Amid mounting rivalry between east and west, national space agencies and private companies are scrambling to take control of the final frontier. There's plenty at stake, from achieving satellite supremacy in Earth's orbit to comandeering astronomically valuable resources at the Moon's south pole.
With the race for space accelerating – and NASA administrator Bill Nelson concerned about China's interplanetary intentions – read on to see which countries have set their sights on infinity and beyond. All dollar values in US dollars.
In a nutshell, the new space race is all about the push to militarise and commercialise the cosmos.
The weaponisation of space has already begun, while its breathtaking potential for commercial exploitation is getting stronger and stronger as costs come down and opportunities grow. In fact, analysts from McKinsey estimate the market could be worth a cool $1 trillion (£795bn) by 2030.
Contenders in the new space race are competing to deploy ever more sophisticated military and civilian satellites, develop a lucrative space tourism industry, and explore and colonise the potentially resource-rich south pole of the Moon.
Among the loftier goals are plans to mine trillion-dollar asteroids and launch a crewed mission to Mars, with exploration of deeper space on the horizon too.
Now let's take a look at who's racing for space...
The US Space Force was established by President Trump in 2018 to respond to mounting threats from the nation's two biggest adversaries, China and Russia. Other countries such as the UK, France, and Australia have since followed suit by creating dedicated space forces.
President Biden is just as enthusiastic as his predecessor about this new sixth branch of the US military and has lavished megabucks on it, with the budget request for 2024 standing at a staggering $30 billion (£23.8bn).
China, which the US military now calls America's “pacing challenge”, is alleged to have developed satellite-destroying tech that could wipe out US defence capabilities. In 2022, the People's Republic launched an estimated 160 satellites, many of which are bound to have military capabilities.
Russia, which was behind attempts in 2022 to jam SpaceX's Starlink and Viasat's satellite internet services, poses a less capable but more “acute threat” to the US in space. Like China, it's also reported to have the ability to take out American satellites, both military and civilian.
The US Space Force is dealing with these risks by developing a network of numerous military satellite constellations. It's a case of safety in numbers, with the idea being that even severe attacks would be unlikely to cripple the entire array.
America is certainly top dog when it comes to spending. The US government budgeted $73 billion (£58bn) to space programmes last year, while China devoted around $14 billion (£11bn) and Russia $3.4 billion (£2.7bn).
The US Space Force and America's civilian space agency NASA have the added advantage of being able to tap into the ingenuity of a flourishing private sector, which barely exists in China and Russia. This keeps costs down and fosters innovation.
It was President Obama who really got the ball rolling after he opened up the space sector to private companies and hugely increased their involvement with NASA and the military. Subsequent presidents have been just as keen on this public-private collaboration.
Though more diversified firms such as Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Bigelow Aerospace, and Lockheed Martin are crucial players in the private space industry, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic are considered the Big Three space tourism firms. All three are based in the US and run by billionaires.
Their activities range from deploying comms satellites to developing reusable rockets. However, their efforts to dominate the private space tourism race have undoubtedly garnered the most headlines.
Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic took the crown on 11 July 2021 when the VSS Unity made its first successful sub-orbital spaceflight as classified by NASA and the US government.
Hot on its heels, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin NS-16 performed the feat nine days later on 20 July 2021, but went even further, soaring past the Kármán line, an imaginary point 62 miles (100km) above sea level. The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale pegs this as the true boundary between Earth and space, so Blue Origin has argued it's the real victor in the private space tourism race.
Elon Musk's SpaceX followed suit on 16 September 2021 with its Inspiration4 mission, which achieved a much higher orbit than the Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin spaceflights, skyrocketing 850 miles (1,368km) into the cosmos.
Commercial spaceflights are already taking off with prices starting at $200,000 (£158k). Those on slightly lower budgets can opt for luxurious balloon trips into the upper atmosphere to marvel at the curvature of the Earth. A range of companies from Space Perspective to Giken are gearing up to offer these wow-factor adventures, which cost around $100,000 (£79k) upwards a pop.
Tourism aside, the private space industry is reaping tremendous rewards from its involvement with NASA, and vice-versa.
With the likes of China and Russia threatening to steal its thunder, the US space agency has enlisted the assistance of SpaceX, Blue Origin and other space companies in its race to explore the mysterious south pole of the Moon and establish a crewed base there.
The Moon's south pole on its largely unexplored far side has become the holy grail of space exploration. It potentially holds vast quantities of water, which could have important uses such as being converted into rocket fuel and sustaining a research base – or even a launchpad for missions to Mars.
The Moon's south pole is also thought to contain abundant reserves of valuable rare minerals and plentiful supplies of helium-3, which is scarce on Earth and could provide almost limitless clean nuclear energy.
NASA has teamed up with SpaceX and Blue Origin for its bold Artemis programme, a collaboration which also includes a number of "friendly" space agencies such as the European Space Agency (ESA) and Australian Space Agency (ASA).
The Artemis missions aim to land the first woman and person of colour on the Moon; explore and commercialise the celestial body; set up a crewed base, and use it as a launchpad for America's much-vaunted mission to Mars.
NASA Bill Nelson has warned that China could end up occupying the Moon's south pole to the detriment of the rest of the world. Claiming the Chinese "are not transparent" and could claim the south pole as their territory, he has stressed the need for America to get there first and build its Artemis base before anyone else has the chance.
China is fighting back though. The People's Republic is working with Russia to construct the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) and plans to land its 'taikonauts' (Chinese astronauts) on the Moon by 2030 or even sooner.
In January, NASA revealed it would be delaying its Artemis III crewed mission to the lunar south pole from 2025 to 2026. This is due to delays in the signing off of SpaceX's Starship vehicle, which is crucial to the programme.
NASA associate administrator Jim Free is in charge of the Artemis mission. According to CBS News, Free has said: "We need [SpaceX] to launch several times to give us the confidence that we can put our crews there." Although he remains confident the new 2026 date will go ahead, further delays could enable China and Russia to catch up. That said, the countries are currently “lightyears away” from building a moonbase of their own, according to The National Interest.
In the meantime, another race with the Moon's south pole at its centre has been taking place between Russia and India. The US and China are mere observers in this one.
India emerged victorious when the nation's Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander (pictured) made a soft landing on the lunar south pole on 23 August 2023, making it the first country to achieve such a feat. Russia's dream was well and truly dashed a few days earlier when its Luna-25 craft careered out of control and crashed into the Moon's surface.
With India an ally and Russia comparatively small-fry, the US is focusing on thwarting China's space programme and making sure it stays well ahead of the People's Republic.
Two decades ago China became the third country to send a human into space with what it called the 'Great Leap Skyward'. Since then, the nation's space programme has gone from strength to strength.
Although funding for the China National Space Administration (CNSA) is, as we've mentioned, significantly below US levels, China has racked up a slew of notable achievements over the past 20 years. These include building a space station, pulling off a successful uncrewed Mars mission, and accomplishing the first landing on the far side of the Moon.
China's future goals are equally ambitious. As well as establishing a crewed lunar base, the nation is also planning to launch a crewed mission to Mars and start large-scale asteroid mining.
China's space programme has a darker side, however, with a focus on military technology. In 2007, for instance, the country's space agency raised eyebrows globally after it smashed a weather satellite to smithereens using an ultra-precise Kinetic Kill Vehicle (KKV). This was seen as a testament to the space military prowess of the People's Republic, as well as a veiled warning to its adversaries.
On paper, China is committed to a “peaceful use of outer space”. But reports have emerged that it's developing other ground and airborne space weapons, not to mention spy satellites and related space-based espionage technologies.
It's little wonder the US has become increasingly protectionist. Washington has been doing all it can to prevent Beijing from accessing the US commercial space sector and garnering intellectual property, including limiting visas for Chinese students who wish to study space technology in America.
Russia might not be as imminent a threat to America's astronautical ambitions, but the war in Ukraine has shown the Kremlin is prepared to play dirty in space as well as on the ground.
The country has made numerous threats to take down satellites and jam satellite communications that it believes are acting against its interests. Meanwhile President Putin has bolstered his alliance with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in all things space-related, supercharging the rivalry between east and west.
Be that as it may, Russia's space program appears to be in dire straits. The country's space agency Roscosmos has lost big-money customers and key collaborations with the ESA and other leading western space agencies as a consequence of the war in Ukraine.
Technical issues have plagued the agency as funding has dried up, while the ill-fated Luna-25 mission was actually delayed by years. Roscosmos has resorted to touting for business with developing countries, and its days of being a major threat to NASA seem long gone.
In any case, the new space race isn't restricted to adversarial countries such as the US, China, and Russia.
Fifty years ago, space was dominated by just two nations: America and the Soviet Union. These days, more than 80 countries are involved in space exploration and many of them enjoy friendly rivalries.
The ESA has traditionally put the strongest emphasis on collaboration, but this has been tested over the past year. It has cut ties with Russia, ending its arrangement to work with Roscosmos on Luna-25 and a planned mission to Mars.
And while Europe's space agency is still working with its Chinese counterpart in various areas, the relationship has cooled of late, with the ESA drawing the ire of Beijing last year when it ruled out sending European astronauts to China's space station.
Because the smaller national space agencies are unable to take on the more high-profile organisations outright, many are competing in other ways, attempting to gain supremacy in specific areas of space exploration.
For example, the Israel Space Agency (ISA) is now the go-to for state-of-the-art mini satellites that are used for both military and civilian purposes.
The UAE Space Agency on the other hand is concentrating on the Red Planet. The uncrewed Emirates Mars Mission, which is the Arab world's first ever planetary mission, was launched on 19 July 2020 and reached the orbit of Mars in February 2021.
The mission's Hope probe has been busily relaying data back to Earth, fuelling exciting discoveries about the Red Planet and its atmosphere. One of its most recent datasets sheds new light on how the seasons change on Mars.
Other countries are focusing on space mining, including Luxembourg.
The tiny principality is aiming to be the global hub for the burgeoning extraterrestrial mining industry, which has the potential to be enormously lucrative. Luxembourg is apparently pulling out all the stops to support companies in the field, becoming the first country in Europe to set up a legal framework surrounding space mining in 2017. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the US was the first globally.
Formidable competition for Luxembourg, Japan has also created regulations surrounding space mining and its national space agency was the first to successfully retrieve samples from an asteroid after landing a probe on near-Earth object 25143 Itokawa in 2010.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) followed this up with the even more successful Hayabusa2 mission, which gathered material from asteroid 162173 Ryugu and returned the samples to Earth in 2020. JAXA is currently working on a mission to bring back the first samples from Mars' largest moon Phobos, which is set to launch in the mid-2020s.
NASA is leading the way in many other respects. It landed the first probe on an asteroid back in 2001 and has taken samples from asteroid Bennu with its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.
America's national space agency was also the first to change the course of a near-Earth object when it smashed the DART spacecraft into tiny asteroid Dimorphos in December 2022. Not to be outdone, China is launching its own asteroid-deflection mission in 2025.
Private-sector firms are also getting in on the act. The fledgling industry has struggled over the past decade as two leading billionaire-backed companies in the field were swallowed up by unrelated space companies. But with costs lowering substantially, the prospects of large-scale mining of asteroids, moons, and even planets look more promising than ever.
Firms leading the industry at present include New York-based AstroForge, which carried out successful test flights in October last year. Other names to look out for include Moon-mining company Karman+, and TransAstra, which is looking to harvest precious resources from asteroids, as well as the Moon, but there's a long list of startups jostling for position.
With so much to play for, it's hardly surprising the new space race is so hotly contested.
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