Hyderabad: The US-China bickering is not a novel development, however, the two countries are now engaged in a war of words over who will outrun each other in space expeditions.
In a recent interview with a German magazine, NASA administrator Bill Nelson advised the world to be wary of China's possible takeover of the moon. His comments created quite a stir with China quickly slamming down his remarks. People began asking whether it was really possible for a country to "lay its claim" on a celestial object and is China deploying a system for a plausible battle in space?
"We must be very concerned that China is landing on the moon and saying: 'It's ours now and you stay out'," Nelson had told the German magazine. Responding to the NASA chief's comments, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, said during a press conference that "China firmly rejects such remarks". Neither of the two superpowers is leaving any stone unturned in ensuring that their respective lunar missions are a success.
China's lunar missions have especially caught the US' eye, as it has been successfully launching many missions to the moon for several years. However, there is a huge difference between establishing a base on the moon and capturing it. According to experts, it is impossible for China, or any other nation for that matter, to 'acquire' the moon. International laws, technical capacity, and financial constraints need to be factored in before laying such accusations.
The Outer Space Treaty which came into effect in 1967, states that no one country has rights over celestial bodies. As many as 134 countries, including China, had signed the Treaty. Article 3 of the Treaty prohibits the nations from laying claim on the moon and other celestial bodies for personal means through a declaration of sovereignty or occupation. The provision states the moon cannot be claimed in the name of national aspirations. So, no, China cannot lay claim to the moon.
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China is not the only nation to have landed on the Lunar south pole; Russia and the US have also achieved this feat. The US is leading 20 countries in the Artemis project, whose main objective is to send astronauts to the Lunar south pole by 2025. The project aims at establishing a research centre on the surface of the moon and launching a space-station 'Gateway' into the orbit of the celestial satellite.
India too is catching up to these three nations with its Chandrayaan mission. Several other countries are gearing up to launch their own lunar expeditions as well. In a situation like this, it is out of the question for China to assert its sole rights to the moon. The moon's surface has an area of 3.9 crores square kilometers; it is not feasible for one nation to control such a vast area.
China may, however, exercise unauthorised control over some strategically important areas. One can think of China adopting a salami-slicing strategy of gradually occupying the moon’s territories. Due to the small scale of this takeover, there may not be a huge objection from other countries. But when all of these small invasions are put together, they may become significant.
The Chinese have been following this strategy for many years to lay claim on strategically important locations in the South and East China seas. NASA had confirmed the presence of ice at the Lunar poles, stating the craters in the south pole may have a huge concentration of ice. "In the darkest and coldest parts of its polar regions, a team of scientists has directly observed definitive evidence of water ice on the Moon’s surface. These ice deposits are patchily distributed and could possibly be ancient. At the southern pole, most of the ice is concentrated at lunar craters," NASA said in 2018.
Based on this, one can say that China's focus will mostly be on the craters present on the Lunar south pole, which have an abundance of ice. Having control over this ice on the moon will eliminate completely the need to transport water from the earth, especially for astronauts. It will also decrease the total weight of the spacecraft. The oxygen and hydrogen produced from the ice can be used as rocket fuel.
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While this may sound appealing to all nations, it is not that easy to gain control of strategic areas, especially on the moon. Missions such as these require a massive amount of investment, planning, and long-term efforts. It is nearly impossible for a country to carry out a mission to stake a claim on territories on the moon in secret.
That being said, it is no secret that China has been making huge investments in its space sector. In 2021, a total of 56 space expeditions were carried out by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), while the USA carried out 51 expeditions. China’s state-owned StarNet space company is planning a mega-constellation of 12,992 satellites, and the country has nearly finished building the Tiangong space station.
The Chinese government's expenditure for space missions in 2020 was USD 1300 crores, nearly half of NASA's budget. However, China's budget for its space programmes has increased by 17.1 percent in the previous year. Seeing its budgetary allocations, it is clear that China lacks the technical and financial resources to successfully capture strategic locations on the moon.
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If China does attempt to capture parts of the moon, world leaders may see it as a provocation, tarnishing the country's reputation. In 2019, China became the first nation to soft-land on the far side of the moon. The nation has announced that by 2026, it will launch a spacecraft in collaboration with Russia to the moon's south pole. By 2027, China has set goals to establish a permanent space station on the celestial body and send astronauts on lunar missions.
