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Russian space agency ready to continue talks on Deep Space Gateway lunar orbit project

Two options are on the table for the station’s accommodation

© Yuri Smityuk/TASS

MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/. Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos is ready to continue talks on its participation in the US Deep Space Gateway lunar orbit project, Roscosmos spokesperson Vladimir Ustimenko said on Wednesday.

"Russia is still ready to discuss all the issues under this project. What has to be done is to find a mutually satisfying format of the relations in this project. So far, it has not been found," the spokesperson said.

The plans to create a near-Moon station were unveiled in the spring of 2016. TASS reported at the time, citing the documents of Energia Space Rocket Corporation, that preliminary work was under way with the US Boeing Company on the issues of creating near-Moon infrastructure in support of the national space agencies’ future plans.

Two options of the lunar orbital station project were considered: an orbiter based on two small residential modules or one big module. Both concepts stipulate that four persons can work aboard the station. Expeditions are expected to last from 30 to 360 days. The flights to the station will be performed once a year.

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Russia to participate in project for creating Deep Space Gateway cislunar station

Two options are also on the table for the station’s accommodation: a highly elliptical orbit and a low orbit at an altitude of about 100 km above the Moon’s surface. The first option can be used for the launch of spacecraft into outer space and the second for expeditions to the surface of the Earth’s natural satellite.

It was earlier suggested that the lunar orbital outpost would be called Deep Space Gateway. Now the NASA documents mention it as the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway.

In late September 2017, Roscosmos and NASA signed a statement at the international astronautical congress in Adelaide (Australia), which reflected both parties’ intention to jointly work on the implementation of space exploration initiatives. Both sides stated their intention to plan work on creating the habitable outpost in the near-Moon space.

Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin earlier told TASS that Roscosmos was ready to participate in the Deep Space Gateway international lunar orbit project only on an equal footing with NASA.

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