Is the US in a space race against China?
The ConversationApr 12, 2023
On Monday, China's state media reported that an experimental spacecraft had returned to Earth after remaining in orbit for 276 days. The unmanned spacecraft reportedly completed an unprecedented mission to test the country's reusable space technologies.
China’s state-run news agency reported that the country’s latest test of a reusable spacecraft is an “important” breakthrough in its research into cost-effective and sustainable ways to undertake future space missions.
The US is the leading force in the current space race between the US and China. Experts have pointed to China’s rapid advancements in space as evidence of an emerging landscape where China is directly competing with the US for supremacy. In a report published in August 2022, the Pentagon predicted that China is likely to surpass US capabilities in space as early as 2045. However, it is unlikely that the US will remain stagnant, because Washington is continuing to increase funding for space exploration.
NASA's talk of a "space race" is ludicrous as the Chinese space program is not a threat to the US. China's exploration of the moon is dedicated to the advancement of humanity. As codified in the United Nations Outer Space Treaty, the moon does not belong to any single country on Earth, not even the US. Despite this, public attacks on China's space program have become routine for NASA in recent months because the spurious threat of China's own research makes a convenient justification for NASA's funding requests to Congress.
There is a 19% chance that China will land the next person on the Moon, according to the Metaculus prediction community.