The head of Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, announced the signing of an intergovernmental agreement between Russia and China on the creation of a scientific lunar station. Earlier, Roscosmos was instructed to sign a memorandum of understanding with China on cooperation in the creation of an International Scientific Lunar Station (ISS). What will the station look like and how much will joint work with Chinese colleagues help Russian cosmonautics?Since 2011, China has become a kind of space pariah by the hands of the United States of America.
The thing is that this year the US Congress passed a law known as the "Wolf Amendment", which prohibits government agencies, including NASA and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, from cooperating with China in the field of space exploration.
Thus, China was simultaneously excluded from all major international space projects. If NASA participated there, not even in the first roles, the Chinese cosmonautics was ordered to enter.
Space sanctionsWhat is the reason for the bans?
American officials answer quite clearly – the need to slow down the scientific and space development of the People's Republic of China, not to give China the opportunity to "spy" American developments. That is simple – we don't like you, we forbid you. There were no real reasons or at least reasons for the introduction of such sanctions.
An analogue of the "Wolf amendment" for Russia was adopted in June 2019, when the Pentagon named five countries whose services for space launches will be prohibited from using from December 31, 2022. The list includes Russia, China, Syria, Iran and Sudan.
Naturally, the list was compiled to the maximum, just in case, because Sudan does not have its own space program and it is unlikely that it will be created at all in the coming years. But even these prohibitions are somewhat milder than the Chinese ones, since they were specially drawn up so as not to affect the program of joint work on the International Space Station.
Since 2011, China has made very serious progress in creating a powerful national cosmonautics.
It includes military space, a manned program with the creation of its own national orbital station, and an extensive scientific program in which there is a place for the study of the Moon and Martian missions. As a result, the American ban became like a red rag for the bull. China has made every effort and in just two decades has become the second, and in some ways, the first space power in the world.
At the same time, China has not closed itself off and from time to time talks about the desire to work on joint international projects. Most likely, the program of creating an automatic lunar station jointly with Russia should also become such a "window of opportunity".
No one's homeIn the current version, the International Lunar Station, being developed by Russia and China, is exclusively unmanned.
Yes, when we hear "lunar station", we imagine the domes in which astronauts work. No, in this version there will be only a few spacecraft working together, without people.
There are several reasons for this decision at once. Such a station is much cheaper than a manned one. To create it, the development of a superheavy launch vehicle will not be required. And most importantly, such a scheme will allow you to test and test some solutions before using them in the Chinese manned program.
The creation of the station will be gradual. According to the signed roadmap, it is divided into three stages and will take fully more than ten years – until 2035. It should be recalled that this is several years later than the date of the proposed Chinese manned mission.
Moreover, the first stage is maximally linked to the already existing programs of both countries. It will last until 2025 and will consist of six launches, one of which – Chang'e-4 – has already taken place in 2018, and the other, the Russian one – the Luna-25 spacecraft – is due to take place in 2023.
Starting from the second stage, the future modules of the station will land (land) at one selected point near each other, establish communication and work together. Naturally, this will require the development of unified communication protocols and joint solutions for managing the operation of the station.
Just on December 14, it became known about the readiness of the device delaying the flight. The Doppler speed and range meter DISD-LR (manufactured by the Vega concern of the Rostec State Corporation), necessary for the soft landing of the Luna-25 automatic station, passed the entrance control. The device has already been installed in place and, most likely, the exact launch date will be known in the coming weeks. Therefore, we can say that both sides – Russia and China – will start working together on the station project starting next year.
Will abroad help us?Very often, reading the descriptions of the future lunar station, you can meet questions about how exactly this project is supposed to be implemented together and how much its implementation will help the Russian cosmonautics.
Alas, but just do not expect that China will take over the main work and thereby greatly advance Russian space science and the interplanetary flight industry.
The very program of cooperation for the creation of an International Lunar Station is specially made in such a way as to consistently increase the integration of the project. That is, at the initial, current level, both states will go in parallel, each continuing its own program of automatic exploration of the Moon. The further we go, the greater the interpenetration of technologies, the greater the dependence on the second party.
That is, each participant must show their capabilities and achievements in order to prove by deed the ability to move along the chosen road map, without the need for one of the parties to get involved in the common work and "take out for two". In addition, the roadmap for the creation of the station implies the openness of the project, its exclusively peaceful orientation. And also an opportunity for other states (except the USA), and subsequently for private companies, to cooperate at various levels – from the creation of individual devices to participation in the creation of the station modules themselves.
This is a very "showcase" project. His task, among other things, is to show the whole world how Russia and China can cooperate in science issues, as well as their readiness to work together with other states.
This is not the creation of an American LOP-G with clearly specified and predetermined roles for other states, but a joint work in which there is always an opportunity for others to participate.
And it is precisely in this openness and transparency, as well as parallel work at the first stage, that the main difficulty lies for the Russian side. Roscosmos will be required to comply with the roadmap, timely creation and launch of the Luna-25, Luna-26 and Luna-27 projects in the face of the current unprecedented sanctions and problems with electronic components.
And if all this is done on time and without problems, then it will be possible to talk about a tighter and more serious integration. Therefore, in the restoration of the Russian interplanetary scientific space program, it will not be possible to hope except for yourself.
There is no doubt that Russia can create these stations, the main thing is serious administrative control and a high priority of tasks. And there the international part is just around the corner. The era of the phrase "abroad will help us" is long over. Now you have to rely solely on your own strength.
Mikhail Kotov
