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 reactor will be used to power the sprawling ), which is being jointly led by and Russia, according to a new agreement signed by the two nations.
The -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 administration would see axe plans for an orbital lunar base.
Nasa’s original plans were to establish an orbital lunar base, the , 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 , controlled by humans on , 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 wrotein an announcementfollowing the signing of the memorandum.
Former Nasa boss – which are unlikely to soften with Russia’s added involvement.
China’ssignals 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 , , , , and .
Beijing has been firm that its intentions for ILRS are to and carry out ““, 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.
