Nasa boss warns that China plans ‘Moon takeover’ as race to build base heats up

NASA’S boss has warned that China could try to seize control of the Moon as the space race heats up.

The secretive nation is going to build a research station on the lunar surface as part of huge space plans in the next few years.

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And the US appears to be getting nervous about it.

Nasa Administrator Bill Nelson has said we should be cautious about China’s ambitions.

Speaking to German paper Bild, he said: “We must be very concerned that China is landing on the Moon and saying: ‘It’s ours now and you stay out.'”

China hit back, accusing the Nasa boss of lying “through his teeth”.

Escalating tensions come after China has already managed the difficult feat of landing on the far side of the Moon.

The country has also sped up work on a lunar research base by eight years – in collaboration with Russia.

But experts have warned that there’s no reason to panic about China’s intentions.

Professors Svetla Ben-Itzhak and R. Lincoln Hines say it’s unlikely that any country would be able to simply takeover the Moon in the near future.

“It is not only illegal, it is also technologically daunting – the costs of such an endeavor would be extremely high, while the potential payoffs would be uncertain,” they wrote on The Conversation.

According to a piece of international space law signed by China and 133 other countries in 1967, “outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means”.

But China and other visitors could try to establish de facto control over strategically important areas.

This could include lunar craters where lots of water ice can be found, essential for any humans they eventually plan to host there.

“With a surface area of nearly 14.6 million square miles (39 million square kilometers) – or almost five times the area of Australia – any control of the Moon would be temporary and localized,” the experts continue.

“Securing and enforcing control of strategic lunar areas would require substantial financial investments and long-term efforts.

“And no country could do this without everyone noticing.”

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