NASA chief says China could claim the moon as its own territory if it beats the US to the lunar surface - Yahoo! Voices

• NASA main Bill Nelson said China could assertion the satellite arsenic its ain territory.

• He told Politico that Chinese aggression successful the South China Sea indicated what mightiness hap connected the moon.

• Nelson said China had enjoyed "enormous occurrence and advances" successful its abstraction programme of late.

The caput of NASA has said that China could assertion the satellite arsenic its ain territory if beats the US successful the contention to the lunar surface.

In an interrogation with Politico, published Sunday, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Chinese subject enlargement successful the South China Sea was an indicator of what mightiness hap connected the moon.

Nelson said: "It is simply a fact: we're successful a abstraction race. And it is existent that we amended ticker retired that they don't get to a spot connected the satellite nether the guise of technological research. And it is not beyond the realm of anticipation that they say, 'Keep out, we're here, this is our territory.'

"If you uncertainty that, look astatine what they did with the Spratly Islands."

Recently-published aerial photographs amusement caller subject installations connected the Spratly Islands, a disputed archipelago successful the South China Sea.

NASA completed its Artemis 1 mission successful November, which progressive flying an unmanned Orion spacecraft astir the Moon. The ngo preceded Artemis 3, which aims to onshore astronauts connected the lunar aboveground by 2025.

China precocious completed its caller abstraction station, Tiangong, and successful November, launched a unit of taikonauts towards the station. Beijing plans to motorboat three missions to the moon implicit the adjacent decennary arsenic portion of its Chang'e lunar program, aft saying it had discovered a caller lunar mineral that could beryllium utilized arsenic an vigor source.

Nelson told Politico that China has enjoyed "enormous occurrence and advances" successful its abstraction programme implicit the past decade.

NASA is moving with Elon Musk's SpaceX connected the Artemis 3 mission. Nelson told Politico: "I inquire the question each day: 'How is SpaceX's progress?' And each of our managers are telling maine they are gathering each of their milestones."

NASA didn't instantly respond to Insider's petition for comment, made extracurricular mean US operating hours.

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