International Lunar Research Station (ILRS)

CNSA (China) + Roscosmos (Russia), with ILRSCO partners · Program · 2021In development

In development: 13 national members as of July 2026; Chang'e-7 precursor targeted for launch in H2 2026; basic station targeted 2035 at the lunar south pole.

The International Lunar Research Station is the China-led, Russia-partnered counterpart to the Artemis effort: a phased program to build a robotic, and eventually crew-capable, research base at the lunar south pole, with a basic version targeted for 2035. Two things English coverage often gets wrong up front: nothing is being built on the Moon yet (the program is in its precursor phase, with Chang'e-7 launching in late 2026), and membership is not an either/or with the Artemis Accords. Three of its 13 member countries (Thailand, Senegal, Serbia) have signed both.

Facts as of July 20, 2026, from the sources listed below.

13nations

member countries as of July 2026, China and Russia included

2035

target year for the basic station at the lunar south pole

5,000

researchers China aims to recruit, alongside 50 countries and 500 institutions

2033-2035

discussed delivery window for the Russian lunar nuclear reactor

Targets are the operator's current plan (as of July 20, 2026) and can change.

The lunar south pole, target region for the ILRS basic station (LROC WAC mosaic). Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.

In development. Completed milestones on this page are historical record; future dates are targets from official announcements, tagged with when they were made, and can change.

Commonly wrong. Three recurring errors in English coverage. First, CNSA's headline figure of "17 countries and international organizations" is routinely reported as 17 countries; independent trackers (Secure World Foundation, SpacePolicyOnline) count 13 countries, with the rest being organizations such as APSCO and ILOA. Second, the two lunar blocs are often described as mutually exclusive, but Thailand, Senegal and Serbia belong to both ILRS and the Artemis Accords as of July 2026. Third, aggregator sites still claim the UAE joined ILRS in 2023; the UAE is not on any tracked national-member list (it is an Artemis Accords signatory whose earlier plan to fly the Rashid 2 rover on Chang'e-7 fell through under US export rules). Bonus staleness: Chang'e-8 is still widely dated 2028, while Chinese officials and April 2026 reporting now say around 2029, and the program end date is given as both 2045 (expanded station) and 2050 (lunar network) in different official statements.

01Mission facts

China-Russia MOU signed	March 9, 2021
Roadmap and Guide for Partnership unveiled	June 16, 2021, GLEX conference, St. Petersburg
Coordinating body	ILRSCO, announced April 25, 2023; HQ planned in Deep Space Science City, Hefei
National members (as of July 17, 2026)	13: China, Russia, Venezuela, South Africa, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Belarus, Egypt, Thailand, Nicaragua, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Senegal
Member accession dates (roster table)	Venezuela 2023-07-17 through Senegal 2024-09-05
CNSA aggregate count (April 24, 2025)	17 countries and international organizations; 50+ research institutions
Newest national member	Senegal, September 5, 2024
Recruitment goal (announced April 2024)	50 countries, 500 institutions, 5,000 overseas researchers
Basic station target	2035, lunar south pole region
Extended-phase target (two official framings)	Expanded station by 2045 (April 2025); Moon-wide network by 2050 (September 2024)
Chang'e-7 precursor	Launch targeted second half of 2026 (as of May 23, 2026); at Wenchang since April 2026; south pole water-ice hunt with orbiter, lander, rover, hopper
Chang'e-8 precursor	Targeted around 2029; ISRU tests including regolith brick-making; 30 kg Pakistani SUPARCO rover
Lunar nuclear power plant	China-Russia MOU May 2025; reactor delivery discussed 2033-2035; Roscosmos-Lavochkin contract December 2025, plant stated for 2036
Russian segment concept approved	Russian Academy of Sciences approval announced April 1, 2026
Counterpart bloc	Artemis Accords: 70 signatories as of July 17, 2026 (Mauritius 70th)
Members of both blocs	Thailand, Senegal (July 24, 2025) and Serbia (July 16, 2026)

02Mission timeline

9 Mar 2021
China and Russia sign the ILRS memorandum of understanding
16 Jun 2021
Joint roadmap and Guide for Partnership presented at GLEX 2021, St. Petersburg
25 Apr 2023
ILRSCO coordinating organization announced at Hefei deep-space conference; APSCO signs joint statement
17 Jul 2023
Venezuela becomes the first national member beyond the founders; five more countries join through Dec 2023
24 Apr 2024
Wu Weiren unveils the 50 countries / 500 institutions / 5,000 researchers goal at China Space Day
Jun 2024
Putin signs the law ratifying the Russia-China ILRS cooperation agreement
5 Sep 2024
Senegal joins as the 13th national member (still the newest as of Jul 2026)
24 Apr 2025
CNSA: 17 countries and international organizations, 50+ institutions signed on
May 2025
CNSA and Roscosmos sign memorandum on a lunar nuclear power station during Xi's Moscow visit
24 Jul 2025
ILRS member Senegal signs the Artemis Accords (56th signatory), second country in both blocs
Dec 2025
Roscosmos signs state contract with NPO Lavochkin for the lunar power plant, stated for completion by 2036
1 Apr 2026
Russian Academy of Sciences approves the concept for Russia's ILRS segment, per Roscosmos chief Bakanov
May 2026
Omani firm Oman Lens signs ILRS partnership with DSEL; Serbia signs Artemis Accords 16 Jul 2026 while remaining an ILRS member
H2 2026
Targeted: Chang'e-7 launch to the lunar south pole (as of May 2026; reports point to August)
Around 2029
Targeted: Chang'e-8 in-situ resource utilization demo (as of Apr 2026)
2031 to 2035
Planned: five ILRS construction missions; basic station complete by 2035
2045 / 2050
Planned: expanded station by 2045 per Apr 2025 statements; Moon-wide network by 2050 per Sep 2024 statements

Teal dots: events that physically happened in flight or on the Moon. Grey: announcements, namings, contracts, and targets.

03The mission

The ILRS began as a bilateral project. China and Russia signed a memorandum of understanding on jointly building the station on March 9, 2021, and unveiled a shared roadmap and a Guide for Partnership at the GLEX conference in St. Petersburg on June 16, 2021. In practice the program has become China-led: day-to-day development sits with China's Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL) in Hefei, and on April 25, 2023 Wu Weiren announced a coordinating body, the International Lunar Research Station Cooperation Organization (ILRSCO), with its permanent headquarters planned for Hefei's Deep Space Science City.

The membership roster, as of July 18, 2026, stands at 13 countries: China and Russia (2021 founders), then Venezuela (July 17, 2023), South Africa (September 1, 2023), Azerbaijan (October 3, 2023), Pakistan (October 20, 2023), Belarus (October 23, 2023), Egypt (December 7, 2023), Thailand (April 5, 2024), Nicaragua (April 24, 2024), Serbia (May 9, 2024), Kazakhstan (July 5, 2024) and Senegal (September 5, 2024). No new national member has been publicly reported since Senegal. Organizational partners include the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (joint statement April 25, 2023), the Hawaii-based International Lunar Observatory Association and Swiss firm nanoSPACE (both July 2023), with Omani company Oman Lens signing a partnership with DSEL in May 2026. CNSA's own aggregate count, announced April 24, 2025, is 17 countries and international organizations plus more than 50 research institutions; only 13 of those are countries. China's stated recruitment goal, unveiled by Wu Weiren in April 2024, is 50 countries, 500 international institutions and 5,000 overseas researchers.

The roadmap runs through the Chang'e program. Chang'e-4 (first far-side landing, January 3, 2019) and the Chang'e-5 and Chang'e-6 sample returns served as reconnaissance and technology proof. Chang'e-7, delivered to Wenchang spaceport in April 2026 and officially targeted for launch in the second half of 2026 (reporting points to August), carries an orbiter, lander, rover and a hopping probe to hunt for water ice near the south pole, with candidate sites around Shackleton crater and 18 science payloads including contributions tied to Egypt, Bahrain, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Thailand and the ILOA. Chang'e-8, targeted around 2029, will test in-situ resource utilization such as brick-making from regolith, and carries a 30 kg Pakistani rover. China separately targets a crewed lunar landing before 2030. Five heavier ILRS construction missions are then planned for 2031-2035, completing the basic station by 2035. The end state has been stated two ways by officials: an expanded station by 2045 (April 2025 framing) or a Moon-spanning network linking the south pole, equator and far side by 2050 (September 2024 framing).

Russia's contribution is real on paper and increasingly nuclear-flavored, but its delivery record invites honest caution after the Luna-25 crash of August 2023. Putin signed the law ratifying the ILRS cooperation agreement in June 2024. In May 2025, during Xi Jinping's Moscow visit, Roscosmos and CNSA signed a memorandum on building a lunar nuclear power station, with reactor delivery discussed for 2033-2035. In December 2025 Roscosmos signed a state contract with NPO Lavochkin (working with Rosatom and the Kurchatov Institute) to develop the plant, stated for completion by 2036, and on April 1, 2026 Roscosmos chief Dmitry Bakanov said the Russian Academy of Sciences had approved the concept for Russia's segment of the station.

The geopolitical scoreboard is lopsided in headcount but not in hardware. The US-led Artemis Accords reached 70 signatories on July 17, 2026 (Mauritius), against 13 ILRS member countries. The comparison is imperfect: the Accords are a set of non-binding principles, while ILRS membership signs a country up to a specific China-led infrastructure program. The blocs also overlap: Thailand joined the Accords in December 2024, Senegal became the 56th signatory on July 24, 2025, and Serbia signed on July 16, 2026, all three while remaining ILRS members.

04In pictures

Shackleton crater, near Chang'e-7's candidate landing sites, with its shadowed interior imaged by ShadowCam (NASA article, September 19, 2023). Credit: Mosaic created by LROC (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) and ShadowCam teams with images provided by NASA/KARI/ASU.

Chang'e-6, the ILRS-precursor far-side sample return, seen by LRO (June 2024). Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.

The two lunar blocs as of early 2026 (map predates the July 2026 Artemis Accords signings). Credit: Yacine Boussoufa, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Tap a photo to enlarge.

05Sources

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