Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Wait a Minute!
Image credit: Barbara David

If the winds and whims of politics play out, U.S. President Donald Trump is to trek to Beijing for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on May 14 and 15.

No telling the outcome(s) from such a two-nation mind meld given the entourage that will accompany Trump, folks that typically engage in off-stage banter to propose, detail, iron-out, trash, and agree on new ideas.

It might be a wait-a-minute moment for space collaboration.

Could one of those pitches retro-fire back to a U.S. John Kennedy and then Soviet Union Premier’s Nikita Khrushchev discussion of a joint Moon mission?

Space race rivals: Soviet Union’s Premier
Nikita Khrushchev with U.S. President, John F. Kennedy.
Image credit: Kennedy Library

Yes, a blunt, but bold initiative – and at a time when rocket rhetoric has it that both the U.S. and China are in a heated “Space Race.”

Joint-mission messages

Let’s revisit a page in space history.

When U.S. President Kennedy and former Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev met in June 1961, the Soviet leader said “nyet” to the idea of a joint Moon adventure. Kennedy further pushed for a bi-national lunar landing idea during a United Nations address on September 20, 1963.

After JFK met his doom in Dallas, the joint-mission idea fell to the wayside…and the rest was history as Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin came to full-stop on the barren Moon’s surface in July 1969.

Image credit: NASA

Measured in months, not years

Fast forward to today, China has road mapped a plan to plant the country’s own boots on the dusty, cratered Moon by 2030, maybe even earlier.

It also seems clear that, if they are successful, Chinese moonwalkers may likely strut their right stuff across lunar real estate ahead of NASA’s current Artemis lunar landing plans.  

That possibility is much to the consternation of NASA and the U.S. Congress.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has repeatedly stated that America finds itself with a real geopolitical rival, one that is challenging American leadership in the high ground of space. Success or failure in countering that confrontation will be measured in months, not years, he has explained.

“This time, the goal is not flags and footprints. This time, the goal is to stay. America will never again give up the Moon,” Isaacman has said.

Image credit: White House

Artemis program agenda

Rhetoric aside, there isn’t as yet a “Department of Wiggle Room” that can stave off the uncertainty of NASA funding, government shutdown ramifications, space agency layoffs, restructuring of space agency field centers – as well as hiccups in pushing forward on the Artemis program agenda.

In the meantime, China’s intention to place their astronauts on the Moon is progressing smoothly and appears on track. They have enough financial resources. They have already demonstrated a technical ability that equals or exceeds America in some instances. But they too could encounter setbacks.

China’s robotic sample return of lunar collectibles from the Moon’s near side and far side have been done, with more missions plotted out. They are building international partnerships that include sharing precious lunar material with other nations.

The long haul

Like the United States, China is detailing their own Moon-situated research base, in partnership with Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos.

Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab

China’s encampment will benefit by a sequence of two upcoming robotic lunar landers. The Chang’e-7 mission later this year is tasked to accomplish environment and resource surveys in the lunar south pole region. Chang’e-8 in 2028 is to tackle on-the-spot utilization of lunar resources.

All this suggests that — like the U.S. — China is into Moon exploration and utilization – and for the long haul.

Both nations are putting in place an aggressive agenda of technological development for “rebooting” the Moon, this time in the 21^st century.

Is the window of opportunity open once again regarding the idea of superpower space cooperation in space?

Bring your own Windex!

What are your views?

Wait-a-Minute!
Image credit: Barbara David