Will China leave the United States lost in space

China is hurtling toward the Final Frontier and is poised to overtake the United States in Space Race 2.0 within “five or 10 years.” Last week, a report titled, Redshift, highlighted the challenges facing Washington and the threat from Beijing. 

The 112-page study by the Commercial Space Federation, an advocacy group, pointed out that “China’s space infrastructure and capability of exploring the solar system have rapidly grown during the last decade.” 

It also warned there were “no signs” that the world’s second-largest economy was “slowing down” in its space ambitions, Live Science reported on September 19.

“China is not only racing to catch up – it is setting [the] pace, deregulating, and, at times, redefining what leadership looks like on and above Earth,” the white paper stated. 

“[Its] ascendancy – propelled by disciplined policy, strategic investment, and sweeping technological gains – has fundamentally redrawn the domain in which global power is contested,” researchers involved in the report said.

Out of this world:

• Last year, the US spent nearly US$80 billion on space projects, Statista revealed.
• China’s official funding was $19 billion, but the real figure could be at least double that.

I believe China could beat NASA back to the Moon.

Quentin Parker at the University of Hong Kong

Delve deeper: In 2025, at least $72 billion of Beijing’s $246 billion defense budget will be earmarked for exploration of the solar system. This comes at a time when Beijing is ramping up its Moon landing program.

Between the lines: “I believe China could beat NASA back to the Moon. [The US] Artemis project faces massive delays [and] budget problems,” Quentin Parker, the director of space research at the University of Hong Kong, told CNBC in August. 

Big picture: His views have now become mainstream. Weeks before the Commercial Space Federation report was released, the US Senate Commerce Committee was told that Washington was rapidly falling behind in the race with Beijing.

Bottom line: “It is highly unlikely the United States will beat China’s projected timeline [for putting an astronaut on the Moon by 2030],” Jim Bridenstine, a former NASA administrator, told American senators.

China Factor comment: Part of the problem is record-breaking cuts to NASA’s funding imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration. In response, China’s leader Xi Jinping has made space exploration a priority “for all humankind.”