
- As of 2021, one fully operational and permanently inhabited space station is in low Earth orbit: the International Space Station (ISS).
- China, India, Russia, and the U.S., as well as Bigelow Aerospace and Axiom Space, are all planning other stations for the coming decades.
Other Lunar Space Station Program
- The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is a planned small space station in lunar orbit intended to serve as a solar-powered communication hub, science laboratory, short-term habitation module, and holding area for rovers and other robots.
- Gateway development includes four of the International Space Station partner agencies: NASA, ESA, JAXA, and CSA.
- Its construction is planned to take place in the 2020s.
|
