‘We’re in a space race’: NASA sounds alarm over Chinese designs on the Moon | Void

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A senior NASA official has warned that the United States is locked in a space race with China and the country needs to “watch” that its rival does not gain a foothold and try to dominate lunar resources.

The assessment came from NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, a former astronaut and state senator from Florida, who went on to warn that China may eventually claim “own” the lunar resource-rich areas.

He added that the competition between the United States and China is intensifying and the next two years can determine which country will gain an advantage.

“It’s a fact: We’re in a space race,” Nelson told Politico. And it’s true that we’d better warn that they don’t get to a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that they would say, ‘Go away, we’re here, this is our territory.’

Nelson cited Chinese aggression on islands in the South China Sea, where Beijing has established military bases, as evidence of its territorial ambitions. “If you doubt it,” he said, “look at what they did to the Spratly Islands.”

Last year, China’s space program set up an Earth-orbiting space station and carried out several lunar orbit and sample recovery missions. The third phase of the program, to establish an independent lunar research station near the lunar south pole, is scheduled to begin in 2025.

In December, the Chinese government presented its vision for manned lunar landing, space transportation, infrastructure, and space management. China has also announced a goal of landing astronauts on the moon by the end of this decade.

Students listen to an introduction of the sample Chang’e 5 Moon-return spacecraft, at the InnoTech Expo in Hong Kong, China, last month. Photograph: Tyrone Sioux/Reuters

Meanwhile, NASA recently completed the 26-day Artemis I mission to take pictures of the lunar surface. Future missions are designed towards establishing more activity on the Moon. However, the United States is also focusing on Mars.

US military leaders have also sounded the alarm about China’s militarization of space and the attendant security concerns.

“It’s quite possible that they can catch up and overtake us,” Space Force Lieutenant General Nina Armagno said on a visit to Australia. “The progress they’ve made has been amazing – amazingly fast.”

But Beijing has rejected some US explanations for the motives behind China’s space endeavors. “Outer space is not a wrestling arena,” Liu Bingyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told Politico.

The spokesperson said that some US officials “spoke irresponsibly to misrepresent China’s normal and legitimate space endeavors.”

“China always advocates the peaceful use of outer space, opposes the weaponization and arms race in outer space, and actively works toward building a community with a shared future for mankind in the field of space,” the statement added.

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