The race to conquer the universe of great powers

The Moon missions have become synonymous with the “space race”. During the Cold War, the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to achieve the “first small step” on the Moon was a symbolic and strategic quest for political, technological, and military dominance. events and ideologies on Earth.

Geopolitical tensions are once again shifting beyond Earth. The US and China are leading separate missions to return humans to the Moon. One goal is to promote scientific research. But space exploitation and economic expansionism are also driving these efforts.

This new “race” could lead to new conflicts, especially over key landing sites and the precious and scarce resources speculated to be located at the lunar south pole.

Mining water ice can produce oxygen, drinking water and rocket fuel – all vital to sustaining exploration of the Moon and beyond. The Moon may also contain rare earth metals used in everyday electronics and a rare non-radioactive isotope, helium-3, for nuclear energy.

Space mining could lead to a “moon gold rush” or a worrying trade war with nations and private actors in space. Resources exploited beyond Earth are estimated to be worth trillions of dollars.

The United States has a longer history of space capabilities, investments, and partnerships. However, China is catching up. While the US made the first unmanned landing on the Moon’s south pole this year, China has made several landings. This June, China’s Chang’e 6 mission returned with the first rock and soil samples from this sought-after region of the Moon.

Both superpowers have invited other nations to join them in realizing their lunar vision. This week, the Dominican Republic became the 44th country to sign the Artemis Accords led by America’s NASA.

Thirteen other countries are participating in the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) led by China with Russian cooperation. Senegal joined last month.

Space has fostered cooperation even between superpower rivals during tense geopolitical times. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union cooperated on space governance, law, science, and technology. This built mutual trust and reduced tensions.

More recently, NASA’s International Space Station (ISS) has exemplified orbital coexistence. Astronauts from the US, Russia and other partners have conducted more than 3,000 experiments in microgravity environments.

At the recent United Nations Future Summit, messages from astronauts of the ISS and China’s Tiangong space station reaffirmed the importance of international cooperation and peaceful uses space.

Humanity stands to lose a lot if global superpowers do not cooperate on space governance. There is a real and growing risk of exporting and exacerbating our Earthly conflicts in space. This will certainly increase tensions on Earth.

The US and China need to seek opportunities to open dialogue between the Artemis Accords and ILRS. There were some similarities in their separately planned activities, governance principles and guidelines.

To do this, the US will need to reconsider the 2011 Wolf Amendment, a law that restricts NASA from using its budget to cooperate with China without Congressional approval. But China has no equivalent legislation and has recently expressed a willingness to cooperate, including sharing its rock and soil samples.

Sharing scientific information can help find initial common ground before further discussions on spatial governance. This could even go as far as unifying landing sites or lunar time zones. If a rescue mission were needed on the Moon, having some compatible technology through interoperability would make it much easier.

The United States and China actively participate in COPUOS, including the space resources working group. However, treaty making often happens slowly. This means there needs to be more opportunities for communication, consistency and certainty around space governance. This could even support multilateral efforts.

The world needs to see space as more than just a “race”. It is also an opportunity to improve international relations, benefiting humanity’s future on Earth and, one day, on the other side.