Russia and China will build a lunar space station

A lunar space station, either on the surface or in orbit around the satellite:it is the plan of Russia and China, open to the collaboration of other countries.

Russia and China they will build one together lunar space station. To communicate it are the space agencies of the two countries, Roscosmos and respectively the China Space Administration, who signed a memorandum of understanding on behalf of their governments.

What is known about the future lunar space station

The information made public is still quite sparse.The two superpowers will pool their expertise and technologies to “jointly develop an action plan for the construction of an international lunar scientific research station (Ilrs)”, reads the press release from the Chinese Space Administration.Specifically, explains Roscosmos, it will be a "complex of experimental plants and research infrastructures" developed on the surface of the Moon, with the possibility of orbit around them.It will serve a variety of tasks, including “testing technologies with the possibility of long-term unmanned operations, with the prospect of human presence on the Moon.”

From now on, the two space agencies will be busy defining the design, development and implementation plan of the lunar space station, in view of its official presentation.The project, they assure, will be open to the collaboration of all villages and i international partners interested parties, “with the aim of strengthening cooperation in research and promoting the exploration and use of space for peaceful purposes in the interest of all humanity”.

The model of the International Space Station

Russia (and not China) is among the founding members of the International Space Station, to date the only permanent base in space inhabited by a crew.This gigantic laboratory, which orbits about 400 kilometers away from Earth, celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the arrival of the first astronauts.Among the 242 who have alternated over these two decades there are also five Italians: Umberto Guidoni, Roberto Vittori, Paolo Nespoli, Luca Parmitano And Samantha Cristoforetti, who spent 200 days there as part of the Futura mission.Just a few days ago ESA announced that Cristoforetti will return to space in 2022 to contribute to scientific experiments on human physiology, even in anticipation of longer missions.