Russia and China will create a joint data center for the exploration of the Moon and deep space, in addition to cooperating on missions that will study the lunar poles , the Russian government reported Tuesday.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev signed a resolution Tuesday authorizing the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, to negotiate an agreement with China “on cooperation in the creation of a joint data center for the exploration of the Moon and deep space.”
The data center will be an information system with two main nodes, one of which will be located in the territory of the Russian Federation and the other in China, Roscosmos explained.
In addition, the resolution signed by Medvedev authorizes Roscosmos to address and agree with its Chinese counterpart, the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA), the coordination of the Russian and Chinese missions with the Luna-Resource-1 orbiter and the Chang’e probe 7 to study the lunar poles.
The Russian space agency explained that Russia will analyze the places for the landing of the Chinese research mission .
In addition, data transmission tests are planned between Luna-Resource-1 and Chang’e 7, in addition to the mutual placement of scientific material in the two spacecraft and joint space experiments, Roscosmos said.
Luna-Resource-1 is a project of the Russian space agency to create a space complex designed to explore the lunar poles by flying over and landing on the surface of the satellite.
The mission includes the Luna-26 orbiter and the Luna-27 lunar vehicle, according to the Interfax agency.
China achieved a milestone on January 3 by successfully landing the Chang’e 4 probe on the moon’s hidden face, the first time in history to be achieved.
The Chinese program Chang’e (named after a goddess who, according to Chinese legends, lives on the Moon) began with the launch of a first orbital probe in 2007, and since then they have taken the satellite of Earth four more devices.
The final objective of the program is a manned mission to the Moon in the long term, although the date for it has not been set and some experts place it around the year 2036.
Source: Laprensa