The Guardian view on the new space race: humanity risks exporting its old politics to the moon

December 28, 2025

TL;DR

Geopolitical competition has reignited for lunar resources, with the US and a China-led bloc as major players.
The moon's south pole is valuable for its "peaks of eternal light" and shielded ice deposits.
The 1967 UN outer space treaty bans state exploitation but is vague on private claims, creating a loophole for commercial interests.
Nasa's Artemis II and China's Chang'e 7 missions are key players in the current strategic competition.
The US is promoting private sector-led space exploration through the Artemis accords, attracting tech moguls like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
China and Russia are pursuing a state-led approach with the International Lunar Research Station.
Both sides are developing nuclear fission reactors for lunar bases, with NASA aiming for within five years and China/Russia by 2035.
Off-world energy systems are seen as a solution to Earth's resource depletion and ecological limits.
Silicon Valley favors moving energy-intensive processes off-world, exemplified by Google's plans for orbital data centers.
The current lunar exploration is rationalized by "resource utilization" and mirrors fictional accounts of space colonization.
Concerns exist that humanity may export its old political problems to new worlds, as warned in science fiction.

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