Space Race Update

[Jacob]

China and Russia agree to build nuclear power plant on the moon.

Russia has signed a deal with China to build a nuclear power plant on the moon.

The Russian reactor will be used to power the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), jointly led by China and Russia, and should be completed by 2036, according to a memorandum of cooperation signed by the two nations.

The announcement comes just after NASA revealed a 2026 budget proposal that would axe the agency's plans for an orbital lunar base.

The construction of the Chinese-Russian reactor will likely be carried out autonomously "without the presence of humans," according to a 2024 interview with Yury Borisov, director general of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, on the Russian state-owned news site TASS. While details of how this can be achieved remain unclear, Borisov added that the technological steps are "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.

The new research station, a permanent, manned lunar base located on the moon's south pole, has so far attracted 17 countries to join the program — including Egypt, Pakistan, Venezuela, Thailand and South Africa. Its groundwork will be laid by China's 2028 Chang'e-8 mission, which will be the nation's first time landing an astronaut on the lunar surface.

Full story here: https://www.livescience.com/space/the-moon/china-signs-deal-with-russia-to-build-a-power-plant-on-the-moon-potentially-leaving-the-us-in-the-dust

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

So it's gonna be Moon Commies, not Moon Nazis.

[Jacob]

Well... more like space-vaguely-socialist-flavoured-totalitarian-states-with-presidents-for-life than outright Space Communists, I'd say.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

Technically correct, but Space Commies is catchier.

[Jacob]

Technically correct, but Space Commies is catchier.

Definitely catchier. Though Russia is closer to Space Nazis in terms of actual substance IMO, though Space Commies fits better with their established brand. China still self-identifies as Communists, so Space Commies is probably more apt for them.

It's a veritable Space Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact!

[Josquius]

Big gamble that there will be a Russia in 2036.

[Syt]

Come on, someone had to.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

Come on, someone had to.

I forgot about that cutscene. 

[The Brain]

No Koreans on Moon?

[Darth Wagtaros]

A Russian nukuler reactor.  I see good things coming of that.

[Grey Fox]

I wonder what a melting core sinking into the moon would do to it.  We'll find out, I guess.

[viper37]

Come on, someone had to.

A classic!

[HVC]

I wonder what a melting core sinking into the moon would do to it.  We'll find out, I guess.

Probably look really cool on a full moon.

[Bauer]

You would think it would be much more practical to build a solar farm up there.

[The Brain]

You would think it would be much more practical to build a solar farm up there.

They probably need power at night.