New space race brewing? China announces moon mission days after US's Artemis takes flight

China has launched a new three-person crew team to the country space station, including its first civilian astronaut, in an effort to expand its space programme. In fact, this is only a minor component of Beijing's massive space goals, which includes human landing on the moon by 2030. (ALSO READ: Countdown begins as China set to send civilian to space for first time)

The new crew will help to improve the Chinese Tiangong space station, which it developed and sent into low Earth orbit at a height of 340 to 450 km. With this, Beijing hopes to compete with the United States-dominated International Space Station and emerge as a space power.

China's declaration of a manned lunar mission coincides with the US's current Artemis moon mission. Nasa, the country's premiere space agency, has completed the first phase of the project and plans to send the first woman and first person of colour to the Moon by 2025.

Chinese Tiangong space station vs International Space Station

The International Space Station (ISS) is the outcome of a partnership between 15 countries and five space organisations, whereas Tiangong is entirely Chinese but ‘welcomes’ outside input and collaboration. The ISS was established in 1998 and is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2031, whereas China finished its three-module Tiangong in late 2022 and intends to keep the orbiting outpost continuously staffed for at least a decade.

The Chinese space station can house 3 to 6 crew members, whereas the ISS may house up to 13. Even as the ISS is believed to be larger and more powerful, the Chinese space station being the most recent contains new system and may be the sole space station in the future.

ALSO READ: Chinese scientists planning to build a 3D-printed moon house using lunar soil

China moon mission vs USA's moon mission

The Chinese government revealed its plans for a crewed lunar landing on Monday. "We can clasp the moon in the ninth heaven," said Lin Xiqiang, deputy head of China's Manned Space Agency, echoing a poem by Mao Zedong.

While specifics regarding its mission are yet to be revealed, authorities have stated that it would initially prepare for a "short stay on the lunar surface includin human-robotic joint exploration." China became the third country after the Soviet Union and the United States to launch a human space mission in 2003.

The US previously said that it is resuming its lunar space programme, which includes human exploration. The country's most recent crewed trip to the Moon was the 12-day mission.

“We’re going back to the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and inspiration… We will collaborate with commercial and international partners and establish the first long-term presence on the Moon,” Nasa illustrated the goal of the mission.

ALSO READ: Nasa confirms Russia will not leave ISS until 2028

Is Cold war rivalry returning?

The announcement of a Chinese space mission, followed by that of the United States, is reminiscent of the Cold War-era space competition between the Soviet Union and the United States. The economic rivalry between Beijing and Washington appears to have moved to space.

This also comes at a time when rivalry is growing on ground and analysts predict a conflict in space.

A top US military official recently warned that the country is left with “no choice” but to prepare for a space confrontation 'because of Russia's aggressiveness and China's aim to become the dominant space power by mid-century'. Brigadier General Jesse Morehouse, the deputy director of strategy, plans, and policy at US Space Command said, "The United States of America is ready to fight tonight in space if we have to,” The Guardian reported.