Next space race - US and China take their rivalry beyond Earth

THIS year promises to see the start of another space race. Both the US and China (with support from Russia) are pushing ahead with plans that will take their rivalry beyond Earth.

America's first mission, known as Artemis I, is scheduled for March or April and would send a space capsule into orbit around the moon. Then the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) plans to land the first woman and first non-white American on the lunar surface by 2025. The Americans want to explore more of the satellite than was done in their previous lunar ventures. And they plan to do all this work in tandem with commercial partners to establish a long-term human-robotic presence on and in orbit around the moon. So, this time Nasa will involve private entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk's SpaceX, which in 2015 pioneered reusable rockets to slash launch costs.

China plans to set up an unmanned research base station on the moon by 2027, 8 years earlier than previously scheduled. The project is being developed with Russia. Until recently, China's space programme was conducted at its own pace with authorities saying they were not interested in a race with the US. But now Beijing fears Washington is about to launch an expedition to take and claim as its own private territory parts of the moon's surface, pointing to Nasa's Artemis Accords which are supposed to set the rules for all future space activities.