Russia and China Ink Agreement to Build New Lunar Base by 2036

What Happened?

Russia and China have signed an agreement to work together to build a new lunar research facility by 2036. The facility, which is to include a nuclear power plant, will be used to power the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), jointly led by China and Russia. It should be completed by 2036, according to a memorandum of cooperation signed by the two nations.

Roscsomos, the Russian Space Program, issued a statement saying, ‘The station will conduct fundamental space research and test technology for long-term uncrewed operations of the ILRS, with the prospect of a human being's presence on the Moon.’

Why it Matters

According to Live Science, the new research station, a permanent, manned lunar base located on the moon's south pole, has attracted 17 countries to join the program — including Egypt, Pakistan, Venezuela, Thailand and South Africa. The big question is, why go back to the moon?

Science offers several reasons why spending time and money to go back to the moon would potentially be worth the effort. The first is that the moon likely holds clues as to how the Earth was initially formed. 

While the Earth has a dynamic atmosphere and is geologically active, the moon isn’t. The actions of Earth’s dynamic environment have wiped away physical traces of what happened when the Earth first formed, but the moon retains a pristine geologic record of events from the time it came into being. That geological record could hold critical answers on how the Earth was formed.

A second big reason to return to the moon is the presence of untapped resources. Specifically, the moon may hold sizeable deposits of frozen water. If those deposits could be found and harvested, it would significantly reduce the costs of supplying manned missions to the moon and Mars with water, which is an essential resource.

The third category of reasons is the potential for the development of new technologies. During the 1950s and 60s, the quest for space flight in the United States and the Soviet Union led to the invention of hundreds of new technologies, some of which are now commonplace but trace their origins to a space program. New efforts to establish a permanent lunar base would likely lead to the invention of several new technologies which would also have uses back on Earth.

How it Affects You

While Russia has a long-established history in space, the new effort to build a permanent lunar base represents a growing ambition by China to create its own high quality space program. China also has plans to send manned missions to the moon by 2028, which would be a first for that country.

The commercial space sector has experienced significant growth in the past decade. And the efforts of major national programs to build a lasting lunar base indicate that the space economy is likely to continue growing during the remainder of the 2020s.