China’s giant step that brought fear to the bones of the West and America!

Si Đinping, Photo: EPA

The culmination of the successful mission of “Chang 5”, China’s ambitious space program, should be an international lunar station, and in a decade or two a human colony on the Moon.

How real is the Chinese threat in space? Is there a justified fear that a country that is far behind the space powers, the United States and Russia, could catch up and surpass them?

Slobodan Bubnjevic from the Institute of Physics justifies the fear of Chinese power mainly by the fact that the Chinese developed their space program completely independently, unlike Russia and the United States, which, despite the constant tension on Earth, cooperate in the space.

Will China overtake the United States?

“The fear in the West is justified, with this movement the Chinese have become the third cosmic force. They have been working on developing their solutions for only 20 years, but it is largely about understanding Chinese foreign policy and its approach to modern challenges. They seem like decisions made in industry or domain in terms of infrastructure in some parts of the world, but I prefer to say that this is a generalized Chinese style for solving big challenges and that the kind of patience that the Chinese cultivate does it has to be perceived as scary, “says this physicist.

Bubnjevic points to another fact that the West ignores, the Chinese have carefully chosen what the results of these missions will be. First of all, certain areas of the Moon that they will explore, although they themselves developed the technology, mission objectives contribute to the general knowledge of civilization.

“They have explored areas that until now have not been known to man, they landed where neither the Russians nor the Americans landed, quietly, a bit and with cavalry, they give those results to the public. China’s idea is to land its ship at the poles of the moon. It is that the country motivated by future energy exploitation is a kind of projection of the geopolitical situation on Earth, energy is not a key motive at the moment, the research is mainly an attempt by China to prove itself as a country. with scientific and technological knowledge, to face other great powers. “, says Bubnjević, adding that missions on the surface of the Moon will have to be supplied with energy, and that will not be possible from Earth.

Milan Mijović, president of the Office of Space Sciences of Serbia, sees China’s landing and return of the Moon as a great success, even a luxury during the global corona epidemic, an organization that unites all the institutions and people of our country that have connections to space research. However, he believes that the fear of Chinese power in space is not justified.

“The Chinese are announcing all their programs as a wish for international cooperation. In recent years, China has been very open to all partners on these issues, both Americans and Russians, and I think this will follow this situation. too, “says Mijović.

He adds that all space research since the Cold War, when it peaked, is being driven by competition, countries following each other. He thinks it will be interesting to see how the new US administration will react to this success by the People’s Republic of China.

Trump has done a lot when it comes to space exploration, from “Space Force,” a special branch of the US military that “would protect space,” to new investments in NASA, his flagship project “Artemis,” the successor to the project “Apollo” too. “It promises a lot, and President Biden announced the continuation of the ‘Artemis’ program, so I think that in the near future we can look forward to everything interesting. And financially interesting,” says Mijović.

On the other hand, Bubnjevic recalls that during the Trump administration there was much more talk about the main American objective, the conquest of Mars, but before the end of his term it turned out that the promised funds did not meet the expectations of the White House, so that Biden now faces a great challenge.

“When China succeeds in something like this, it can be understood, especially in right-wing circles in the United States, as a kind of slap in the face of American power. This is how it is spoken in the United States, what the United States must do now to take back. his primacy “. it can help increase these programs, ”says Bubnjević.

Mijović adds that the geopolitical image in space is copied from that of the Earth and that it is a very important fact that, regardless of not sending astronauts traveling, Serbia is somehow included in these programs.

“Serbia has signed several cooperation agreements, with Russia, but also with China. An exchange of personnel and education has been agreed. That is the idea of ​​cooperation, and I think our excellent cooperation with the Chinese on Earth will continue, why? the situation in space It is a great opportunity for our staff and in general to strengthen the position of Serbia, not only on the international stage but also in space ”, said this doctoral student in space law.

The goal of the Chinese space probe, which landed on the dark side of the Moon for the first time in history, is to examine whether the surface of Earth’s satellite is suitable for growing plants and thus aid in future colonization.

By 2025, China also plans to install an experimental solar power plant in the stratosphere, and by 2030, a huge orbital power plant should be built, the photovoltaic panels of which will be able to produce six times more energy than is possible on Earth. .