2024-10-30 09:55:00
On Wednesday, China sent three astronauts – two men and a woman – to its space station, located in low Earth orbit. Their mission, <a href="https://time.news/china-sends-new-crew-to-tiangong-space-station/" title="China sends new crew to Tiangong space station“>Shenzhou-19, which will last more than six months, represents a new stage in China’s space program, one of whose goals is to set foot on the Moon by 2030, before the United States and its allies return there.
Officially, the Chinese spends the equivalent of $15 billion a year on its space programs. Unofficially, industry observers estimate that, taking into account military space programs in particular, China’s space spending would range between $20 billion and $25 billion. Much ahead of Europe, but still behind the United States.
This Wednesday, three astronauts – two men and a woman – blasted off from Jiuquan in northwest China to the Tiangong space station. Their mission, which will last just over six months, represents a new step in Beijing’s space strategy.
Testing bricks that mimic lunar soil
Although this is not the main objective of the Shenzhou-19 mission, during their time in space, the three Chinese astronauts will take the opportunity to test bricks made from materials that imitate lunar soil. This involves studying whether the planet’s soil can be used to create a base on site, without the need to bring all the materials from Earth, which would be time-consuming and expensive. China hopes to set foot on the Moon before 2030 and build a station there before 2035.
Aim for the Moon, annoy the United States
The interest of the two great powers in the Moon is explained above all by geopolitical reasons. China wants to demonstrate that it is capable of sending astronauts there and, at the same time, challenge his American rival. The United States instead perceives the Moon as an intermediate stop on the way to Mars. But NASA’s program has been postponed several times due to technical difficulties encountered by SpaceX’s Starship rocket, which is expected to make the trip.
If the United States remains clearly ahead from a technological point of view, the next human to set foot on the Moon could therefore speak Mandarinsays Stefan Barensky, editor-in-chief of the magazine Aerospace. « There is very little chance that the Chinese will not land on the Moon around 2030, or even earlier. Americans are trying to implement much more advanced technologies. But the Chinese, playing on technologies [moins ambitieuses technologiquement] that they gradually master have a much more reliable a priori calendar ».
First come, first served?
Whatever the first mission to complete, the exploitation of the Moon’s natural resources and the distribution of the territory will be particularly delicate issues. Water, which exists in a solid state on the planet, could be used by astronauts at a manned station to grow food or to produce fuel with the hydrogen and oxygen it contains. The planet is also home to iron and titanium, which could be used to make rocket parts, for example for repairs. The challenge is not so much to exploit these resources to bring them back to Earth, but rather to use them to avoid bringing certain objects or resources from Earth, since each trip is long to prepare and very expensive. Rockets have limited space: every gram or kilo saved is precious.
The installation of bases on the Moon also raises questions of territoriality. According to a 1967 UN agreement, no country can claim even partial ownership of it. But some countries are trying to reform or circumvent this principle: “The United States or Luxembourg believe that, of course, we cannot take the land, but that it is possible to reclaim what we extract,” underlines Stefan Barensky.
In this race, the lunar South Pole, with its water reserves and its constant sun (useful for producing solar energy), constitutes a strategic place to establish a base. The first to arrive will have more choices than the second.
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