Cosmic Log - Will China take over the moon?
Is China on course to surpass the United States as the world’s space superpower and stake a claim on the moon in the next 15 years? Billionaire space executive Robert Bigelow is deeply worried about that scenario — and he says Americans need a “kick in the ass” to respond to the challenge.
Will China claim the moon?
Bigelow delivered that kick today at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight in Las Cruces, N.M. — but the general consensus among experts on China policy is that it’s a bit too early to start rattling the sabers.
The founder of the Budget Suites hotel chain and Bigelow Aerospace promised to “cause a stimulation” with his remarks at the ISPCS conference, and delivered on that promise by laying out an argument for China’s growing space dominance. He said the trend could conceivably lead to a lunar takeover in the 2022-2026 time frame.
Bigelow characterized China as “the new gunslinger in Dodge” when it came to space exploration.
The way he sees it, China is progressing along a slow, steady path toward space proficiency. The steps in that path include follow-ups to the Shenzhou 8 spacewalk mission in 2008, the unmanned Chang’e lunar missions and last month’s Tiangong 1 space lab launch. In the coming years, China will have plenty of cash for great leaps forward in space, while the United States will be hamstrung by higher debt and tighter budgets.
Why the moon?
Why would China want to lay claim to the moon? Bigelow referred to some of the long-discussed potential benefits, including the moon’s abundance of helium-3, which could someday be used as fuel for nuclear fusion (although that idea has been oversold in the past). The moon’s raw material could also be turned into the water, oxygen, building materials and rocket fuel needed for human exploration. But Bigelow said the biggest payoff would come in the form of international prestige, just as it did for the United States after the moon landings….