The director of the US space agency, NASA , Bill Nelson, has warned in an interview with the German tabloid newspaper ‘Bild’ that China intends to build a lunar base on the moon, in collaboration with Russia, in what would be a first step to it “staking a claim” on the planet.
“We are currently very worried that China is going to land on the moon, and when it gets there it will say: now it’s ours, so you stay out,” Nelson said in the interview, published on Saturday.
In fact, Nelson believes that there is a new space race to reach the Moon, “this time involving China.” The United States plans a trip to the Moon by 2025 involving, for the first time, a woman crew member. Beijing is going much further and all indications are that it hopes to have an operational lunar base by 2035.
When questioned about the purpose of China’s presence in space, Elson responded irritably: “Well, what do you think is happening in the Chinese space station? It is where they learn to destroy other satellites.”
He said that China has been researching such technology for years, in order to “catch” satellites with robotic arms or networks causing them to crash, supposedly to clean up its own space debris, but it could also be used to attack other countries.
The head of NASA has stressed that “China’s space program is a military space program” and has once again denounced the theft of technology that has driven its nuclear program. “China is good, but China is also getting better because it steals ideas and technology from other countries,” he said.
For more information on the latest developments in space exploration and NASA’s warnings, you can visit spacefoundation.org.
