The Administrator of the US Space Agency (NASA), Bill Nelson, warned that China is trying to control the most resource-rich site on the moon.
And he considered, in an interview with Politico newspaper, that the race over the moon between the United States and China has become more intense, noting that the next two years will determine who will gain control.
But Nelson, a former astronaut, expressed confidence that the United States could win the race to the moon.
He said, “It is a fact, we are in a space race, and we have to pay attention and better warn so that they do not reach a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research.”
The former senator also did not rule out that China would claim in the future that it had seized land on the moon and “ask to stay away from it,” citing a land example in the South China Sea, where the Chinese army built bases over disputed islands.
Nelson’s remarks came after NASA’s unmanned Orion capsule succeeded in returning to Earth last December 11, after completing its journey around the moon, concluding the first mission of the Artemis exploration program, 50 years after the last landing of the Apollo mission on the moon.
Orion launched on November 16 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on top of a NASA Space Launch System rocket, a second-generation high-altitude rocket. It is now the most powerful rocket in the world and the largest the agency has built since the Saturn V during the Apollo missions.
With the launch of the Orion flight, the Apollo missions’ successor, the Artemis Program, aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface this decade and establish a sustainable base there as a springboard for future Mars exploration.
On the other hand, China announced, during its recent opening of a new space station, a goal of landing astronauts on the surface of the moon by the end of the current decade.
Last December, the Chinese government laid out its vision for more ambitious endeavors such as building infrastructure in space and establishing a space management system.
Nelson considered that any major delays or mishaps in the US program, which relies on a series of new systems and equipment still under development, could risk lagging behind the Chinese.
Nelson’s comments also come on the heels of Congress’ approval of a year-long budget for NASA, in which the agency did not get all the funding it requested.
Over the past few years, Beijing has launched a series of lunar sample-collecting landers, including for the first time ever on the far side of the moon, as well as an orbiter, lander, and Mars rover.
The US military has also expressed growing concerns about Beijing’s development of space systems that could threaten US satellites.
Experts have warned that Beijing may be able to catch up and overtake the United States, and even the Pentagon’s latest report to Congress highlighted a series of recent jumps in the Chinese space program.
But Nelson expressed confidence that the United States’ efforts to return to the moon are on schedule, pointing to congressional funding for the Artemis program.
Congress this week approved $24.5 billion for NASA in fiscal year 2023, about half a billion dollars less than President Joe Biden requested, but the amount still represents an increase of more than five percent from this year.
After Nelson announced on November 11 that the date for the resumption of manned flights to land on the moon as part of the American Artemis program was postponed from 2024 to 2025, he indicated in the interview with Politico that the agency is working to speed up the mission. And sending a human crew to the moon in late 2024.