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China’s plans to reach the much-coveted south pole of the moon – where NASA hopes to land Artemis 3 in 2025 – have been disrupted by a decades-old US trade law . International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) appear to prevent the 2026 Chang’e-7 mission from including the UAE’s Rashid 2 rover.
this South China Morning Post The reshuffle was reported last week, citing two anonymous sources familiar with China’s mission. Rashid 2 will join the uncrewed Chang’e 7 South Pole mission, which aims to prepare the region for China’s planned international lunar research station.The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on this Septemberbut now Ital– It regulates the development, sales and export of military products such as launch vehicles and submersibles – The basis for cooperation is being maintained.
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“As far as I know, worrying [among U.S. officials] When the Rashid 2 rocket arrives in Xichang for a Chinese rocket launch, Chinese engineers will sneak in and take it apart overnight, Harvard-Smithsonian astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told The Morning Post. Research all designs and put it back together before morning. .
as space news Note that the ITAR applies to both domestic companies and foreign parties entitled to items designed in the United States under the ITAR. In this case, it’s unclear which aspects of the legislation would apply to the rover or the mission.There are precedents for components developed outside of ITAR, such as the case of cooperation between Europe and China satellite was developed outside the scope of the law.
“Now that China is a major space power, I suspect the long-term outcome — assuming the U.S. doesn’t change its attitude — will be developing more ITAR-free products in places like Europe and the UAE, and eventually developing less-to-buy products elsewhere in the world. reliance on U.S. space products,” McDowell told the Post.
ITAR is a product of an era when the space race was in its infancy, when the United States worried that the Soviet Union might gain a competitive advantage in space. Trade law will always be with us, but to be fair ITAR is now obsolete and could use a long needed upgrade. In McDowell’s view, US industry and its international partners could suffer if the law remains as it is. Just ask the UAE.
SpaceX and its Falcon 9 rocket, December 2022 launch of the first Rashid rover As part of Japan’s first private mission to the moon (scheduled to arrive in April). The Rashid rover is powered by technology developed by ESA, and the rover itself is being built at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center in Dubai, UAE, while the Hakuto-R lunar lander is owned by Japanese company ispace.
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