Russia - China cooperates to explore the Moon

Russia will work closely with China in the exploration of the Moon and the two countries may sign space cooperation agreements later this year, said the director of the Russian space agency.

Director of the Russian Federal Space Agency Anatoly Perminov said Chinese experts have shown great interest in Russia's moon exploration experience.

'Russia is willing to work closely with China in this area,' Perminov said on the agency's website Astronaut Tu Tuan Long of China in the mission of Than Chau VI ship in October 2005 (Photo: TTO) Federal space. 'In the past, Russian-Chinese cooperation was almost exclusively limited to the sale of Russian equipment, but now we are considering developing and implementing joint projects'.

Previously, the former Soviet Union had done many unmanned missions to explore the Moon, including two exploration ships studying the Moon's surface in 1970-1973. However, they lost to the US in the race to the Moon, had to abandon the manned moon exploration program after a series of rocket boosters.

Perminov said the two countries had formalized Moon research plans in a special action plan approved in June 2005 and after many meetings of experts. The most recent meeting between Russian-Chinese space officials has taken place last week.

According to Perminov, China can participate in the project to take Russian Phobos probe to the Moon to collect soil samples and send them to Earth for research. This mission is expected to take place in 2009.

T.VY