The race to the Moon is on – once again. Half a century after humans set foot on the lunar surface for the last time, nations are back at the drawing board, designing missions to reach the Earth’s only satellite. This time, they intend to stay.

Towards the end of summer, two nations fought to become the first to land in a spacecraft at the Moon’s south pole. Luna 25 – the first Russian probe to set for the Moon in 47 years – was launched first. However, the spacecraft “ceased to exist” after suffering a technical glitch that sent it crashing into the lunar surface. Two days later, India launched Chandrayaan 3, becoming the first nation to land in the Moon’s south pole, and doing so with a budget of only $74m. Perhaps surprisingly, the US was not among the participants in the race, although both Nasa and China are targeting the location for future lunar missions. 

Why return to the Moon? 

Following the Apollo programme and the end of the Cold War, public and political interest in lunar missions largely subsided. The last crewed Moon mission took place in 1972 and during the 1980s there were no lunar missions at all. That seemed to have been the end of lunar exploration, until scientists found evidence of the presence of valuable resources there. In 2022, Nasa launched the first of its Artemis missions, with a view to establishing the first long-term presence on the Moon. A year later, the head of Russia’s space agency stated that a “new race to exploit the Moon’s resources”’ had begun. 

As it turns out, lunar mining could be quite profitable. The Moon’s surface holds precious and rare metals used to manufacture electric vehicles, semiconductors and electronic devices. Scientists have even discussed the possibility of finding helium-3, which could fuel nuclear fusion reactors. 

But the key driver behind the missions to the lunar south pole was the discovery of high concentrations of ice in the area in 2009. Ice that could be melted into water, or turned into oxygen and rocket fuel. Suddenly, the Moon was no longer a political finish line, but a location outside of the Earth’s atmosphere provided with the water needed to sustain human life, cool equipment and launch missions to Mars – and beyond.

With a new space race come new participants. The scheduled dismantling of the International Space Station – one of the few continued sources of collaboration between Russia and the West – seems to mark the end of a period of global collaboration on space missions, with two new blocs emerging. In 2021, Russia and China agreed to establish a joint research station on the Moon by the mid-2030s. Both nations have also expressed interest in building their own orbiting space station, with the Chinese Tiangong project being currently under construction. In recent years, the Asian superpower has made significant investments in space programmes, spending an estimated $12bn in 2022, and leading Nasa administrator Bill Nelson to declare that “the space race is really between us and China”.

Battle royale 

In this context, India has yet to align itself with one of the two rival nations. However, it has historically supported Nasa missions, and recently joined the US and others in signing the Artemis Accords, aimed at ensuring a shared understanding of safe operations, use of space resources and sharing data. Russia and China have refused to sign the agreements, accusing them of being “too US-centric”.

The 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty prohibits any nation from claiming ownership of the Moon, but there is no provision regarding commercial operations – the only challenge is getting there first. 

Today, only four nations have landed on the Moon. Within the next seven years, this number could rise to 15, depending on the success of missions from a host of other countries. With more than 80 nations having a presence in space, the days of a two-way competition are over, giving way to an open race to explore and mine space where no ally – private or public – can be overlooked and in which the Moon, once again, seems to hold the key.  

The race to the Moon is on – once again. Half a century after humans set foot on the lunar surface for the last time, nations are back at the drawing board, designing missions to reach the Earth’s only satellite. This time, they intend to stay.

Towards the end of summer, two nations fought to become the first to land in a spacecraft at the Moon’s south pole. Luna 25 – the first Russian probe to set for the Moon in 47 years – was launched first. However, the spacecraft “ceased to exist” after suffering a technical glitch that sent it crashing into the lunar surface. Two days later, India launched Chandrayaan 3, becoming the first nation to land in the Moon’s south pole, and doing so with a budget of only $74m. Perhaps surprisingly, the US was not among the participants in the race, although both Nasa and China are targeting the location for future lunar missions. 

Why return to the Moon? 

Following the Apollo programme and the end of the Cold War, public and political interest in lunar missions largely subsided. The last crewed Moon mission took place in 1972 and during the 1980s there were no lunar missions at all. That seemed to have been the end of lunar exploration, until scientists found evidence of the presence of valuable resources there. In 2022, Nasa launched the first of its Artemis missions, with a view to establishing the first long-term presence on the Moon. A year later, the head of Russia’s space agency stated that a “new race to exploit the Moon’s resources”’ had begun. 

As it turns out, lunar mining could be quite profitable. The Moon’s surface holds precious and rare metals used to manufacture electric vehicles, semiconductors and electronic devices. Scientists have even discussed the possibility of finding helium-3, which could fuel nuclear fusion reactors. 

But the key driver behind the missions to the lunar south pole was the discovery of high concentrations of ice in the area in 2009. Ice that could be melted into water, or turned into oxygen and rocket fuel. Suddenly, the Moon was no longer a political finish line, but a location outside of the Earth’s atmosphere provided with the water needed to sustain human life, cool equipment and launch missions to Mars – and beyond.

With a new space race come new participants. The scheduled dismantling of the International Space Station – one of the few continued sources of collaboration between Russia and the West – seems to mark the end of a period of global collaboration on space missions, with two new blocs emerging. In 2021, Russia and China agreed to establish a joint research station on the Moon by the mid-2030s. Both nations have also expressed interest in building their own orbiting space station, with the Chinese Tiangong project being currently under construction. In recent years, the Asian superpower has made significant investments in space programmes, spending an estimated $12bn in 2022, and leading Nasa administrator Bill Nelson to declare that “the space race is really between us and China”.

Battle royale 

In this context, India has yet to align itself with one of the two rival nations. However, it has historically supported Nasa missions, and recently joined the US and others in signing the Artemis Accords, aimed at ensuring a shared understanding of safe operations, use of space resources and sharing data. Russia and China have refused to sign the agreements, accusing them of being “too US-centric”.

The 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty prohibits any nation from claiming ownership of the Moon, but there is no provision regarding commercial operations – the only challenge is getting there first. 

Today, only four nations have landed on the Moon. Within the next seven years, this number could rise to 15, depending on the success of missions from a host of other countries. With more than 80 nations having a presence in space, the days of a two-way competition are over, giving way to an open race to explore and mine space where no ally – private or public – can be overlooked and in which the Moon, once again, seems to hold the key.  

Beatriz Valero de Urquiahttps://eandt.theiet.org/rss

https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2023/09/the-new-moon-race-behind-india-and-chinas-space-ambitions/

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