China wants to take control of the Moon. This was stated by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson to the newspaper Bild. The operation would be part of the Asian giant's military space program, which would have Russia as an ally. Its plan would include establishing a lunar base, and this is extremely worrying for Western democracies, because they risk being left out of the Earth's satellite, if China finally takes control.
In fact, the space race unleashed in the Cold War had the moon as a protagonist. The conquest of the moon reopens the debate about who should have control of the Earth's satellite. In the space field there is a certain legal vacuum about the ownership of space figures.
"There is a new race into space, this time with China (...) But Beijing's plans go further: China is planning its own lunar base, together with Russia! (...) "China's space program is a military space program."
Artemis Mission, human presence on the Moon
These statements coincide with the leak of the new missions to be carried out by NASA in the coming months. The plan is to establish a prolonged human presence on the Moon in the next 4-5 years. This would be NASA's Artemis program, which will count with the European collaboration to send the Orion spacecraft.
The mission has experienced numerous delays due to several incidents. In addition, NASA assures that it will put two people on the surface in 2025, one of them being a woman. The landing point is not clear, but it has been specified that SpaceX's lunar module, nicknamed Moonship, will be used to reach the lunar surface, which will carry the astronauts from the Orion spacecraft to the Moon.
