China and Russia Sign Deal to Build Power Station on Moon

China and Russia have announced a plan to build a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2035, but it would be built autonomously without humans, according to a new report.

The Russian space agency Roscosmos and the China National Space Administration (CNSA) say the plant would provide power for a lunar base that the two countries would operate, according to a report by Live Science, which cited a new memorandum of understanding “signed by the two nations.”

The two agencies announced plans for an International Lunar Research Station in 2021, saying it would be “open to all interested countries and international partners.”

But the news comes at a time when NASA says it will axe plans for an orbital lunar base. And there was speculation last year that NASA astronauts may not be able to visit the base “due to historically frosty relations with CNSA and a more recent split with Roscosmos” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Yury Borisov, head of the Russian space agency was quoted by state-owned news site TASS last year as saying construction of the Chinese-Russian reactor would be done “without the presence of humans,” as technological advances enabling such a feat were “almost ready.”

“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 wrote in a May 8 announcement following the signing of the memorandum, it said.

Read the full report: Live Science.