RIO DE JANEIRO (Sputnik) — Russia's Roscosmos state corporation expects to sign an agreement with Europe on exploration of the Moon with the use of robotic systems in 2017, the deputy director general for international cooperation of Roscosmos told Sputnik.
"Together with the cooperation within the framework of the ExoMars project, we are actively engaged in a dialogue with our European partners on a joint Russian-European exploration of the Moon with the use of the robotic systems. At the moment the preparations of the relevant bilateral agreement is coming to an end. It is expected that we will sign it in 2017," Sergey Savelyev said.
He added that the Roscosmos had also agreed a program of joint scientific research and experiments at the International Space Station (ISS) for a period by 2020 with its partners from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA).
On Thursday, ESA Director General Johann-Dietrich Woerner said that the current cooperation between the European agency and Roscosmos was "very fruitful operation, and trustful" adding that ESA was ready to expand it, including in the Moon-related activities.
