The United States announced its Artemis III mission: how does China, its rival in the 21st century space race, respond?

This summary is generated by artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.

The United States announced a few days ago the four astronauts who make up the Artemis III mission, just over a month after the successful completion of the Artemis II mission that orbited the Moon, after about 50 years of the Apollo missions. This new challenge will be a test to prepare for the return of human beings to lunar soil, scheduled for 2028. But the United States is not the only one interested in reaching the Earth’s natural satellite. China is the direct rival in this new space race.

The Asian giant has not only grown in the military industry, trade, and technology. His interest in space has led him to star in historic milestones and compete directly with the leading global power.

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The mission Artemis III It is part of an ambitious space program called Artemis, which plans to carry out manned exploration of the Moon and, in the future, Mars. For this, we have the collaboration of space agencies from Europe, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, among others.

On the side of China It has the Chang’e project, its own lunar exploration program. And it’s not just about getting there. What China is seeking is to build an International Lunar Research Station (ILRS).

For Neils Vilchez, Research Project Coordinator at INRAS PUCP, although it is true that the United States has an advantage, since it reached the Moon in 1969, China has also shown great progress.

“China’s strategy is more than anything a technological strategy. They are going in precise steps, they are basically following a strategy of different milestones in which, so far, they have been achieving. “They have a high success rate for the missions they carry out.”he explained in conversation with The Commerce.

Besides…

A question of terms

What are astronauts called in China? The word is Taikountawhich is a variant of the term Taikong (space). In the United States, Europe and other Western countries the most used term is “astronaut.” The distinction comes from the Cold War, when in the Soviet Union its space travelers were called “cosmonauts.” China’s space agency is called the China National Space Administration, or CNSA.

Although China y USA They look simultaneously into space, they follow different models.

On the one hand, the United States has the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), its state space agency, but today its private companies are the protagonists with the development of launch vehicles. This is the case of SpaceXwhich features the Falcon family of reusable rockets and the Starship system; The Blue Origin company works with the New Shepard and New Glenn (reusable) rockets.

for the mission Artemis II The Space Launch System (SLS) was used, a super-heavy and non-recoverable rocket. In addition, there was the Orion capsule, which guarantees human life in space.

“In the case of ChinaAlthough it is true that there are also private companies that develop rockets, they decided to basically continue with the State continuing to develop its own launch vehicles. China is more state-owned, but they have opened the doors for private companies”indicates Vilchez.

What companies are they? LandSpace is one of them, which boasts the ZQ-2 rocket, the first liquid fuel rocket, and its TQ-12A engine is designed to be reused. There is also Galactic Energy, which is working on the Pallas-1 and Ceres-1 launch vehicles, intended for the construction of the satellite system.

In this image you can see the Pallas and Ceres rockets. (Image: galactic-energy.cn)

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Just like USA works with the European Space Agency (ESA), China It also works with alliances, the specialist points out, with countries such as Russia, Italy, Switzerland, and “it also has participation even with internal institutions in the United States.”

From the first steps

The space race of the last century had as its protagonists USA and the Soviet Union (USSR), but other countries also intervened.

The year 1957 is usually seen as the start date, when the USSR launched the first artificial satellite into orbit, Sputnik 1. A year later the United States did so with Explorer 1.

France did the same in 1965 with the launch of Asterix and a few years later the NASA surprises with the Apollo 11 lunar mission. By 1970, Japan managed to launch its Ōsumi satellite and that same year China entered the list, with its Dong Fang Hong 1 satellite, being the fifth power in the race.

“That moment was quite important for them because they realized that they had the basic capabilities to be able to manufacture satellites, to develop orbital rockets, to operate a space mission completely independently”Vilchez indicated.

One of the keys has been, the specialist points out, the development of launchers and the family of Long March rockets called Chang Zheng.

Thanks to these rockets, they sent communications, meteorological, and earth observation satellites, and also manned missions. In the last 30 years it has managed to develop its space program like the main powers.

“China is the only country that has its own space station [Tiangong]they also sent a constellation of global positioning satellites, which in this case is the Beidouthey have also begun to send lunar probes like the Chang’eprobes that go to other planets within the solar system through missions Tianwen“the teacher explained.

Some milestones they have had in this century are the following:

In 2003, it achieved its first manned mission, Shenzhou 5, carrying the first taikonaut, Yang Liwei. In 2011, it installed its first Thiangong-1 laboratory, which will be completed in 2021 as its Tiangong space station. In 2019, the Chang’e 4 mission was carried out, which managed to land a lunar module on the dark side of the Moon. In 2020, the Tianwen-1 mission is launched, with a Mars orbiter.

China’s next missions

Beijing has a different agenda than USAbut with similar purposes.

A key year for China is 2030, when it plans to reach the Moon, build a lunar base and, perhaps, then reach Mars.

While USA It has the Orion spacecraft and the SLS launcher, China is developing the Mengzhou (“Dream Ship”) spacecraft and the Long March 10 rocket, made to propel ships to the Moon. In fact, tests of this system are scheduled for 2026. In February, the Mengzhou escape capsule was successfully tested.

Also in 2026, the deployment of the Guowang satellite network is expected, which will compete with Starlink, the satellite internet network.

On the other hand, a report from the AFP agency points out that by 2035 the construction of the International Lunar Research Station is expected to begin, near the south pole of the Moon, where it is believed that there is water in the form of ice. It has support from Russia.

common goal

However, citing astrophysicist and space analyst Jonathan McDowell, they point out in AFP that China is not talking about competition or a “moon race.” “They are ambitious with the future of their programs and see the Moon as the most logical step for their own interest, not for rivalry,” he said.

Vilchez considers that the objective of reaching the Moon, from the scientific community in general, is “obtain resources in situ on the Moon, such as water”. On the one hand, water allows humans to survive, but resources can also be obtained to power ships.

“With water one can obtain hydrogen and oxygen and with these elements one can obtain propellants that will allow launch vehicles to reach, for example, Mars,” explained the researcher.

In that sense, he considered that the current space race is more cautious compared to the 20th century. “It is more careful, more cautious, learning from all the catastrophes that occurred before,” he indicates. Therefore, some keys to success will be the development of launch vehicles, and another point will also be financial support.

The United States announced its Artemis III mission: how does China, its rival in the 21st century space race, respond?

ByEditor

From the first steps

China’s next missions

common goal

By Editor

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