In March, Roscosmos chief hinted at using nuclear energy to power the station, suggesting future lunar settlements
\nMOSCOW
\nRussia has started developing a nuclear power plant for its planned joint lunar station with China, the RIA news agency cited Yuri Borisov, the head of Russia\u2019s space agency Roscosmos, as saying on Wednesday.
\nIn March, Borisov said Moscow was considering the idea of powering the station using nuclear energy. Something he said could one day allow lunar settlements to be built.
\nBorisov, a former deputy defence minister, said that Russia and China had been jointly working on a lunar programme and that Moscow was able to contribute with its expertise on \u201cnuclear space energy\u201d.
\nBorisov spoke at the time also of Russian plans to build a nuclear-powered cargo spaceship. He said all the technical questions concerning the project had been solved apart from finding a solution on how to cool the nuclear reactor.
\n\u201cWe are indeed working on a space tugboat. This huge, cyclopean structure that would be able, thanks to a nuclear reactor and a high-power turbines…to transport large cargoes from one orbit to another, collect space debris and engage in many other applications,\u201d Borisov said.
\nRussian officials have spoken before of ambitious plans to one day mine on the Moon, but the Russian space programme has suffered a series of setbacks in recent years.
\nIts first moon mission in 47 years failed last year after Russia\u2019s Luna-25 spacecraft spun out of control and crashed.
\nMoscow has said it will launch further lunar missions and then explore the possibility of a joint Russian-China crewed mission and even a lunar base.
\nChina said in February it aimed to put the first Chinese astronaut on the moon before 2030.
\nRussian President Vladimir Putin in February dismissed a warning by the United States that Moscow planned to put nuclear weapons in space as false, saying it was a ploy to draw Russia into arms negotiations on the West\u2019s terms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In March, Roscosmos chief hinted at using nuclear energy to power the station, suggesting future lunar settlements MOSCOW Russia has started developing a nuclear power plant for its planned joint lunar station with China, the RIA news agency cited Yuri Borisov, the head of Russia\u2019s space agency Roscosmos, as saying on Wednesday. In March, Borisov […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405703,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-405689","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n