In the largest battle for the cislunar space realm between

In the largest battle for the cislunar space realm between earth and moon with 100 lunar missions

Space is about to get crowded with up to 100 lunar missions scheduled to launch within the next decade.

Far from being empty blackness, outer space seems to be busier than ever, surpassing interest in the moon since the Cold War space races of the 1950s and 60s.

Several nations and private companies are planning missions to the Moon, with experts predicting that the area between the Earth and the Moon, specifically known as cislunar space, could become strategically important.

There are also concerns that as activity in the area increases, there may be greater competition for resources and positioning, as well as geopolitical conflicts.

Space is about to get crowded with up to 100 lunar missions scheduled to launch within the next decade.  Above the companies planning to participate -

Space is about to get crowded with up to 100 lunar missions scheduled to launch within the next decade. Above the companies planning to participate –

NASA's Artemis I Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, with the Orion capsule attached, launches from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in November.  The Artemis I mission will send the unmanned spacecraft orbiting the moon to test the vehicle's propulsion, navigation and power systems as a precursor for a later manned mission to the lunar surface

NASA’s Artemis I Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, with the Orion capsule attached, launches from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in November. The Artemis I mission will send the unmanned spacecraft orbiting the moon to test the vehicle’s propulsion, navigation and power systems as a precursor for a later manned mission to the lunar surface

Both the US and China have ambitious lunar exploration programs in the works, with plans to land astronauts on the moon and build orbital habitats and infrastructure.

“We’re already seeing this competing rhetoric between the US government and the Chinese government,” Laura Forczyk, chief executive officer of Astralytical, an Atlanta-based space consulting firm, told NBC.

“The US points to China and says, ‘We need to fund our space initiatives to the moon and cislunar space because China is trying to get there and claim territory.’ And then Chinese politicians say the same thing about the United States.”

Other countries such as South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, India and Russia have also planned robotic missions to the moon, while private companies in the US, Japan and Israel are also racing to the moon.

Even private companies like SpaceX have plans for lunar ventures, including launching a private crew on a tourism flight in lunar orbit.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) spacecraft is seen at sunset on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A in Cape Canaveral in December 2021

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) spacecraft is seen at sunset on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A in Cape Canaveral in December 2021

While improved access to space brings many benefits, it also increases the potential for tensions over competing interests that could have significant economic and political ramifications.

“During the Cold War, the space race was about national prestige and power,” Kaitlyn Johnson, associate director and associate of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told NBC News. “Now we have a better understanding of the kind of benefits that operations in cislunar space can bring home to countries.”

Cislunar space generally refers to the area between the Earth and the Moon, including the lunar surface and orbit.

Lunar missions and activities, including landing on the moon, launching from the moon, and building habitats and infrastructure on or around the moon, along with communications and navigation satellites, would all be considered to take place in cislunar space.

In November, the White House released its own strategy for interagency research on “responsible, peaceful, and sustainable exploration and use of cislunar space.”

The space agencies and commercial companies planning a launch will want specific strategic orbits and trajectories,

“Space may seem big, but the specific orbits we’re most interested in are filling up fast,” Forczyk added.

The sudden increase in traffic is due to better technology and more competition making launch costs cheaper, which lowers the price of launching objects into orbit.

The potential remains untapped as there appear to be resources in space that could aid human missions, be it ice deposits on the moon or precious metals in asteroids.

A Chandrayaan-2 (Moon Chariot 2) rocket launched by the Indian Space Research Organization is seen in 2019

A Chandrayaan-2 (Moon Chariot 2) rocket launched by the Indian Space Research Organization is seen in 2019

“As soon as people started thinking about it, they realized that this water ice could yield significant resources or allow resource gathering or gathering elsewhere in the solar system,” said Marcus Holzinger, a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Colorado.

To the moon and back?

NASA has identified nine companies that it believes are up to the task of taking their experiments to the moon (and maybe back):

  • Astrobotic Technology (based in Pittsburgh)
  • Deep Space Systems (based in Littleton, Colorado)
  • Draper (based in Cambridge, Massachusetts)
  • Firefly Aerospace Inc. (based in Cedar Park, Texas)
  • Intuitive Machines LLC (based in Houston)
  • Lockheed Martin Space (based in Littleton, Colorado)
  • Masten Space Systems Inc. (located in Mojave, California)
  • Moon Express (based in Cape Canaveral, Florida)
  • OrbitBeyond (based in Edison, New Jersey)

Water ice could help sustain human colonies on the moon, or be split into oxygen and hydrogen to fuel rockets flying into space.

In 1967, more than 110 countries signed the Outer Space Treaty, which declared that outer space should be used for the benefit of all mankind, with no country claiming or occupying the cosmos.

In 2020, the Artemis Accords established non-binding multilateral agreements between the US and more than a dozen nations to maintain peaceful and transparent space exploration.

“Now we’re basically seeing the rubber hitting the streets because suddenly there are potentially geopolitical or commercial interests,” Holzinger said. “We may need to come up with a more differentiated approach.”

Another tricky part of cislunar space is the multitude of objects already up there, including satellites in low Earth and geostationary orbits.

Their paths are often non-circular, making them harder to find and track, which poses their own challenges.

The farther satellites and other spacecraft can be from Earth, the more difficult it is to predict their orbits, as their orbits are affected by the planet, sun, and moon.

But if humans are to venture beyond the moon and fly to Mars, security and transparency will be key.

“Those elements have to be there,” said Jim Myers of research organization The Aerospace Corporation. “If we don’t do this very thoughtfully, if we don’t plan, we’re going to get in all sorts of trouble.”