Russia's space agency head to approach China for moon missions next month: Reports

Just days after Europe suspended cooperation with Russia on all moon missions, Moscow has now turned to China in search of a partner. According to Russian media house TASS, Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin will take the lunar proposal to China before the end of May this year. "Before the end of May, I plan to hold detailed dialogue with our Chinese colleagues on our cooperation in this direction", he told TASS.

Notably, this potential partnership will be in line with Roscosmos’s deal with the China National Space Administration (CNSA) which was closed between the two agencies in 2017. This deal was regarding a space cooperation programme that was planned for 2018 to 2022. Under the deal, both the agencies had agreed on subjects such as the study of the Moon and deep space, space research and related technologies, satellites and their use, the component's base and materials, interaction on data of Earth’s remote sensing and other issues.

Apart from the 2017 agreement, Rogozin had also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with CNSA head Zhang Kejian for building an international lunar station around the Moon. The recent development follows Rogozin's statement of partnering up with China if Western countries refuse to remove sanctions imposed on Russia for invading Ukraine. 

Europe suspends lunar programmes with Russia

Earlier this month, the European Space Agency (ESA) suspended three lunar missions- Luna 25, 26 and 27- which it had planned with Russia. In an official statement, the agency had said that it is 'redirecting' its space programmes due to Russia's unprovoked attack on Ukraine. The first lunar mission, a joint mission of Russia and Europe, was scheduled for launch in July 2022 using a Russian rocket. Since this is no longer viable, ESA says that it has secured a second launch opportunity onboard a NASA-led Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) mission. 

In the aftermath of Moscow's attack on Ukraine, ESA has already suspended the Mars mission which was also initially targeted to launch in September this year. While the rest of the countries are cutting ties with Russia, President Vladimir Putin has turned to friendly nations like Belarus. He had stated in the past that Roscosmos will conduct manned spaceflights and send Belarusian astronauts to space.