China competes with America for space supremacy.
The politics between the nations are building up. China has been challenging the United States in many aspects and recently started a race for supremacy in space. With this, the rivalry that existed between the Soviet Union and the United States appeared again between China and the US.
As China aspires for supremacy, working hard in all spheres to assert its dominance, America is trying to establish its foothold in various aspects of dominance. China has recently drawn up plans to challenge American dominance in space. Back then USSR (the Soviet Union) also challenged the US and got demolished. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world became a unipolar world.
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Record for most experiments in 2021
China is well on its way to space launches in 2021. Last year, China undertook a total of 55 space projects, while the United States took 51 projects. China Lunar Program Designer Wu Weiren recently announced that it will launch a satellite to Mars by 2030 to bring samples.
He said that their efforts would not stop there, and also, they would explore distances that have not been covered so far in the solar system. China has already sent a satellite to the moon and successfully brought samples. Wu said that they would complete the Mars mission similarly. He said that the Mars mission was more complex than the lunar mission and that a powerful launch vehicle should be designed first.
Competition on Mars mission
China last year released a blueprint for a plan to send a man to Mars. It announced to complete the program in 2033–2043. In 2020, China launched the Tianwen-1 probe, the first alien spacecraft which had entered Mars orbit in 2021.
A rover named Jurang was launched from the research center onto Mars in May. As the rover had completed the specified tasks that make China, the third country after Russia and the United States, for landing a rover safely on Mars. With this dedication, China is trying to bring samples from the surface of Mars within the next eight years.
In 2020, the United States launched its own Mars mission. The American rover landed on Mars in 2021. So far, this rover has collected seven samples. NASA aspires to bring these samples onto the Earth, by 2031, in collaboration with the European Union Space Commission. China has announced it will bring samples by 2030. With this, they believe that China’s idea is to be at the forefront of the space hegemony battle by bringing Mars samples earlier than America.
Space diplomacy
There is currently a cold war happening between these two countries. It has become interesting to see who will gain the upper hand over space in the coming days.
Unlike the United States, China plans to dominate by space diplomacy. Part of this China is giving opportunities to other countries in its space programs. China’s vision is to establish stronger space diplomatic ties by providing opportunities for astronauts from other countries after the space station is constructed. It is said to serve as a good public relations bridge (PR) for China.
As part of its space mission, China has taken steps to build artificial satellites for smaller countries and share satellite data with them. Experts say that China and the United States would benefit from a joint venture with the rest of the world, as the Soviet Union and the United States have built an international space center in the past rather than a battle for supremacy.
America has the upper position.
In 2021, China made a name for itself in space shows. But American dominance over space is still running high. There are currently about 4,500 artificial satellites orbiting the Earth, of which 2,700 are from the United States. The number of Chinese satellites is only about 400. America has the most powerful rockets. China has been increasing its investment in space in recent times.
By 2020, China had allocated about $ 890 billion to the sector. But at the same time, US funding for space projects is estimated at $ 4,800 billion. Many leading private aerospace companies in the United States, such as SpaceX, carry out space projects at the expense of the government. No top-level private space companies had formed in China.
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