Russia and China plan to build a research station either on, or in orbit of, the moon. It was announced last week as a "memorandum of understanding," and there is no published time frame as yet. But the plan is a joint project.
China National Space Administration and Russia's federal space agency, ROSCOSMOS, will cooperate together on the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) to "promote humanity’s exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purpose[s]."
For both the ILRS and NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO, see yesterday's post), the mission is to facilitate research. America will no longer be the only nation with a long-term lunar presence when Russia and China accomplish their plan.
America's Artemis program, to send the first woman and next man to the moon by 2024, still stands at this time. But "some space policy experts have said they expect that target date to slip under [the current administration]." It wouldn't be the first time that political change has quashed goals relating to space exploration, because those goals require long-term financial commitment that holds beyond elections.
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