A new memorandum has firmed up China and Russia's intent to lead the construction of a new lunar base to be completed by 2036, as NASA talks about scaling back its own lunar ambitions.
You can say the same thing about a lot of basic research. Large Hadron Collider is cool, but why? Going to space is cool, but why?
“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,” Roscosmos wrote
Once these basic pieces are established, China plans additional launches that will extend the base further, connecting it to a space station orbiting the moon and two nodes located at the moon’s equator and its far side. Wu Yanhua said
If we ignore the moon base as a way to project power and facilitate manned missions to Mars, it is likely that the people who signed this deal do not know exactly why they are agreeing to it. BUT, between now (when this agreement is signed) and the time that a moon base could come into existence, the reasons for having a permanent Moon base will only increase in my opinion.
You can say the same thing about a lot of basic research. Large Hadron Collider is cool, but why? Going to space is cool, but why?
If we ignore the moon base as a way to project power and facilitate manned missions to Mars, it is likely that the people who signed this deal do not know exactly why they are agreeing to it. BUT, between now (when this agreement is signed) and the time that a moon base could come into existence, the reasons for having a permanent Moon base will only increase in my opinion.