America’s space agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has identified China as the most active foreign power involved in stealing the space technologies.
China is indulged in stealing unclassified American technology, ranging
from military secrets to medical research, have long been thought to be extensive and aggressive, but US top official’s discloser has put Beijing in the spot.
According to NASA’s highest-ranking official, who said the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is adept at stealing the United States’ most vital technological secrets. “Yeah, they’re pretty good at stealing,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during a May 17 House Appropriations Committee hearing. “And I think that’s incumbent upon us to
take cybersecurity very, very seriously.”
The comments were made in response to a line of questioning by the Committee Member, Representative. Robert Aderholt noted the “jarring similarities” between space vehicles being developed between private U.S. companies and state-run Chinese organizations. “We simply cannot ignore the threat from China and our adversaries who are making technological, manufacturing, and exploration advancements daily,” he said.
The United States, Aderholt said, needs a clear vision that could last across
administrations to dictate its space policy more effectively, as a matter of national defence. “For far too long, we have allowed China and other adversaries to challenge our space dominance and their ambitions only continue to grow.”
The US government has advised private industry that China is engaged in a committed effort to illicitly acquire critical and emerging technologies in every sector of the US economy, particularly those vital to its military modernization efforts. The technologies required for achieving political dominance in space, which Aderholt called the “high ground,” have become something of a precious commodity in that regard.
Nelson said that he believes the United States and China are entering a new space completion that will define the world’s strategic and military situation for decades to come. “I believe we are in, and I have said this publicly before I think we’re in a space race with China,” he said.
Experts have long warned that the China’s space program is a military threat to Western powers. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall went so far as to say the United States would need to develop offensive space weapons to deter the threat. China has made no secret of its ambitions for space. One official white paper detailed a plan for the Communist regime to become the world’s leading “space power.”
Meanwhile, the regime led the world last year in the number of space launches, and has ambitions to replicate that in 2022. “China, in the last few years, they’ve done some impressive stuff,” Nelson said. “They’re only the second nation to be with a rover on the surface of Mars. A rover that
works. They now have a space station and it’s got impressive technology.
They have declared that they are going to the moon.” China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), a state-owned contractor responsible for most of China’s space launches, said it will complete the
construction of China’s Tiangong space station in 2022, according to state-run news agency Xinhua. The completion of the outpost will require two more manned space flights, which are scheduled among the launches planned for 2022.
The launches may help to continue the Chinese regime’s efforts to outpace the United States in space development. In 2021, CASC carried out 48 successful launches, playing a significant role in helping China beat out the United States for most launches during the year.
China conducted 55 space launches in 2021 and the United States, by comparison, had 51, and all the other countries in the world totaled 40. Beijing also is set to continue its mission to develop a lunar base, the International Lunar Research Station, in cooperation with Russia. According to the US space agency, China is advancing its space capabilities at twice the rate of the United States and would overtake America’s position by 2030 if no changes were made to current efforts to develop space-based technologies.
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