2024-03-15 16:00:59
China and Russia want to settle on the Moon
The announcement made by Yuri Borissov, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, during the world youth festival in Russia, did not go unnoticed: “ Today, we are seriously considering the delivery and installation of a power plant on the lunar surface with our Chinese colleagues, for the period 2033-2035 “. In collaboration with the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA), this project aims to power a future Sino-Russian lunar station, thus challenging NASA’s Artemis program (joined by France), and its nuclear power plant project, announced in 2022.
So it’s really serious. This nuclear power plant project aims to provide a stable and powerful energy source for future lunar colonies, with a first International Lunar Station (ILRS) project having been signed between Russia and China in 2021. The objective of the latter? Carry out scientific research on the Moon. Its construction will begin in 2026, and it should end in 2035, if everything goes as planned. As Yuri Borrisov pointed out, solar panels are not an option, since their production would be limited by the cycles of illumination of the Moon by the Sun. On the contrary, nuclear power appears to be the best solution to ensure dense and continuous energy production for the lunar station.
A nuclear spaceship
The completion of this monumental project will require overcoming significant technical challenges, particularly in terms of cooling the nuclear reactor. International collaboration will play a crucial role. South Africa has already joined the Sino-Russian lunar space station project. Other countries, such as Venezuela, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Belarus, have expressed interest in participating.
In addition to this space station, which should be powered by a nuclear power plant, Russia plans to create a nuclear-powered spacecraft. « We’re working on a space tug. This enormous structure would be capable, thanks to a nuclear reactor and high-power turbines, of transporting large cargoes from one orbit to anothercollect space debris and be used in many other situations », Specified the director of the Russian space agency, Yuri Borissov.
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