NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated on Wednesday that China is secretly conducting military activities in space.
During a hearing with the House Committee on Appropriations on Tuesday, Nelson provided evidence in hopes of gaining approval for NASA’s $25.4 billion budget request for 2025.
Committee chairman Hal Rogers questioned Nelson about China’s “significant investments” in its space program and how NASA will maintain its “advantage” over China.
“We believe many of their so-called civilian space programs are actually military programs,” Nelson said. “But they are very, very secretive.”
“We are in a competition,” he added.
Nelson mentioned China’s lunar program and the US’ Artemis III manned lunar mission planned for 2027.
“We have a responsibility to get there first and use our research for peaceful purposes,” he said.
He then told committee members that if China lands on the moon first, they may claim parts of outer space as their own. He cited China’s disputed claims in the South China Sea as an example.
In 2016, the International Tribunal in The Hague ruled that China’s sovereignty claims in most of the South China Sea had no legal basis. However, China has refused to accept the ruling and has been engaged in conflicts with the Philippines over disputed islands in the South China Sea.
The US’ Artemis Accords require space activities to be for peaceful purposes and have been signed by over forty countries, including the UK. China has not signed the accords.
Last May, Chinese media reported that a Chinese spaceship returned to Earth after spending 276 days in orbit, but did not provide details on the nature of the spaceship, the technologies tested, or the altitude reached in space.
Richard Fisher from the International Assessment and Strategy Center told Newsweek last year that China may seek to use its presence on the moon for economic and military purposes.
“From the moon, China can better monitor the cislunar space and deploy laser or missile systems to attack critical US satellites in deep space,” Fisher said.
According to the US Defense Intelligence Agency, China currently has 499 satellites in orbit, more than double the number in 2019.
However, other experts believe that the likelihood of China controlling the moon is still small.
The US has thousands of satellites in orbit for various civilian and military purposes. The US also has satellites for monitoring ballistic missile threats in cislunar space.