"SINGAPORE -- Across China and in the global scientific community, Friday's launch of a Chinese mission to collect samples from the moon's far side has been hailed for its potential for a scientific breakthrough.
But in the U.S., lawmakers and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration see it as a milestone in a rival's (China's and Russia's) campaign to build a base on the moon's most strategic location. Though lacking the specter of nuclear war from the U.S.-Soviet space race six decades ago, this new rivalry puts this century's superpowers on track to spar over lunar real estate, extraterrestrial weaponry and national pride.
The lunar territory that both countries covet is the south pole. It contains resources that could sustain a crewed base. It has ice, which can be turned into water and oxygen for humans, and into hydrogen for rocket fuel. Some south-pole regions enjoy round-the-clock sunlight, a potential source of solar power.
"My concern is if China and Russia got there first and suddenly said, 'OK, this is our territory. You stay out,'" NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told a congressional hearing last month. Nelson said China's aggressive territorial claims in the South China Sea offer a clue as to how Beijing and Moscow would handle a potential lunar dispute.
A crater near the south pole is the destination of China's 53-day mission. It aims to do something no country has done before: collect samples from the moon's far side and bring them to Earth. Scientists hope they can help answer longstanding questions about the origins of the moon, Earth and solar system.
China started its lunar-exploration program in 2004, and has steadily hit milestones. In 2019, Chang'e 4 achieved humanity's first soft landing on the moon's far side. A year later, Chang'e 5 collected soil samples from the near side.
The current Chang'e 6 mission essentially combines the previous two missions.
The challenge is location. The moon rotates in such a way that the same side always faces Earth. Maintaining communications with a spacecraft on the far side requires China to set up a relay satellite that orbits the moon.
The mission will determine whether China and Russia can hit its goal of putting astronauts on the moon by the end of this decade. Sample-return missions follow the "exact same steps that any human mission to the moon will go through," said James Head III, a Brown University professor who worked on NASA's Apollo program and collaborated with Chinese scientists on studying Chang'e 6 landing zone.
China's goal is to build a permanent base on the moon's south pole in collaboration with Russia by 2035.
NASA hopes to have a permanent presence before then. A plan for its Artemis program, published in 2020, was to establish base camp on the south pole after American astronauts returned to the moon's surface. But a crewed mission to the lunar surface, originally scheduled for 2025, has been delayed to at least September 2026 because of challenges with the spacecraft's heat shield, among other issues.
NASA envisions using the moon as a steppingstone for crewed missions to Mars, using the moon's surface for practice and perhaps lunar ice for fuel.
Besides worrying that China could try to block other nations from accessing the south pole, Nelson said that China's space program, despite a stated civilian mission, appeared to harbor military aims.
A moon base could help a government disable enemy satellites, for example, said Goswami, the professor.
NASA and Chinese officials didn't respond to requests for comment for this article.
China's Foreign Ministry has previously said that China opposes the weaponization of space, while accusing the U.S. of threatening its peaceful use." [1]
1. World News: China Blasts Off to Far Side. Woo, Stu; Leong, Clarence. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 04 May 2024: A.8.
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