“Now this is our territory, don’t interfere here” (VIDEO)

China is building up its space capabilities and using its civilian program to conceal military targets, the head of NASA said, urging Washington to remain vigilant.

“China has made tremendous strides, especially in the last 10 years, but they are very, very secretive,” NASA chief Bill Nelson told lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The United States and China have their own lunar programs, and, according to Nelson, the Americans should land on the Moon sooner. He expressed concern that if Beijing goes first, it might say, “This is our territory now, don’t interfere here.”

“We believe that a significant part of their so-called civilian space program is a military program. I think we are actually in a race,” he added.

Nelson expressed hope that Beijing “will come to its senses and understand that civil space is intended for peaceful use.”

“We haven’t seen China demonstrate this yet,” he noted.

The initial service life of the Chinese Tyagyong orbital station, launched in 2021, is 10 years, with the possibility of extension to 15 years. Without taking into account the ships, after the completion of the first stage of construction, the station weighs about 66 tons, being approximately 2 times inferior in mass and size to the Soviet orbital station Mir (124 tons) and 7 times inferior to the ISS (417 tons). According to the head of the Chinese cosmonautics Zhou Jianping, it will weigh 100 tons and accommodate three astronauts (although after docking the Wentian module it will also be designed for a crew of 6 people), and if necessary can be expanded[5].

The station operates a complete water recovery system, maintaining its closed cycle and significantly reducing station maintenance costs.