Humanity’s Space Future: Conflict or Cooperation?

The Apollo 17 mission in 1972 was the sixth and last time that humans set foot on the moon.

Now, after a 52-year hiatus, NASA is planning a new generation of lunar missions.

These will begin with Artemis II , currently scheduled for the fall of 2025 , which will send four astronauts on a ten-day trip around the moon . From there, the plan is for future missions to focus on setting up habitable settlements.

If it weren’t for SpaceX, the US might be lagging behind China now.

Space has not yet properly entered the public consciousness, but space has been a theatre of war for some time.

The Wall Street Journal reported that SpaceX had signed “a US$1.8 billion classified contract with the US government in 2021 ”.

Satellites play a vital role in many earthly activities from banking and GPS to television and communication.

Russia and China are rapidly catching up with the US in areas like electronic warfare and space domain awareness.

The Pentagon is now rushing to expand its capacity to fight wars in space, including furthering its ability to disrupt and disable enemy spacecraft in orbit.