RUSSIA has inked a deal with China to build a nuclear power station on the moon, as part of their shared lunar space-base.
The Russian reactor will be used to power the sprawling International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), which is being jointly led by China and Russia, according to a new agreement signed by the two nations.
A conceptual image of how China and Russia’s space station may look[/caption]
The space-base is expected to be completed by 2036.
It comes as the US’s own plans for a rival lunar base face uncertainty.
A 2026 budget proposal recently put forward by the Trump administration would see Nasa axe plans for an orbital lunar base.
Nasa’s original plans were to establish an orbital lunar base, the Lunar Gateway, before deploying surface-based lunar habitation.
The construction of a Chinese-Russian reactor will likely be carried out autonomously “without the presence of humans,” Yury Borisov, chief of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said in an interview last year.
Borisov added that the technological steps are “almost ready”, although details of how this will be achieved remain unclear.
Experts have long proposed using a fleet of autonomous robots, controlled by humans on Earth, to build the early stages of off-planet habitation.
“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 in an announcement following the signing of the memorandum.
Former Nasa boss Bill Nelson was outspoken about his fears for a sole Chinese presence on the Moon – which are unlikely to soften with Russia’s added involvement.
China’s military presence in the South China Sea signals how the country might behave on the lunar surface, Nelson claimed, which would breach the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.
“We better watch out that they don’t get to a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research,” Nelson told Politico in a 2023 interview.
“And it is not beyond the realm of possibility that they say, ‘Keep out, we’re here, this is our territory.’”
China has agreed to share the ILRS with 17 countries, including Egypt, Venezuela, South Africa, Pakistan, Thailand and Azerbaijan.
Beijing has been firm that its intentions for ILRS are to collect samples and carry out “scientific exploration“, despite Nasa’s suspicions.
ILRS will be a permanent, manned lunar base on the Moon’s south pole.
Slated to be bigger than Disneyland, with a radius of 3.7miles, it is intended to host a command centre, a communication hub, and scientific facilities, alongside a power station.
The groundwork will be laid by China’s 2028 Chang’e-8 mission, which will be the country’s first time landing an astronaut on the Moon.
That will be followed by five super heavy-lift rocket launches between 2030 and 2035 which will carry the necessary materials to the lunar surface.
Additional launches are planned to extend the base further, eventually connecting to a Chinese lunar space station and and two nodes on the far side of the Moon, according to Wu Yanhua, the chief designer of China’s deep exploration project, cited by state media outlet Xinhua last year.
Why the lunar south pole?
The lunar south pole has been a site of interest to all space-faring nations, including the US, China, Russia, and India.
Last year, India made history by becoming the first country to land near the southern site.
Just days before, Russia also made an attempt at a south pole touchdown, which ended in a crash landing.
Nasa’s Artemis III mission is intended to explore a region near the lunar south pole.
The south pole is, scientists believe, the most promising location for water-based ice, which will be key to future human habitation on the Moon.
The abundance of precious lunar materials, such as Helium-3, is also thought to be a big draw.
The south polar region is one of the Moon’s most resource-dense areas.
So-called ‘cold traps’ dotted on lunar surface are believed to contain gases like Helium-3 which can help produce huge amounts of energy here on Earth.
