President Trump wants to squeeze China, so they dropped the high tariff on American-made vehicles. And he wants the Chinese to buy other American products. But trying to force the Chinese to conform to Western standards is a fruitless task. China is an economic and military powerhouse. China’s President Xi has big plans for his country. Trump is just a small stumbling block on the road to world dominance, according to Chinese news reports. President Xi leadership plan is long- term. The United States leadership plan changes with every new president.
One of China’s greatest international accomplishments just happened. China is the first nation to land a spacecraft on the dark side of the moon. The back side of the moon is not visible from Earth so space scientists like to call it “the dark side” even though it’s not that dark. China’s Chang’4 dark side moon probe leaves little doubt about China’s future plan to explore space.
Picking up moon minerals is China’s short-term goal. But the Chinese have long-term goals just like Elon Musk’s goal to send people to Mars. NASA recent New Horizons mission to the Kuiper Belt to study pieces of old space junk that help create the big bang is a big deal. But China’s dark side moon landing may be a bigger deal for future space travel.
In 2018, the Chinese launched more satellites than the United States, and now that they have a moon landing under their space belt they want to explore, communicate, and use Chinese products in space. Using Chinese products in space sounds like a dream, but the Chinese know how to turn dreams into reality.
Finding minerals like gold, silver, and platinum on the moon is a bit of a stretch, according to space experts. But the moon could be a gas-station for future space missions. Helium-3 is the primary material found on the moon. Helium-3 is too expensive to bring back to Earth, but that non-radioactive material could be fuel for the next generation of space missions. Having a filling station on the moon would save money, and it would help spacecraft go deeper into space, according to a Bloomberg Technology article.
According to space researcher David Todd, there’s a market for space tourism. The moon may be the perfect place to spend a futuristic weekend holiday. It’s closer than Mars, and there may be Chinese food up there when American tourists knock at that crater-filled moon door.
