Apparently Russia and China have been working towards a pact on space exploration. First they want to work on the Moon:
Russia and China may conclude a Moon exploration agreement by the end of the year, the RIA-Novosti quoted Anatoly Perminov, the head of the Russian Space Agency, as saying on Monday.
Followed by a round trip journey to Phobos! (one of Mars’ moons):
“One of the directions we are working in is a flight to Phobos, with Chinese participation, which will bring back some of its soil to Earth,â€? Perminov said. “We plan to reach the final stage [of our talks] by the end of 2006″
Is this in response to Bush’s program to visit the moon?
Where is Russia getting the money for this?  Aren’t they already having trouble paying for their part of the International Space Station?
Also, I wonder if they’ll be providing China with any US technology / research. As we’ve been working with them on ISS and other projects, I’m sure they have access to some or all of our research at NASA.
Anyways, it looks like the space race is on again. I guess this time it will be US vs Russia + China. Maybe the US will end up partnering with the EU to compete? The ESA has had more and more probes exploring space lately. For example last week they sent a mission to crash land into the moon for readings, etc
Link via Technocrat:
Russia, China May Sign Pact on Joint Moon Exploration – Official – NEWS – MOSNEWS.COM
technorati tags:moon, space, china, russia, usa, esa, united, states, phobos, exploration