Both the U.S. and China have announced intentions of returning humans to the moon by 2020 at the earliest. And the two countries are already in the early stages of a new space race that appears to have some of the heat and skullduggery of the one between Washington and Moscow during the Cold War, when space was a proxy battleground for geopolitical dominance.
China launched its first lunar probe Wednesday. Japan sent an orbiter up last month. India is close behind. It's an economic competition with military undertones.
Fifty years after Sputnik, the Cold War battle for the cosmos is history but new international rivalries over controlling the final frontier have emerged.
A new military competition threatens to accelerate international efforts to dominate space, four experts agreed yesterday at a major nonproliferation conference here. Whether the race will end in chaos or in concord remains to be seen.
James Clay Moltz examines the underlying military motives behind the Bush administration's new space plans and argues that a better vision for the future of space is one based on international cooperation.
China and India have signed on to support the European Union's Galileo global satellite system in a bid to challenge American supremacy in space.
The author reviews the ways in which the military aspects of China's space program intersect with US national security interests.
China's successful manned voyage to outer space has been hailed as the pride of the nation and a breakthrough in the country's space programme. But amid the national euphoria, many have been quick to point out that there should be no weapons in space and that the country should not participate in any arms race in outer space.
India is pushing ahead with its ambitious space programme while casting an envious eye at neighbouring China, which is on the verge of becoming the third nation to put a man into orbit, analysts say.
Space is becoming more multipolar as new countries (ex. China, Brazil) develop space capabilities and established space powers (ex. Russia, France) work to develop multipolar alternatives to U.S. commercial and military dominance in space.