SpaceX is just the opening salvo.

«Things are going to accelerate quite a bit,» says Christina Korp. Korp, who goes by the alias the astronaut wrangler, is a space advisor and a member of King Charles’ Astra Carta Advisory Council. She also happens to have managed Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin for a decade.

«Artemis III will be next year, and in 2028, it will be Artemis IV. After that, the plan is hopefully to start landing on the moon every three months.»

«What’s going to happen next is the permanent presence on the moon,» she says.

From left: Angela Garcia, Kelsey Young, and Trevor Graff, the first science officers of the Artemis program, in the White Flight Control Room of the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. (Image: NASA/Robert Markowitz)

One reason for a moon base is to learn how to live on another planet, Korp explains.

Everything Revolves Around Ice Mining

«But the primary objective is to mine ice,» says Korp. «There’s a lot of ice on the moon. If you have ice, you have water to live. Water is very heavy to lift off of the Earth. So to be able to get water someplace else would enable longer duration missions.»

«However, the number one reason is that if you have water, you can separate the hydrogen and oxygen and make rocket fuel. What will happen is that they will build a fuel depot on the moon or in lunar orbit. The idea is that you could leave the Earth, go to the moon, refuel, and then go on to asteroids or go on to Mars,» she says.

«The Chinese don't tell anybody what they're doing, but we know that they're planning a moon base.»

This will be imperative for the exploration of Mars. While a trip to the moon only takes around three days, experts gage the journey to Mars could take around nine months.

«China has the same objective to have a fuel depot at lunar orbit,» Korp shares. «China has its own space station. They send humans to space all the time. They don't tell anybody what they're doing, but we know that they're planning a moon base,» she shares. 

The Launch of a Chinese Space Rocket in August 2023. (Image: Shutterstock)

China sent three astronauts to its space station at the end of May, one of whom will stay for a year. This is a record length for the country, and will allow the study of long-duration human physiology in space.

According to Korp, China has a 20-year plan for its space developments and aspires to land humans on the moon by 2030. The West (NASA and the European Space Agency in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) are planning to land humans on the moon by 2028. 

This modern rivalry is being positioned as «Space Race 2.0» - whoever gets there first is politically meaningful. The nation that ends up marking their territory on the moon first, will have governance over said piece of land.