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Beijing [China]Jan. 28 (ANI): NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has warned that China may claim a resource-rich region of the Moon as its own, as the country intends to reap economic benefits from space exploration, the Indo-Pacific Strategic Communications Center (IPCSC) reported.
According to the IPCSC report, China’s efforts to use its space program to transform itself into a military, economic and technological power will soon reshape the world order. China announced plans in 2020 to create a $10 trillion economic zone.
In an interview with Politico on Jan. 1, Nelson said he was concerned that China would build a research facility on a desirable area of the moon and then claim it.
Last year, China built a space station that orbits the Earth and conducted several missions around the moon to extract samples. Beijing also plans to build an autonomous lunar research station near the moon’s south pole, which is expected to begin in 2025, IPCSC reported.
China is trying to win the war in space for both economic and strategic reasons. On November 27, 2022, US Space Force Chief of Staff Nina Armagno told the Australian Strategic Policy Institute that she was concerned that China would catch up and overtake the US and possibly militarize space.
According to Armagno, China is developing military space technologies such as satellite communications and reusable spacecraft such as China’s Long March 8R and Long March 9, as well as suborbital and orbital spacecraft.
According to IPCSC, Wu Yansheng, chairman of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, outlined China’s space development goals on Dec. 20, including landing a man on the moon, building space transportation infrastructure, and providing on-orbit services. He also revealed Beijing’s commitment to space Governance, space law and the vision of the space domain.
According to the CASC blue book released on January 16, China plans to launch more than 200 spacecraft and complete more than 60 space missions in 2023. The Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft, Shenzhou 16 and Shenzhou 17 will complete missions within the year to improve China’s ability to enter, utilize and explore space, the newspaper said.
The Chinese Academy of Aerospace Sciences will comprehensively promote the fourth phase of lunar exploration and planetary exploration in 2023, and develop the Chang’e-7 lunar probe, Tianwen-2 Mars probe and orbiting microwave exploration satellites.
According to the blue book, the Long March 6C carrier rocket will achieve its first flight in 2023, and the cumulative number of launches of the Long March series of carrier rockets is expected to exceed 500.
While the colonization of the Moon and Mars are a distant prospect, China and Russia already have “killer satellites” that could destroy U.S. satellites and wreak havoc on ground forces, the report said. In order to curb China’s space ambitions, former US President Donald Trump established the Space Force in 2019 as the sixth branch of the US military. (Arnie)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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