Elon Musk and NASA leader praise Beijing’s strength

The arrival of Chinese rover Jurong on Mars was welcomed by the boss of SpaceX and the current executive of NASA, who asked Congress for more evidence for his company.

Elon Musk, the current executive of the US space agency Bill Nelson and the boss of SpaceX, greeted China on May 19. l’astromobile Zhurong (Hence the name of the Chinese fire goddess) on Mars.

Great record from China!

“Congratulations to CNSA [l’agence spatiale chinoise] For Jurong Rover’s first films! As the international scientific community of robot researchers expands on Mars, the United States and the world are eagerly awaiting discoveries to advance human knowledge of the Jurong Red Planet, ”said Bill Nelson, NASA’s President since May 3. “I want to support this. China’s exceptional achievement! Elon Musk, an outlaw who is actively pursuing his role in the future human settlement of the Red Planet.

If you collide with some of the words of this fame Expressions of hostility from the US administration against Chinese space climbing, It should be noted that Bill Nelson was speaking the same day before a congressional panel to argue that the US space agency should be given additional funding.

During the trial, a NASA executive took advantage of the successful arrival of the first Chinese rover on Mars to make his observers aware of the efforts the United States must accept to retain its place in space conquest. “I want you to see this photo,” he said, declaring the need to maximize his agency’s resources for the Artemis lunar project and, above all, to preserve a human voyage to our natural satellite soon. 2024, though The chances of meeting this deadline are dwindling.

So Bill Nelson demanded an extension Eleven billion dollars for 2022, Half of which should go to the development of the lunar lander. As a reminder, the development was initially handed over to SpaceX before its competitors, Blue Origin and Dynamics, protested in court against the alleged uniqueness of Elon Muskin; U.S. officials need to decide this matter in the near future In early August.

This should encourage us to move our buttocks

«[Il est temps de] Whether we want to be serious or not, we want humans to land on the surface of the moon again, ”Bill Nelson told Congress, highlighting China’s efforts in this area. “China is a very aggressive competitor […] This should encourage us to move our bits and actively launch our human landing system, ”he stressed.

As announced Special PressCNSA Deputy Secretary-General Yao Jaiting said the same day In December 2020, it succeeded in bringing the first models of the Moon’s distance to EarthChina had planned a second mission of this type (Song-6) by 2024 or 2025. Two landing missions at the lunar poles (Song-7 and 8) are planned between 2024 and 2028. They may be in collaboration with countries like Russia before the establishment of an international scientific institute on the moon between 2030 and 2035.

Fabian Reeves