It is not just rocket fuel propelling the US’ first moonshot after a half-century lull. Rivalry with China’s flourishing space program is helping drive NASA’s effort to get back into space in a bigger way as both nations push to put people back on the moon and establish the first lunar bases.
US intelligence, military and political leaders make clear that they see a host of strategic challenges to the US in China’s space program, in an echo of the US-Soviet rivalry that prompted the 1960s’ race to the moon.
That is as China is quickly matching US civil and military space accomplishments, and notching new ones of its own.
Photo: AP
On the military side, the US and China trade accusations of weaponizing space.
Senior US defense officials warn that China and Russia are building capabilities to take out the satellite systems that underpin US intelligence, military communications and early warning networks.
There is also a civilian side to the space race.
Photo: AP
The US is wary of China taking the lead in space exploration and commercial exploitation, and pioneering the technological and scientific advances that would put China ahead in power in space and in prestige on Earth.
“In a decade, the United States has gone from the unquestioned leader in space to merely one of two peers in a competition,” US Senator Jim Inhofe said this week at a US Senate Armed Services hearing. “Everything our military does relies on space.”
At another hearing last year, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson brandished an image transmitted by a Chinese rover that had just plunked down on Mars.
“The Chinese government ... they’re going to be landing humans on the moon” soon, Nelson said. “That should tell us something about our need to get off our duff.”
NASA is awaiting a new launch date this month or next month for its Artemis I uncrewed test moonshot. Technical problems scrubbed the first two launch attempts in the past few weeks.
China likewise aims to send astronauts to the moon this decade, as well as establish a robotic research station there.
The US and China intend to establish bases for intermittent crews on the moon’s south pole after that.
Russia has aligned with China’s moon program, while 21 nations have joined a US-initiated effort meant to bring guidelines and order to the civil exploration and development of space.
The parallel efforts come 50 years after US astronauts last pulled shut the doors on an Apollo module and blasted away from the moon, in December 1972.
Some space policy experts bat down talk of a new space race, seeing big differences from then-US president John F. Kennedy’s Cold War drive to outdo the Soviet Union’s Sputnik and be the first to get people on the moon.
This time, the US and China see moon programs as a stepping stone in phased programs toward exploring, settling and potentially exploiting the resources, and other untapped economic and strategic opportunities offered by the moon, Mars and space at large.
Beyond the gains in technology, science and jobs that accompany space programs, Artemis promoters point to the potential of mining minerals and frozen water on the moon, or using the moon as a base to go prospecting on asteroids.
The administration of former US president Donald Trump in particular emphasized the mining prospects.
There is potential in tourism and other commercial efforts.
And for space more broadly, Americans alone have tens of thousands of satellites overhead in what the US Space Force says is a US$500 billion global space economy.
Satellites guide GPS, process credit card purchases, help keep TV, radio and cellphone feeds going, and predict weather. They ensure the military and intelligence community’s ability to keep track of perceived threats.
In a world where China and Russia are collaborating to try to surpass the US in space, and where some point to private space efforts led by US billionaires as rendering costly NASA rocket launches unnecessary, Washington would regret leaving the glory and strategic advantages from developing the moon and space solely to the likes of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Tesla magnate Elon Musk, Artemis proponents say.
The moon programs signal that “space is going to be an arena of competition on the prestige front, demonstrating advanced technical expertise and know-how, and then also on the military front as well,” said Aaron Bateman, a professor of history and international affairs at George Washington University and a member of the Space Policy Institute.
“People who are supportive of Artemis and people who see it as a tool of competition, they want the United States to be at the table in shaping the future of exploration on other celestial bodies,” Bateman said.
China on Sunday hit back at the US for expanding military access in the Philippines, saying that Washington was trying to “encircle and contain” Beijing, and is “driving a wedge” between the two Asian nations. The Chinese embassy said the US was moving to “secure its hegemony and selfish geopolitical interests.” Involving the Philippines “will seriously harm” the nation’s interest and endanger regional peace and stability, the embassy said in a statement responding to a recent interview with the US ambassador in Manila. The Philippines last month gave the US access to four more military bases under the countries’ Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement,
Less than two months ago, the first music video by South Korean girl quartet MAVE: went viral, racking up nearly 20 million views on YouTube and setting the stage for potential global success. At first glance, MAVE: looks like any other idolized K-pop band — except it only exists virtually. Its four members — Siu, Zena, Tyra and Marty — live in the metaverse, their songs, dances, interviews and even their hairstyles created by Web designers and artificial intelligence. “When I first saw MAVE:, it was a little confusing to tell whether they were humans or virtual characters,” said Han Su-min, a 19-year-old
Philippine vlogger Rosanel Demasudlay holds a heart-shaped “virginity soap” bar in front of the camera and assures her hundreds of YouTube followers that it can be safely used to “tighten” their vaginas. The video is part of a barrage of bogus and harmful medical posts on social media platforms where Filipinos rank among the world’s heaviest users. Even before COVID-19 pandemic restrictions confined people to their homes and left them fearful of seeing a doctor, many in the Philippines sought remedies online because they were cheaper and easier to access. During the pandemic, the Agence France-Presse’s (AFP) Fact Check team saw an explosion
‘JAW-DROPPING MOMENT’: Michelle Yeoh in her Oscars speech dedicated her award to her mother and said ‘all the moms in the world’ were the real superheroes Michelle Yeoh’s mother cried for joy for her “little princess” when the Malaysian performer became the first Asian to win the best actress Oscar. Yeoh’s family and two Malaysian Cabinet ministers were among the supporters roaring with joy at Yeoh’s win during a special Academy Awards viewing party in Malaysia on Monday morning. Her trophy for her performance as a laundromat owner was one of seven Oscars for Everything Everywhere All at Once, including best picture. Janet Yeoh, 84, praised the actor as intelligent and hardworking, and a filial daughter. “I so love my daughter and she has made Malaysia proud,” Janet Yeoh
RSS