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Ago International Space Station launched into orbit in 1998, the US signed a document with several other countries agreeing to the peaceful use of the orbital laboratory. The agreement included Russia, Japan, Canada and 11 European countries. China was left out of the plan.
Nearly a decade later, China expressed interest in joining those on the space station. The European Space Agency has signaled support for the addition, along with South Korea. The final decision was ultimately opposed by the United States.
“I think you’re going to have to understand that Congress gave us very clear instructions in 2011,” Deputy Administrator of NASA Pam Melroy said. “Any bilateral cooperation with China had to be certified not to share any information that would give China some sort of advantage.”
In 2011, Congress included spending guidelines to prohibit cooperation between NASA and China on some scientific research, including space. Lawmakers have argued that China’s program is secretive and too closely linked to its military.
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China has become a new threat, setting up a new space race. (Starlab)
“I don’t think there’s any question that they’re economic competitors and they’re also geopolitical leadership competitors,” Melroy said.
China began to develop own space station. It launched and deorbited a pair of short-term space laboratories between 2011 and 2018. It launched the first part of its Tiangong space station, which translates to Heavenly Palace, in 2011.
“Now we are laser-focused on China. China is a threat. We are in a new the space race” said Voyager International and Space Station President Jeffrey Manber.
Voyager is one of three companies contracted by NASA to develop the new space station. Voyager says it is preparing to launch its Starlab in 2028. There are some fears that NASA will face funding cuts. If there are delays for the companies designing the next space stations, NASA will deorbit the space station without a replacement ready.
Melroy insists the agency will not allow China to be the sole operator of an orbiting space station, but the story echoes that of the space shuttle program.
The American-made space shuttle was the world’s first reusable aircraft. It launched like a rocket and landed like an airplane. 2004 then-President George W. Bush announced a new space initiative, which included retiring the shuttle by 2010 and conducting the first manned mission on the new spacecraft by 2014 at the latest.
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“The Crew Exploration Vehicle will be capable of transporting astronauts and scientists to the space station after the shuttle retires,” Bush said in 2004.
The government considered several contractors for the development of the vehicle as part of the constellation program. Over the next few years, they led to program delays and funding problems The Obama administration eliminate the program from the 2011 budget.
“Implementing this new strategy will require a review of the old strategy. In part, that’s because the old strategy, including the Constellation program, fell short of its promises in many ways,” then-President Barack Obama said in April 2010.
The administration instead directed more than $6 billion to support commercial companies that build spacecraft. The shuttle program ended a year later. American-made rockets were still not available. The US was forced to rely on Russia for continued space travel.
“These were tough times. I think it was the right decision. The time of the shuttle was over. We needed to make a strategic investment in our own industry to develop the ability to take people into space,” Melroy said. “There were a lot of people who thought we canceled the space program.”
NASA would finally launch A rocket of American production that could carry humans to the space station, nine years after the shuttle’s retirement. That was six years behind Bush’s initial projection. SpaceX’s 2020 launch also marked the first commercial rocket launch on US soil.
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China has created a new competition for space exploration. (Arkisys)
As NASA faces the same prospect again, officials insist they have a different strategy for competing in space with China.
“I think it’s different in the sense that we’re still a leader. We intend to remain a leader. We intend to remain a partner of choice. We work very well with our international partners, and they want to continue working with us,” Melroy said.
Only Chinese taikonauts have visited the Tiangong space station. The country has expressed openness to receiving astronauts from other countries. Beijing has increased cooperation with Sweden, Russia and Italy. In recent months, China’s first international payload was launched on a Chinese commercial rocket. It includes Oman’s first artificial intelligence-equipped satellite for urban planning, forest monitoring and disaster management.
If China becomes the sole permanent presence in space, international partners may be forced to rely on Taikonauts for long-term needs in low earth orbit. Commercial companies could be forced to do the same.
“We have to be somewhat careful about technology transfer and how we actually connect with international companies to make sure we don’t give away things related to that,” said Dave Barnhart, CEO of Arkisys.
California-based Arkisys is working on a robotic service port that companies will use while in orbit.
“We can provide either cargo, supplies, robotic manipulation capability, fuel, whatever is needed to support the servicing architecture,” Barnhart said.
Barnhart added that the port could help with retention USA competitive in space if a commercial station is not ready to operate after the space station is decommissioned. While the port would be robotic and unmanned, it would still give the US a form of permanent presence.
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“Actually we hope to be a bridge between when [space station] is decommissioned and when the new commercial space stations are up,” Barnhart said. “We’re autonomous, we can move much faster. We can allow different orbital transfer vehicles to come in, to bring cargo, to bring fuel, to bring new cargo.”
