Basically, the parties reached a consensus, said Wu Yanhua, deputy head of the Chinese National Space Administration
BEIJING, January 28. /tass/. An intergovernmental agreement between Russia and China on cooperation in the creation of a lunar station may be signed before the end of the year. This was announced at a press conference on Friday by the deputy head of the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) At Yanhua.
"Currently, intergovernmental consultations between China and the Russian Federation on the agreement on the establishment of an International scientific Lunar Station are in full swing," he said. "Basically, the parties reached a consensus. It is quite possible that it (the agreement) can be signed as soon as possible this year," said Wu Yanhua.
On Tuesday, Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov said that the intergovernmental agreement between Russia and China on cooperation in the creation of a lunar station is almost ready and can be signed soon.
In June 2021, Roscosmos and CNSA presented a roadmap for the International Scientific Lunar Station as part of the Global Conference on Space Exploration (GLEX-2021). According to the information provided, the construction of the station should be fully completed by 2035. From 2026 to 2030, two missions are planned to test landing and cargo delivery technologies, as well as return lunar rock samples to Earth. From 2031 to 2035, the parties will deploy infrastructure in orbit and on the surface of the Moon, including communication complexes, as well as electric power, research and other equipment.
According to the project roadmap, the station's transport infrastructure will include research and technical lunar rovers, as well as a jumping robot. The parties plan to equip the station with several smart mini-rovers designed to explore the surface of the Earth's natural satellite.