NASA Accuses China of Running Military Space Program to Control the Moon
NASA administrator Bill Nelson believes China is undertaking a military space program in a bid to gain total control of the moon, not allowing anyone else access to it.
As Reuters reports(Opens in a new window), the comments were made by Nelson during an interview(Opens in a new window) with German newspaper Bild. Nelson said, "We must be very concerned that China is landing on the moon and saying: It's ours now and you stay out."
Nelson went on to state that "China's space program is a military space program," and that the Chinese space station is being used to learn, "how to destroy other people's satellites." He points to the south pole of the moon as being "hotly contested" due to potential water deposits allowing for rocket fuel to be produced.
Zhao Lijian, a spokesman at the Chinese foreign ministry, responded to Nelson's comments stating, "This is not the first time that the head of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration has ignored the facts and spoken irresponsibly about China." Lijian goes on to say, "The U.S. side has constantly constructed a smear campaign against China's normal and reasonable outer space endeavors, and China firmly opposes such irresponsible remarks."
The US already views China as its biggest cyber threat, but now it looks as though "biggest military threat in space" has been added to the list.
China already sprouted seeds on the moon, returned 2kg of lunar soil to Earth at the end of 2020, and has three more unmanned missions planned for 2024-2027. Meanwhile, NASA is hoping to get a crewed mission landing on the moon in 2025 through its Artemis programme.
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