The rivalry between China and the United States isn’t confined to Earth alone. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson asserts that the United States is “in a space race with China” and wants its astronauts to return to the Moon ahead of anyone else, to ensure that no foreign state gains control over the water and other resources of Earth’s satellite.
In a press conference held by NASA this Tuesday to update journalists on the progress of the Artemis II mission, Nelson discussed plans to establish a long-term lunar base with the same “for all of humanity” spirit that characterized the Apollo missions in the past, allowing astronauts to explore the Solar System.
One of the main goals is to land at the Moon’s south pole, where scientists suspect water and ice resources exist, crucial for human survival. “I don’t want China getting there before we do, with humans, and telling us, ‘this is ours, stay away,'” Nelson stated.
“If we indeed find abundant water there that can be used by future crews and spacecraft, we want to make sure that it’s available to everybody, not just the one that claims it.”
Russia’s intentions appear to be heading in a similar direction. The other major adversary of the U.S. is planning to launch the Luna-25 on Friday, a robotic lander designed to probe the lunar regolith and exospheric plasma at the lunar polar region.
However, Nelson stated that Russia was a lesser threat, as the United States has been collaborating with Roscosmos (the Russian space agency) for decades, and the Kremlin likely won’t be able to send cosmonauts to the Moon for some time (currently being quite occupied with invading a neighboring country).
NASA’s Artemis II mission will send four astronauts on a ten-day lunar flyby journey in November 2024, marking the first crewed test of its Orion capsule and space launch system, an expendable rocket.
The expedition is composed of NASA Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Hammock Koch, and Canadian Space Agency mission specialist Jeremy Hansen. This week, the group had their first glimpse of the spacecraft they will be flying in just over a year.
Some of the links added in the article are part of affiliate campaigns and may represent benefits for Softonic.
