A US-led coalition and China are both planning to establish bases on the Moon. How the two nations will navigate actions on the Moon and how other countries will be involved is still unclear.
An artist’s concept of Canadarm3, Canada’s smart robotic system, on the exterior of the Lunar Gateway.
(Canadian Space Agency, NASA)
Canadian space technologies and innovations play a significant role in the Artemis missions, and our involvement reflects our growing role in this new era of lunar exploration.
Three taikonauts rode aboard the Shenzhou 15 mission on their way to China’s new Tiangong space station.
Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
China has completed construction of the Tiangong space station, and science projects are now underway. The station is an important piece of China’s ambitious plans for space activity in coming years.
Making territorial claims in space is illegal under international law.
NASA/Neil Armstrong
The era of lunar resource use is quickly approaching. But with legal and practical issues still looming, nations are starting to think about sustainable ways to mine and protect the Moon.
China and the U.S. both have big plans for the Moon, but there are a number of reasons why no country could actually claim ownership of any land there.
3dScultor/iStock via Getty Images
A comment by Bill Nelson, the NASA administrator, sparked a strong public response from the Chinese government. But due to legal and practical reasons, no country could take over the Moon anytime soon.
In the next decade, both a U.S.-led group and a collaboration between Russia and China aim to set up bases on the Moon.
Theasis/iStock via Getty Images
In the past 10 years, international alliances on Earth have begun to expand into space. Nations with similar interests collaborate with one another while competing with other space blocs.
Space mining might be closer than you think. But legal issues about the ownership of space resources must be urgently addressed to avoid space wars over natural resources.
The only six sites on the farside of the Moon suitable for telescope arrays of around 200km across.
NASA
Humans have been living on the International Space Station for two full decades. So what comes next for this ailing technology, and what does it mean for future International ventures in space?
Researchers have long suspected there’s water - or ice, to be precise - on the Moon. New research now confirms it, and suggests it lurks in sun-starved nooks and crannies called ‘cold traps’.
Illustration of a future Moon base by the European Space Agency, which hasn’t signed the Artemis Accords.
ESA; RegoLight, visualisation: Liquifer Systems Group, 2018
About 770 Australian entities are already developing space-related infrastructure, most of which are privately owned.
The Chandrayaan-2 orbiter is equipped with eight instruments to study the moon, including a lunar terrain mapping camera and a sensor to study the moon’s thin exosphere.
Indian Space Research Organisation/AAP
Despite a last-minute crash-landing, efforts behind India’s moon mission should be applauded. The endeavor has set an example for emerging space programs across the globe.
Researchers have identified 3,000 radioactive isotopes – and predict 4,000 more are out there.
GiroScience/Shutterstock.com
Alongside their famous dangers, radioactive materials have many beneficial uses. With as many more predicted as have already been discovered, nuclear physicists are searching for more isotopes.
Coordinator Swinburne Astronomy Online | Program Lead of Microgravity Experimentation, Space Technology and Industry Institute, Swinburne University of Technology
Cassels Brock Fellow and Assistant Professor of Mining and Finance Law (Western Law); Faculty Member of the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration (Western Space), Western University