Achi news desk-
The worsening competition between the world’s two most powerful countries which has spread across the world in recent years, has now extended beyond the earthly, to the kingdoms of heaven.
As China becomes deeply embroiled in strategic competition with the United States—verging toward outright antagonism with other regional neighbors—Washington’s alarm over the pace of its development in space grows steadily higher.
Beijing has made no secret of its ambitions and a series of recent successful space missions has shown that the government’s rhetoric is backed up by technological advances.
On Friday, China launched a robotic spacecraft on a round trip to the far side of the moon, in a technically difficult mission that will pave the way for China’s first crewed landing and base on the moon’s south pole. The goal of the Chang’e-6 is to permanently bring back samples from the side of the moon that faces away from Earth.
Earlier this week the Shenzhou-18, Beijing’s latest spacecraft mission to the Tiangong space station, was launched after China was banned from the International Space Station.
Along with the three taikonauts, there was a live fish that has been called the “fourth member of the crew”, among the crew. The zebra fish are part of an experiment to test the viability of a large closed ecosystem, which includes fish and algae, to help people live in space for long periods.
But the collection of lunar samples and the viability of zebrafish are not the only focus for China’s space sector.
The speed of China’s ambitions has raised concern from the government’s main rival, the United States, about Beijing’s geopolitical intentions amid what the head of NASA has called a new “space race”.
Last week the head of NASA, Bill Nelson, said that the United States and China were “effectively in a race” to return to the moon, and he feared that China wanted to venture into territorial claims.
“We believe that a lot of their so-called civilian space program is a military program,” he told US lawmakers.
There are concerns about China’s development of anti-space weapons, including missiles that can target satellites, and spacecraft that can take satellites out of orbit.
“At a geopolitical level, China’s space ambitions raise questions about how it might leverage its space capabilities to advance its regional and domestic political and military interests,” said Dr. Svetla Ben-Itzhak, deputy director of the Johns Hopkins University West Space Scholars Program.
Gen Stephen Whiting of the US Space Command told reporters last week that China’s developments were “a cause for concern”, noting that it had tripled the number of spy satellites in orbit over the past six years.
‘This is the wild, wild west’
The United States and China are indeed in a race, says Professor Kazuto Suzuki, of the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Tokyo, but this is not a cold war-like setting foot on the moon. Rather, it is about finding and managing resources, such as water.
“It’s a race for who has better technical abilities. China is catching up fast. The speed of Chinese technological development is the threatening element [to the US],” he said.
Suzuki says that international agreements do not allow for the appropriation of national resources on the moon, but in reality “it is the wild, wild west”.
“Generally China wants to be first so they have the right to dominate and monopolize the resources. If you have the resources in hand then you have a huge advantage in the future of space exploration.”
The United States and China are leading the development of separate space station programs for the moon. The US-led Artemis program includes plans for a “Moon Gateway”, a station orbiting the moon as a communications hub and accommodation for astronauts, and a scientific laboratory.
However, the Americans “are not so interested in owning the moon because they have been there”, said Suzuki.
“They know it’s not really a habitable place, they’re more interested in Mars. So for them the Lunar Gate is a kind of gas station for the trip to Mars.” If the Artemis program can find water from the moon, it could be processed to create rocket fuel from the hydrogen and oxygen.
In contrast, China and Russia in 2021 announced joint plans to build a shared research station on the lunar surface. The International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) would be open to any interested international parties they said. However, it is unlikely that the US would be among them given its poor relations with China and Russia.
Suzuki says the China-Russia station “is meant to serve as the research station in Antarctica”, which is within the rules of international space agreements. “But if it turns out to be a station to base their territorial claims on, then that’s against the rules.”
The United States is gathering allies to ensure that China does not win the space race. Earlier this month, shortly after China announced its intentions to land a man on the moon, US leader Joe Biden and his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, pledged to send an astronaut from Japan – China’s historic rival – to the moon on Nasa’s Artemis missions in 2028 and again in 2032.
But China is also gathering allies. It has partnerships or financial interests in projects across the Middle East and Latin America, and about a dozen international members for its ILRS.
But Ben-Itzhak points out that some memberships overlap. Also “neither has established prohibitory practices so far, which is promising”.
Ben-Itzhak says that the United States and China are indeed engaged in a race, but the term still does not fully capture “the complex, subtle dynamics that are unfolding in space right now, in terms of the number various and increasing number of actors and initiatives, and nothing clear. end goal in sight”.
“The real challenge in space is not just reaching a certain milestone, like planting flags or collecting rocks; it is about establishing a sustainable, resilient presence in an extremely challenging environment. This is a test against our own abilities.”
Additional research by Chi Hui Lin
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