According to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, China may be considering a “takeover” of the Moon as part of its military space programme.
Nelson claimed in an interview that the United States is now engaged in a new race to space, this time with China. He emphasised that Beijing may complete its own Moon station in 2035 and begin experiments a year later.
According to RT, Nelson claimed that we must be very concerned about China landing on the Moon and declaring that it now belongs to the People’s Republic of China and that everyone else should stay away.
Nelson, who claims that China’s space programme is a “military” space programme, explained that competition for the moon’s south pole is particularly fierce: potential water deposits there could be used in the future for rocket-fuel production.
When asked by Bild what military goals China might have in space, Nelson stated that Chinese astronauts are busy learning how to destroy other countries’ satellites.
Despite Beijing’s assurances that its ambitious space programme is solely for peaceful purposes, Nelson has long been a harsh critic of China’s space policy, according to RT.
In April, he accused Chinese officials of refusing to collaborate with the US on its operations and of withholding critical information. Earlier, he acknowledged that NASA follows a 2011 law that prohibits the agency from directly collaborating with the Chinese government or any China-affiliated organisations without explicit approval from Congress and federal law enforcement authorities. The Wolf Amendment ban, according to Chinese officials, is “unfortunate” and an impediment to direct cooperation with NASA.
