In late May, China’s Space Agency reported that it plans to carry out its first manned landing on the Moon by 2030.
The announcement immediately drew comparisons to the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, as Beijing is currently the great geopolitical rival of the Americans, and they have also recently released news about their lunar space program.
In April, the space agencies of the United States (NASA) and Canada (CSA) announced the names of the four members of the Artemis II mission, which will fly around the Moon in November 2024. Artemis III, planned for 2025, should be the first human return to the lunar surface in more than 50 years, NASA said.
The United States is until today the only country that successfully carried out manned missions to the Moon: 12 American astronauts stepped on the lunar soil, between 1969 and 1972. The feat represented the victory of the American space program over the Soviet one.
Today, the growth of the Chinese space program, which has its own space station, Tiangong, worries the United States: last year, the Pentagon published a report warning that China could become “economically, diplomatically and militarily” the great power space in the world by 2045.
“While America’s space industrial base remains on an upward trajectory, market participants [do estudo] expressed concern that the upward trajectory of the People’s Republic of China […] be even faster, with a significant pace of overtaking, which requires urgent action”, highlighted the document.
“The United States lacks a clear and cohesive long-term vision, a grand strategy for space that will sustain economic, technological, environmental, social, and military leadership over the next 50 years and beyond,” the study authors wrote.
Goals
In an interview with People’s Gazettethe researcher on the history of space exploration Junior Miranda, from the Homem do Espaço channel, pointed out that the more political profile of the first American lunar program made it lose appeal after winning.
“The race to the Moon was eminently political. The American initiative to reach the Moon before the Soviets was patriotic, propagandistic, there is no doubt about that. It opened up a chance for the aerospace industry to grow as well, it was a billion dollar project, the industry benefited from it, it generated many jobs”, said Miranda.
“Once Apollo 11 landed, it was actually surprising that the program continued until Apollo 17, because once the Americans ‘won’, popular support dropped. If the public is not interested, the politicians also cease to be interested”, explained the researcher.
Miranda pointed out that while the US and Chinese plans for manned moon landings also have soft power objectives, the focus has shifted and is now primarily scientific and economic.
The specialist mentioned that proof of this is that the Chinese lunar program is more than 20 years old – therefore, it is not a pure reaction to Artemis, which has partnerships with the private sector (such as SpaceX, by Elon Musk, and Blue Origin, by Jeff Bezos).
“The Moon has mineral resources, resources that can help this lunar base [objetivo de China e EUA] serve as a springboard for other flights or the development of technologies in space for interplanetary flights. It is an interesting place to install observatories/radio telescopes. In addition, there is scientific research into the lunar environment itself, the exploitation of lunar resources: oxygen, silicon, iron, magnesium, aluminum, all of this in the long term. Solar power plants could be set up on the Moon, there are several projects”, highlighted Miranda.
American advantage
However, like Junior Miranda, professor of space and international relations Svetla Ben-Itzhak, from the Air University, pointed out in a recent article for The Diplomat website that she does not see a “space race” between the United States and China – mainly because the advantage Americana is still very big.
She highlighted that in 2021 the space budget of the United States was approximately US$ 59.8 billion and that of China, of US$ 16.18 billion. The Americans also have great superiority in the number of satellites in operation (3,433 against 541) and launch sites (seven operational in their territory and abroad and at least another 13 in development, against only four in operation and two more planned by China, all located on their own territory).
In 2020, the United States launched the Artemis Agreements with Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom; today, there are already 25 signatories, including Brazil.
Before the war in Ukraine, China and Russia, Beijing’s main geopolitical ally, announced the goal of jointly building a research base on the moon. After the beginning of the conflict in Eastern Europe, in February last year, the partnership with the Russians seems to have cooled down.
At a space event in Paris in September, Beijing invited other countries to collaborate on its lunar program and did not mention the base in partnership with Russia. At the end of May, the state-run Xinhua news agency also failed to name the Russians in its announcement about the Chinese plan to land a manned moon landing by 2030.
In addition, Ben-Itzhak highlighted that India, South Korea, Israel, Japan, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Germany and the European Union are also planning independent lunar missions. In other words: China is not the only American “competitor”.
“I don’t think it’s a surprise that, despite its decisive leadership, the US has partnered with other countries to go to the moon and beyond. China is doing the same, but on a smaller scale. [a Chang’e-6, pouso não tripulado na Lua planejado para 2025, terá colaboração da Suécia, França, Itália, Agência Espacial Europeia e Paquistão]. The image that emerges is not of a ‘race’, but of a complex system, with the United States as leaders working in close collaboration with extensive networks of partners”, argued the researcher.
#space #race #China #United #States #compete #Moon