Big space plans
Europe and China are planning to create an outpost on the moon. This was recently reported by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the China National Space Administration (CNSA). Johann-Dietrich Wörner, head of the ESA, even talks about the Moon Village.
How exactly this outpost will look like is not yet known. Responsible persons especially stressed that such cooperation is necessary in order to explore the Cosmos for peaceful purposes. Since 2004, the two above-mentioned space organizations have been cooperating on various projects, including the launch of satellites of the Double Star family.
Life on the moon
In the future, expeditions to Mars may start from the lunar station. In addition, it can be used as a base for space tourism and the extraction of raw materials. For the Chinese space industry, this cooperation is an important opportunity because it cannot use the International Space Station. In 2011, the Americans in the NASA budget bill had a resolution known as “prohibition of space cooperation with China.” They suspect the Chinese government of intending to use the space program for military purposes.
If these two space agencies manage to create something like a village on the moon, this could be a big step forward in the settlement of human space. However, at the moment, apart from the announcement of cooperation in this direction, not much has been done.
The only concrete plan is a CNSA reconnaissance mission to bring lunar minerals back to Earth for analysis. In addition, an ESA astronaut is due to visit the Chinese space station.
Earlier this year, ESA released images from the Envisat satellite.
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