China vs USA: Race to the Moon just intensified as Beijing joins major alliance against America’s Artemis
The International Lunar Research Station programme is set to rival America’s Artemis alliance (NOT PICTURED)
Reuters
Beijing is leading a major space alliance which is aiming to build a research station on the moon’s south pole, reigniting the space race with the US.
The International Lunar Research Station programme, with China at the helm, is set to rival America’s Artemis alliance – the US led project which aims to return astronauts to the moon.
Last week, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister Anwar ul Haq Kakar signed an initial cooperation agreement in Beijing, as Pakistan became the latest member to join the alliance.
The China National Space Administration said on Friday cooperation would cover areas including the engineering and operational aspects of the Chinese lunar base programme.
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China and Pakistan have a long history of cooperation in the aerospace field.
Beijing, which aims to become a major space power by 2030, has already secured cooperation from Russia, Venezuela and South Africa.
The project has the same aim as the Americans – to land astronauts on the moon.
However, NASA’s project hopes to do so by 2025.
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Beijing’s International Lunar Research Station program’s expansion coincides with NASA’s development of its Artemis program.
As many as 29 nations have signed the Artemis Accords, a pact crafted by NASA and the US State Department aimed at establishing norms of behaviour in space and on the lunar surface.
The most recent addition is Germany, and their joining further strengthens NASA’s programme for further moon exploration.
On the 2025 Artemis 3 mission, two US astronauts will land on the lunar south pole, a region previously unvisited by any human.
The last time a human set foot on the moon was in 1972 under the US Apollo program.
NASA's Artemis project
NASA
Additional missions are planned for 2027 and 2029.
India is the first and only country to have landed a spacecraft on the southside of the moon.
Their Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft touched down on the moon's surface on August 23, beating Russia to be the first to land on the south pole.
India has joined the Artemis Alliance.
NASA is banned by US law from collaborating with China, directly or indirectly.
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