NASA’s top administrator says the United States is in a new space race with China and has warned that a Chinese victory could result in the country claiming to “own” vast swaths of the moon.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, a former astronaut and Florida senator, has warned that China may well cordon off the most resource-rich areas of the lunar surface if it establishes a presence there first, Politico reported Sunday.
“It’s a fact: we are in a space race,” he told the outlet. “And it’s true that we’d better be careful that they don’t get to a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research. And it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that they say, ‘Stay away, we’re here.'” . , this is our territory.
Nelson went on to point to China’s aggression in the South China Sea, where the Chinese government has routinely claimed sovereignty over areas belonging to other countries.
NASA’S SPACE CAPSULE ROUNDS THE MOON
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft sits on Launch Pad 39B as final preparations for the Artemis I mission are made at the Kennedy Space Center on November 15, 2022.
(Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
China’s burgeoning space program managed to establish a new space station earlier this year. Meanwhile, NASA has been working on its Artemis series of missions to the moon.
AFTER AN ‘UNEXPECTED LOSS,’ NASA SAYS COMMUNICATIONS HAVE BEEN RESTORED TO THE ORION SPACECRAFT
Artemis I launched in November for a 26-day mission taking pictures of the lunar surface, and the Artemis II and III missions are moving toward more established activity on the moon.
However, NASA has also been targeting Mars, sending multiple robotic rovers to the planet to collect data on the planet’s soil, atmosphere and potential landing zones for a crewed mission.
On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, Orion’s Optical Navigation Camera captured black-and-white images of craters on the Moon.
(NASA Johnson)
In this photo provided by NASA, the Orion spacecraft of the Artemis I mission plunges into the Pacific Ocean after a 25.5-day mission to the Moon, Sunday, December 11, 2022.
(NASA via AP)
Artemis I returned to earth and launched into the Pacific Ocean in December.
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The Chinese investment in spaceflight and other rocket technology comes amid an ongoing arms race with the US and Russia, as all three countries are developing hypersonic weapons.
