A new space race is here – let’s hope it’s a peaceful one
Mars is about to get a lot busier. China and the UAE have sent their first independent missions to the moon, and Nasa is set to launch a new rover to explore the surface, all within the space of a few days.
The clump of launches is not a coincidence or a particular sign of some new Mars fervour: the planets only align for a launch once every 26 months, leaving a small window that any missions must jump through. (If they miss it, they miss dramatically: the European Space Agency had intended to launch its own Mars mission, but it was delayed, and now has to be pushed back by two years).
But it is certainly a sign that all of these countries have something to prove: there have been windows before, and they aren’t usually leapt through by such a globe-spanning set of states. The new space race is definitely here.
The last time around, the space race was fuelled by the Cold War and fear among the US and the Soviet Union that the other would explore space more convincingly first. It was a proxy for a proper war, all those rockets and flames used to race rather than erase each other.
This time around, we have the chilling feeling that could signal the approach of a new cold war – as the US, China, Russia, and just about every other country’s relations slowly thaw. There’s no doubting that some of the new space race is related to this new animosity – but let’s hope that it can be used a little more peacefully this time.
It’s very easy to get lost in mystical wonder about space, comforted by the belief that, in fact, the mission to explore space has always been awkwardly intertwined with the war – the rockets that wow us by going up into space and those that destroy us by being sent to other countries came from the same place – and that doesn’t look to change any time soon. Space-focused billionaires now talk about colonising Mars with little regard for how badly that project went on Earth.
But every mission that looks to explore another planet is one that could have been a mission to attack another country; every bit of science done and shared with the world is one small step towards co-operation rather than destruction. These three countries, and the many others launching their own ambitious space missions, did not need to do this.
Jim Bridenstine, the still relatively new Nasa administrator, showed just this instinct when he tweeted as the Chinese space agency’s rocket lifted off.
“With today’s launch, China is on its way to join the community of international scientific explorers at Mars. The United States, Europe, Russia, India, and soon the UAE will welcome you to Mars to embark on an exciting year of scientific discovery,” he wrote. “Safe travels Tianwen-1!”
Mr Bridenstine was nominated by Donald Trump, and previously served as a Republican congressman. But
his post had none of the bluster, suspicion or belligerence with which the US approaches China, instead embodying a sense that, ultimately, we could all do with a little space.