Nasa Sounds Alarm At Chinese Designs On Moon | Nasa Moon Mission | Tech News

Nasa sounds alarm at Chinese designs on moon

According to , China and the United States are engaged in a new space race. He warned that if China prevails, it may claim ownership of territory on the moon.

Former astronaut and Florida senator Bill Nelson, the administrator of NASA, Said that if China first establishes a foothold on the moon, they may cordon off the most resource-rich portions of the lunar surface.

“It is a fact: we are in a space race,”Said Bill Nelson.
He further stated that the US should watch out that Beijing does not get to a place on the moon under the premise of conducting a scientific study, and it is not beyond the horizon of possibilities that they say, “Keep out, we are here, this is our land.”
The contest between the US and China, he added, was intensifying and the next two years could determine which country achieves an advantage.
Nelson cited Chinese aggression over islands in the South China Sea, where Beijing has established military bases, as evidence of its territorial ambition. “If you doubt that, look at what they did with the Spratly Islands,” said Bill Nelson.

Last year, China’s space program put up an Earth-orbiting space station and has mounted several lunar orbiting and sample-retrieving missions. A third phase of the program, to establish an autonomous lunar research station near the Moon’s south pole, is scheduled for 2025.
NASA completed its Artemis 1 mission in November, which involved flying an unmanned Orion spacecraft around the Moon. The mission preceded Artemis 3, which aims to land astronauts on the lunar surface by 2025.

China recently completed its new space station, Tiangong, and in November, launched a crew of taikonauts towards the station. Beijing plans to launch three missions to the moon over the next decade as part of its Chang'e lunar program, after saying it had discovered a new lunar mineral that could be used as an energy source.

Nelson told Politico that China has enjoyed "enormous success and advances" in its space program over the last decade.
High-ranking US officials have repeatedly cautioned in recent years that China’s Space capabilities are developing rapidly, posing significant challenges to American supremacy in outer space.

In November 2022, the US Space Force’s director of staff, Nina Armagno, stated that Beijing had made substantial strides in developing military space technology, particularly in fields like satellite communications and reusable spacecraft, which enable nations to build up their space programs quickly.

A Pentagon report also highlighted recent advancements in the Chinese space program. It noted China’s innovative capacity to land on the far side of the moon and establish a communications relay using a satellite between the Earth and the moon.
The report discovered that China is improving at producing space launch systems to enable more human space exploration. The communist government in China, however, insists that these concerns regarding its motives are baseless.

Chinese Embassy in Washington spokesperson Liu Pengyu said in a statement that certain American officials had talked carelessly to disparage China’s routine and legitimate space endeavors. “China firmly rejects such remarks,” he added.

Exploration and peaceful applications of outer space are a shared human endeavor that should benefit all, Pengyu noted.

He said that China consistently promotes the peaceful use of space, opposes the militarization and space weapons race, and actively seeks to establish a space community with a shared future for humanity.

Nevertheless, Nelson expressed assurance that the American mission to return to the moon first is proceeding according to plan, pointing out that the Artemis program has congressional funding. Congress authorized $24.5 billion for NASA in fiscal 2023, approximately half of what President Joe Biden sought.