The United States and China are both developing ambitious lunar exploration programs, with aspirations to put astronauts on the moon and construct dwellings and infrastructure in orbit.
NASA picked Elon Musk’s SpaceX in April 2021 to create a human landing system variation of its Starship vehicle for the Artemis-III mission.
Moon Missions
SpaceX will execute a demonstration flight to the Moon without a crew as part of this contract shortly.
With Artemis I’s conclusion in December, the focus will now shift to SpaceX. To put astronauts on the moon, NASA will utilize an unflown version of Starship, the company’s spacecraft of the next generation.
Other nations, including South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, India, and Russia, have also planned robotic trips to the Moon, while private businesses in the United States, Japan, and Israel are racing to the moon.
Laura Forczyk, executive director of the Atlanta-based space consultancy business Astralytical, stated, “We are already witnessing rhetorical competition between the United States and Chinese governments.”
Increased access to space has numerous advantages, but it also increases the likelihood of tensions over competing interests, which might have substantial economic and political repercussions.
‘During the Cold War, the space race was a competition for state prestige and strength,’ said Kaitlyn Johnson, deputy director and a fellow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Aerospace Security Project.
Now we have a better knowledge of the benefits that cislunar space operations can provide to nations on Earth.
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Cislunar Space
Cislunar space is the region between the Earth and the Moon, which includes the moon’s surface and orbit.
Lunar missions and operations, such as landing on the Moon, launching from the Moon, and constructing dwellings and infrastructure on or near the Moon, as well as communication and navigation satellites, are seen as occurring in cislunar space.
The White House issued its own policy for interagency study on “responsible, peaceful, and sustainable exploration and use of cislunar space” in November.
The space agencies and commercial organizations seeking to launch will require specific orbits and paths for their spacecraft.
The significant surge in traffic is a result of cheaper launch costs, which have decreased as a result of improved technology and increased competition.
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