Besides the Moon, conquering Mars is also becoming a target of fierce competition among countries.
The decision of the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) over the weekend, to choose SpaceX Technology Corporation to implement a project to develop a lander to bring astronauts to the Moon makes the race of exploration increasingly becoming hotter and hotter. If carried out, this would be a mission to send humans to the Moon for the second time after the first Apollo landing in 1972.
Artwork: Teslarati.com According to NASA’s announcement, the contract to bring astronauts to the Moon as early as 2024 was signed with a value of nearly $ 3 billion. The contract will use the prototype spacecraft Starship, designed for a large crew with the necessary equipment for space exploration missions. Starship ships can land vertically on the surface of the Earth as well as other planets in the universe. So far, test flights have not been successful, but the group is working to build new test vehicles. NASA expert Lisa Watdon-Morgan said: “We have selected a partner and are preparing to implement the next phase. “We have to make sure to run the tests because we won’t send people to the Moon until the trials are successful.” Unlike the Apollo lunar landings between 1969 and 1972, NASA is currently preparing for a permanent presence on the Moon, a stepping stone to an even more ambitious plan, that is. is to send astronauts to Mars. This decision by NASA makes the race to conquer the Moon and other planets in the universe between the US and other powers becomes hotter. In the latest move, China’s aerospace science community on April 24 affirmed that this country is a cosmic power, capable of exploring space, exploring deeper areas in the universe by unmanned vehicles. . Scientists in this country also did not hide their ambition to bring people to the Moon soon. Chinese Academy of Sciences scholar Ye Peijian, Ye Peijian, said: “We are planning to conduct asteroid probes. We will accomplish this mission in 10 years. We also hope that China will soon be able to send people to the Moon in the near future. In early December 2020, China announced that the Hang Nga 5 probe had landed successfully and placed a flag on the surface of the Moon. This is the third successful Chinese landing in the past 7 years. Once a weak country in the space race, China has continuously developed aerospace programs in recent years with the ambition to conquer new territories. In early March 2021, the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos said that the country and China signed a memorandum of understanding to build a lunar space station together. The space station will be designed as a complex of experimental research facilities that operate on the surface or orbit of the Moon. Russian officials also announced that they will try new boosters to continue their lunar exploration program this year. Besides the US, Russia, China, some other countries such as Japan, European Union, India, Korea, Israel, South Africa … also announced ambitious Moon exploration programs in the coming time. Besides the Moon, conquering Mars is also becoming a target of fierce competition among countries. Just in February, the American Perseverance self-propelled vehicle, China’s Tianan-1 spacecraft, Hope of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) visited Mars one after another. According to space experts, the polls have different objectives but all show the interest of space powers to the Red planet. Not only is it intended for military and civilian purposes, the future space race is also related to economic benefits estimated to be worth trillions of dollars./.
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