Possible refusal to the ISS in the foreseeable future forces Russia more and more actively look for new goals and tasks for the sphere of cosmonautics. At the same time, complex relations with the West strongly limit the "space for maneuver".
As an alternative partner, China is considered: how it became known, Russia wants to sign a Memorandum on the creation of the lunar station with the PRC. "To adopt the proposal of the State Corporation on Space Activities" Roscosmos "on the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the People's Republic of China on cooperation in the field of the creation of the International Scientific Lunar Station," the document is stated in the document posted on the Portal of Legal Information.
In the Cabinet allowed the Space Agency to enter a change in the Memorandum, which does not carry in principle. Whether it is about the orbital station or the complex on the surface of the moon, the document does not say. Experts meanwhile remind that earlier the Chinese presented the concept of the ILRS station located in the South Pole of the Moon.
Information about the possibility of joint Russian-Chinese mastering the Moon appeared before. Last year, a source in the rocket and space industry said that Moscow and Beijing are negotiating on the surface of the satellite joint bases. The basis of the concept can serve as spacecraft that China and Russia are created to master the moon.
China is now actively implementing its lunar program. On November 23, 2020, the subwayette launched a returned Mission "Changy-5" to the moon. This is the first Chinese returned automatic interplanetary station and the first returned mission from the Earth's satellite since 1976, when the Soviet station "Luna-24" was launched.
China also has also been significantly advanced in the development of a new generation piloted spacecraft: the device prototype was first launched in May 2020. Tests were successful.
Russia is only to test their new spacecraft, known as "eagle" or "federation". His first launch can take place in about the middle of this decade.
Source: Naked Science