The Chang'e 6 lunar probe and the Long March-5 Y8 carrier rocket combination sit atop the launch pad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan province, China, on May 3.Eduardo Baptista/Reuters
Michael Byers and Aaron Boley are the authors of Who Owns Outer Space: International Law, Astrophysics, and the Sustainable Development of Space, which is shortlisted for the Donner Prize. They are professors of law and astrophysics, respectively, at the University of British Columbia.
Chang’e, the Chinese moon goddess, has lent her name to China’s lunar exploration program.
Under this divine nomenclature, a new space race is underway: Artemis, the Greek moon goddess, is the namesake of the U.S.-led lunar program, of which Canada is a part.
Tidal forces long ago synchronized the moon’s rotation and orbital periods, creating a side that always faces Earth (the near side), and one that always faces away. Last week, China launched a spacecraft, Chang’e 6, to that elusive far side.
A lander will descend to the surface to collect samples. The material will then be sent to Earth through a carefully choreographed sequence involving an ascent-module spacecraft, orbiter, and re-entry capsule.
Samples could help scientists understand why the near and far sides of the moon are so different from each other. They could also provide insight into the moon’s magma ocean during its early evolution and its history of asteroid impacts, and they could even provide clues about Earth’s history, since the Earth and the moon constitute a single celestial system.
The mostly scientific character of Chang’e 6 is confirmed by the fact that France, Italy, Sweden and the European Space Agency all have instruments on board.
However, China is also interested in the extraction of lunar resources for human habitation, manufacturing, energy and rocket fuel. Accessing resources such as water-based ice will be necessary if China is to fulfill its plan for establishing a lunar research station in the 2030s.
The Artemis program, too, is aimed at both science and lunar development.
In 2025, Canadian Jeremy Hansen will fly around the moon on the Artemis II spacecraft. A follow-up mission with a crewed descent to the surface is planned between 2027 and 2028.
Private companies are building robotic landers and rovers to conduct scientific observations and engage in prospecting, with funding from NASA and the Canadian Space Agency. A lunar space station is planned, complete with a Canadian-made robotic arm.
Yet this new space race is not a conflict. Rival countries can both compete and co-operate, as demonstrated during the Cold War.
In 1967, the U.S. and the Soviet Union led the negotiation of the Outer Space Treaty, which bans the acquisition of territory in space. The Apollo 11 mission planted a U.S. flag, but did not claim the moon for the United States. The Soviet Union, likewise, refrained from claiming the moon when it landed robotic spacecraft there.
In 1975, the Apollo-Soyuz Project saw American and Soviet astronauts and cosmonauts spend a friendly day together in space. When the Cold War ended, the U.S. invited Russia to join the International Space Station as a full partner, which it remains to this day.
China is not the Soviet Union. But nor are current tensions between China and Western countries comparable to the nuclear brinkmanship of the Cold War.
From our vantage point in Vancouver, we see dozens of ships waiting to take Canadian products and resources to China, evidence of a strong trading relationship.
But Western countries do need to be vigilant.
Last week, a federal commission of inquiry found that China has meddled in the last two Canadian elections. In the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, Chinese ships and aircraft threaten American and Canadian naval vessels exercising their freedom of navigation in international waters. And China, like other countries, uses satellites to support military operations.
Yet so far, there is no evidence that China plans to militarize the moon.
In contrast, the U.S. military, through its Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, has projects under way that could easily be seen as steps toward militarization. Continuing with them could cause China to follow suit.
A space race is fine. An arms race is not, and the U.S. and other Western countries must work to avoid one.
They should also seek to improve communications with China and other spacefaring countries, and share scientific data, operational knowledge and situational awareness about the moon.
We can even imagine a joint Chang’e-Artemis mission – a meeting of moon goddesses, modelled on the Apollo-Soyuz Project.
One possible mission is a radio telescope on the far side, where the moon acts as a giant shield from Earth’s radio emissions. Such a telescope would enable astronomical observations that are otherwise impossible.
It would also be a powerful reminder of our common humanity, living on this pale blue dot in the infinity of space.