All articles tagged with #china space race
NASA's Artemis II mission launches as the opening act in a broader push to build a permanent lunar base near the south pole and return humans to the Moon by 2028; the article argues that fixing on beating China risks compromising the program's goals and that the Moon base should be justified by science and long‑term exploration rather than geopolitics.
A bipartisan push in Congress via the NASA Authorization Act of 2026 would establish a permanent Lunar Surface Moon Base to sustain a US presence on the Moon with long‑duration habitation and robotics/industrial capabilities for science, technology demonstrations, and future Mars missions. The bill seeks an enduring lunar presence, tasks NASA with evaluating crew rescue options, and is framed within the broader space‑race context with China, aligned with Artemis and recent US space policy.
NASA is developing a nuclear thermal propulsion engine that could reduce travel time to Mars from over two years to just 45 days, amidst a competitive space race involving the US, China, and private companies like SpaceX, with significant technological and safety challenges to overcome.