Asia Home to the Next Space Race - if you thought the next space race would be between China and the US, you’re wrong. Asia is having a space race all of its own, and the growing competition between the various nations in the region is already showing signs of accelerated technology development that parallels the advances made by the US and Soviet space programs during the cold war. That first space race culminated in the Apollo Moon landings, could this new space race reach similiar achievements just as space programs of other nations are going through a lull? Professor James Clay Moltz seems to think so:
The major Asian nations, including China, Japan, India, and South Korea, are all expanding their space programs with little-to-no cooperation. These efforts are driven by national prestige and geopolitical rivalries, similar to the US-Soviet space race of the 1960s. Like that period, this space race is stimulating technological advances.
Question is, will this newly ignited spark of competition result in technological advancement that bring all of humanity closer to the stars, or will it evolve into a new arms race to further advance the militarization of space? Time will tell.
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