Russia's Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States said Wednesday that they have agreed to cooperate on building a station on the lunar orbit.

In a joint statement, signed in Adelaide, Australia, the two agencies declared their intention to cooperate on organizing scientific missions on the lunar orbit and on the moon surface, including building the Deep Space Gateway station.

A Roscosmos statement said the two sides have already reached "an understanding" on the standards of the docking module of the future station.

"Taking into account the serious domestic experience in the development of docking stations, the future elements of the station will be created on the basis of Russian inventions," it said.

The two space agencies also discussed the possibility of using both Russian and U.S. carrier rockets to create the infrastructure of the lunar station and for its supplies.

The main work of building the space station will begin in the middle of 2020s, the statement said.

"The reached agreements open new prospects for international cooperation and expand the opportunities for using the capabilities of the Russian space industry," Roscosmos chief Igor Komarov was cited as saying.

The two agencies, as well as other International Space Station (ISS) partners, see the gateway as a strategic component of the human space exploration architecture that warrants additional study, NASA said in a separate statement.

"Statements such as this one signed with Roscosmos show the gateway concept as an enabler to the kind of exploration architecture that is affordable and sustainable," it quoted Robert Lightfoot, NASA's acting administrator, as saying.

Source: Xinhua News

Tweet

'Crash Scene Investigation' Reveals Resting Place of SMART-1 on Moon
Riga, Latvia (SPX) Sep 24, 2017
Observations of the Moon have revealed the final resting place of the European Space Agency's first lunar mission, SMART-1. The spacecraft was sent into a controlled impact with the lunar surface 11 years ago. Although an impact flash was imaged at the time by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on the dark side of the boundary between night and day on the lunar surface, the exact location had no ... read more

Related Links
Roscosmos
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only