Representatives of the world’s space agencies are meeting this week in Milan, with geopolitical rivalry fueling a new global race to orbit the Earth and the moon, Reuters reported, citing BTA.
The forum, which begins today, October 14, and runs through October 18, will also see a strong presence from the private sector, trying to keep up with Elon Musk’s dominant SpaceX company.
The International Astronautical Congress has been held since 1950 and is a venue for scientists, engineers, companies and political leaders from space nations to discuss cooperation, even in times of heightened tensions between world powers.
This year’s forum will bring the space minds of two leading rivals, the US and China, under one roof. Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, a force now isolated from the West after Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022, will have no official presence, underscoring the latest divisions in space cooperation, Reuters noted.
Almost all of the 77 member countries of the International Federation of Astronautics (IFAA), the non-profit organization that makes the forum, join the debates. Participants are expected to touch heavily on the topic of lunar exploration, the growing coalition of nations around NASA within its Artemis lunar program, and Europe’s urgent need for more sovereign space access.
MFA President Clay Mowry said a record 7,197 technical abstracts were submitted for this congress, and 37 percent of the papers will be given by students and young professionals.
“This is the most exciting time in space since the Apollo period in the 1960s,” he told Reuters.
NASA chief Bill Nelson is expected to rally support for the agency’s strategy to use private companies to replace the aging International Space Station after 2030, when it is scheduled to be decommissioned. For more than two decades, the orbiting science laboratory has been a symbol of space diplomacy, led primarily by the US and Russia, despite conflicts on Earth.
NASA, which is investing billions of dollars in its flagship Artemis lunar program, is seeking to maintain a presence in low Earth orbit to compete with China’s Tiangong space station, which has been hosting Chinese astronauts for three years.
The U.S. and China have also been racing to land humans on the moon this decade since the last U.S. Apollo mission in 1972. The two space powers are aggressively courting partner countries and rely heavily on private companies for their lunar programs, thus shaping space goals of smaller agencies.
The MFA forum comes as Italy’s parliament begins approving the country’s first legislative framework for the country’s space industry, establishing rules and responsibilities for private investment in the sector, Reuters notes.
Italy, which is among the biggest contributors to the European Space Agency, recently pledged 7.3 billion euros ($7.98 billion) by 2026 for both national and European projects.
The rise of space technology, private competition, fueled mainly by SpaceX, and geopolitical tensions have forced Europe to redraw its priorities for both launch vehicles and satellites, Reuters notes.
Musk’s SpaceX and the Falcon 9 rocket rely largely on the Western world for access to space, prompting countries including the United States to encourage new space companies that can offer more affordable rockets. And SpaceX’s growing Starlink Internet network has made the company the world’s largest satellite operator.