Russia is preparing a national concept for Moon exploration by March 2019, according to the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin. This news comes after the U.S. national space agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), put forward its Lunar Gateway project which will see the agency construct a gateway to act as a "single stepping off point in architecture for human cislunar operations, lunar surface operations and missions to Mars."