Speaking at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 8th, Bill Nelson expressed concerns that China might take control of the lunar south pole if Beijing’s astronauts reach there first. “Of course, I don’t want China to get there before we do and then say it’s theirs,” he said.
The Race for the Lunar South Pole
According to Nelson, the US and China are in a race to see who will be the first to access the ice-covered region on the lunar south pole. “We need to protect the interests of the international community. If there’s a bounty of water that can be used for future astronauts and spacecraft, we want to make sure that that water is available to everybody and not just to the claimant,” added Nelson.
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Many countries are targeting the southern pole of the Moon. (Photo: Getty)
Potential landing sites and resource utilization in the lunar south pole might be limited. This is because satellite imagery shows a landscape different from the areas previously selected for landing during previous missions. “The pictures of the lunar south pole are different from what we saw where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed. The south pole of the Moon has many deep craters. Due to the angle of the Sun, most of these volcanic craters are in shadow, significantly reducing the available landing area,” explained Nelson.
However, space policy expert Brian Weeden, the director of program planning at the Secure World Foundation, pointed out that the US and China don’t necessarily have to compete. “It’s not a race, because it’s not just the US and China going to the Moon; a lot of countries will go there for various reasons.”
The lunar south pole is a vast area, providing ample space for multiple exploration efforts. Weeden countered the NASA director’s assertion that whoever gets there first “wins” the race, stating that “regardless of who gets to the Moon first, other countries are going to keep coming there.”
China has been studying the development of launch vehicles and spacecraft with the goal of sending its astronauts to the Moon by 2030. Both China’s leading International Lunar Research Station and the US’s Artemis program aim to establish a long-term human presence on the lunar south pole.
Russia and India’s Lunar Landings
Meanwhile, Russia and India are competing to become the first nations to search for signs of water on the Moon’s surface using exploration missions. Russia’s Luna 25 and India’s Chandrayaan 3 are both expected to land on August 23rd. On August 11th, Moscow time, the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos successfully launched the Luna-25 spacecraft, marking a new phase in Moscow’s lunar exploration program. This is Russia’s first lunar mission in 47 years since 1976.
Luna-25 is scheduled to land on the lunar south pole on August 21st. The spacecraft will explore areas previously untouched by humans.
Despite Moscow’s successful launch, the director of NASA questioned Russia’s readiness to land astronauts on the Moon’s surface before 2030.
NASA has also outlined the timeline for Artemis II, a mission involving a four-member crew marking NASA’s first human piloted mission to the Moon. This mission is expected to begin in 2024. It is the second launch in the Artemis program, a multinational initiative aimed at establishing “a sustainable human presence on the Moon.” Prior to this, in 1972, NASA’s Apollo program successfully achieved human landing on the Moon.
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The SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft on the launchpad in Florida during the Artemis I mission. (Photo: Getty)
According to Weeden’s perspective, a more critical question than the competition among nations to reach the Moon is whether they share a common interpretation of international law, as existing space treaties often involve broad principles.
Artemis Agreement Involving 28 Nations
The Artemis Agreement was introduced on October 13, 2020, with the aim of peaceful space use and collaboration involving eight signatory countries including the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, Luxembourg, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates. In November 2020, Ukraine joined the agreement, followed by South Korea in May 2021. New Zealand and Brazil also became signatories to the Artemis Agreement in June 2021.
To date, 28 countries have signed the Artemis Agreement led by the United States.
China was not invited to participate due to NASA’s prohibition on bilateral agreements with China. Russia argued that the US-initiated agreement was “politicized” and “centered excessively on the US.”
Other nations like Germany, France, and India rejected the agreements, believing that space resources should lie beyond any country’s economic exploitation.
Both China and Russia, among other countries, are concerned that the agreements might restrict their lunar activities. While the agreement specifies that no nation has sovereignty over lunar territories, it doesn’t clarify the principles of non-appropriation concerning space resources, such as rights to exploit, own, and use lunar ice.
Weeden noted that the concept of a “race to the Moon” has arisen partially due to international concerns about China’s rapid rise as a space power. “For a long time, the US thought it was ahead of China in space technology. That’s no longer true. The relative advantage the US has is shrinking, and people worry that one day it could go to zero,” he said.
Additionally, there are concerns that China is using its space capabilities as a “soft power” to influence other nations and build global influence. This is evident through Beijing’s continuous invitations for partners to conduct scientific research and send their astronauts on missions