Report: Russia, Japan eye bases on the Moon

Some 43 years after a man first landed on the Moon, Russia and Japan are planning to build permanent bases there, a science site reported this week. Nature.com reported the plans were disclosed at a meeting of representatives of space agencies for Europe, Canada, Russia, India and Japan in Washington D.C. The occasion was a May 22 gathering on the benefits of international collaboration at the Global Space Exploration Conference, it said in a blog post. Vladimir Popovkin, head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, said Russia will pursue extensive, long-lived operations at the Moon’s surface. “We’re not talking about repeating what mankind achieved 40 years ago. We’re talking about establishing permanent bases,” he said through a translator, Nature.com said. JAXA, the Japanese Space Agency, similarly issued a clear pronouncement about targeting the Moon. “We are looking at the Moon as our next target for human exploration,” said Yuichi Yamaura, an associate executive director at JAXA. Ironically, the head of the US National Aeronautics Space Administration was not present at the gathering. At the time, Nature.com said NASA administrator Charles Bolden was in Florida, watching the attempt by SpaceX to send a Dragon capsule to the International Space Station. "But perhaps it was somewhat appropriate for NASA to be absent. Increasingly, the agency has had a hard time consummating its joint ventures, and Europe in particular has had to turn elsewhere for partners," Nature.com said. It also noted NASA has also shifted its exploration goals relative to other nations. NASA now intends to pursue manned missions to asteroids, though representatives of many other space agencies are still aiming for the Moon. Also absent from the gathering was China, although many countries appear willing to collaborate with China. “We’re all for it... We have to talk to China,” said Popovkin. Steve MacLean, the president of the Canadian Space Agency, described how impressed he was by China’s space operations after a recent visit. MacLean added it would be “prudent” to explore more collaboration. — LBG, GMA News