NASA alarm over Chinese militarization of space

According to NASA’s number one, China is “very, very secretive” and pretends that its space projects are not connected to the army.

On April 17, the head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Bill Nelson, warned at a hearing before the US House Committee on Appropriations that Beijing is passing off military efforts in space as civilian projects, reiterating that the United States is in a “race” with China to reach the Moon in the 21st century.

For years, Nelson and other NASA officials have expressed concern that China might seek to intimidate other countries in space – particularly on the Moon – if it establishes a dominant position there, he notes BusinessInsider.

At the beginning of the year, the NASA administrator said he was not worried that China could get to the Moon before the United States with the Artemis program. “I have no fear that China might land before us,” said the number one of the US agency. “With our landing in September of ’26, that will be the first landing.”

However, “China has made great strides, especially in the last 10 years, but they are very, very secretive,” Nelson told members of the House Appropriations Committee at a 2024 budget hearing.

All the details.

NASA CHIEF’S WARNING ABOUT CHINA’S MILITARY SPACE PROGRAMS

Bill Nelson said at a Capitol Hill hearing that China is “very, very secretive” about its space advances.

The NASA chief has warned that Beijing is strengthening its space capabilities by using civilian programs to disguise military targets, warning that Washington must remain vigilant. “We believe that many of their so-called civilian space programs are military programs,” Nelson continued. “And I think, in fact, we are in a race.”

The NASA number one underlined that he hopes Beijing “comes to its senses and understands that civil space is for peaceful uses”, but added: “We have not seen this demonstrated by China.”

THE NEW RACE TO THE MOON AND BEYOND

According to Nelson, the United States is now engaged in a “race” with Beijing.

Most allies with space ambitions have signed an international agreement, the Artemis Accords, which outlines principles for space exploration, such as public sharing of collected information, he further emphasizes BusinessInsider. The Artemis Agreements, signed by more than 40 countries including Italy, require among other things that space activity be conducted for peaceful purposes.

China and Russia did not sign the agreements, but are signatories to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which bans the installation of weapons and military bases in space.

He stressed that the United States must succeed in landing on the Moon before the Chinese, who also intend to send humans by 2030. He said he was “worried” that China would “get there first and suddenly say, well, this is our territory.”

THE ARTEMIS PROGRAM HAS BEEN POSTPONED

For its part, the US agency is already behind schedule.

At the beginning of January, NASA announced the postponement by one year of the schedule of the Artemis program which provides for the return of astronauts to the Moon (for the first time since the Apollo era) for crew safety reasons.

The four-astronaut crew of Artemis 2 will now have to wait until 2025 before they can carry out their planned flyby around the Moon aboard the Lockheed Martin-built Orion capsule, while their Moon landing as part of Artemis 3 has been postponed by 2025 to 2026.

“But you have to be realistic,” Nelson said at the hearing the day before yesterday. “China has really invested a lot of money and has a lot of room in its budget to grow. “I think it’s best not to let your guard down.”

BEIJING ACCELERATES

Nelson said China could accelerate its plans to bridge the four-year gap between the Moon landing and NASA’s. Beijing has said it hopes to complete its first manned mission to the Moon by 2030, making it the second country in the world to land a person on the Moon. It is also planned to establish a base on lunar soil in the next five years.

“The last date when [Pechino] declared that they will land [sulla Luna] it’s 2030, but it continues to increase,” said NASA’s number one. “And so I think it’s up to us to get there first and use our research efforts for peaceful purposes.” “Their science is good, their engineering is good, now they have a space station up there,” Nelson added.

THE CHINESE POSITION

Meanwhile, China has repeatedly denied plans to establish a military presence in space. “The space war cannot be won and must never be fought,” its ambassador to the United Nations said in 2021.

Finally, NASA Chief Administrator Nelson said he was confident that the United States will not lose its “global advantage” in space exploration.