We’re not yet at a stage when we can defend the planet against dangerous asteroids (granted, work on this will begin soon). Sadly, even with our current level of technology, we’re probably unable to defend against many of them. Russia and China have signed an agreement to build and work on an " International Scientific Lunar Station" orbiting the Moon, the countries' space agencies announced Tuesday.There are many ways our civilization could end, or at least be drastically changed, and they range from human-made perils to natural ones, born here on Earth or up there in space. From a report: The space powers had been in talks for months as Russia mulled over whether it would participate in NASA's Gateway program, a rival lunar space station to be built by a coalition of other countries in the next decade. In an effort to protect mankind from extinction, a group of scientists from the University of Arizona is suggesting building an ark filled with 6.7 million sperm samples on the moon. The International Scientific Lunar Station that Russia and China will work on is "a complex of experimental research facilities created on the surface and/or in the orbit of the Moon," Roscosmos said in a statement. It will be designed to support a variety of research experiments "with the possibility of long-term unmanned operation with the prospect of a human presence on the moon," the statement said. Like NASA, China has been courting international support for its own plans to put infrastructure on the Moon. ![]() It's also sent several robotic Chang'e missions to the Moon, including the first landing on the Moon's far side and a swift sample retrieval mission in December. The lunar space station agreement, signed virtually between China's space chief Zhang Kejian and Russia's space chief Dmitry Rogozin, marks the latest development in Beijing's efforts to explore the Moon alongside rivals like NASA, which is barred from working with China under a law passed by Congress in 2011. If Roscosmos actually built all the things they've talked about publicly in the last 20 years, humans would be a multi-planet species and Elon Musk wouldn't have bothered to found SpaceX. Roscosmos talks a biiiig game, but rarely (almost never) has any money to back it up. The Russian oligarch habit of stealing all of the money, leaving none at all for the project, means nothing gets done. The Chinese bureaucracy only steals some of the money, so they've been actually building stuff.Ĭhina is going to learn the same lesson that NASA learned with ISS, that Russia pays for nothing. The Zarya module of the ISS was built by Russia-paid for by NASA. The Zvezda module was partially sponsored by Pizza Hut. It was launched with no backup and no insurance, so NASA built a substitute module in case it was destroyed on launch. The Rassvet module was so slapdash that Russia didn't even launch it.įortunately it wasn't necessary, but it was par for the course in the Russian space program. It flew on a Shuttle launch, and NASA noticed on the ground at the time that the paint was peeling off of it already. NASA funneled money to Russia to build other modules as well, officially for other purposes, but it was an open secret that NASA paid for ISS. Roscosmos talks a big game, and could build things if they weren't eternally broke. ![]() Maybe they'll build something nice with Chinese money.
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