Security Concerns in Space: US Warns of Possible Chinese Attacks from the Moon

MUNICH (IT BOLTWISE) – Concerns are growing in the US that its arch-rival China could use the moon as a launch pad for attacks as its space activities grow.

According to a report by the military website Defense One, Space Force Brigadier General Anthony Mastalir, who is in charge of the Indo-Pacific region of the Extraterrestrial Defense Forces, expressed concern that China is violating the decades-old outer space treaty, which all nations must use. Space cannot be met only for the benefit of all mankind.

“From a military perspective,” Mastalir said, “are there attack vectors that we haven't considered yet or that we should consider?”

He identified two main areas of concern: beyond geostationary orbit, or “xGEO,” the region of space beyond the operational range of conventional satellites, and cislunar space, the space between Earth and the Moon. Given the number of satellites the US military and many other public and private companies operate outside the atmosphere, it's reasonable to worry that someone might attack them.

Indeed, the brigadier general said, as the Space Force is committed to deterring a terrestrial “villain,” terrestrial collisions must focus not only on leaving our atmosphere, but also on destroying Earth targets or damaging orbit. Our planet.

“We hope we can prevent these, and we don't want them, however, there are more chances that it will expand in space or start in space, but they are terrestrial collisions,” Mastalir continued while speaking at a conference. was conducted by the Aerospace Corporation earlier in the week, Defense One reported. “That may change at some point in the future, but for now I'd be more concerned about what these new orbits, being on the Moon — would mean for potential attack vectors in our traditional operating orbits.”

While he is not alone in his concerns about China's lunar ambitions, which have grown alongside the United States' own plans to return to the moon with NASA's Artemis mission within the next few years, these particular concerns seem unique to the military. Space communication developed by the Space Force.

China, for its part, has rejected US claims that it intends to use the moon for any nefarious purposes. In a news conference responding to the allegations, a Chinese defense official accused China of “using other countries' threats as an excuse to expand its own military power,” Bloomberg reported last month.

There's clearly no love between the two close enemies and allies when it comes to the moon and the military, respectively — but if both want to build lunar stations, they'll have to work together, or at least cross paths with each other.

An announcement: Portions of this text may have been generated using artificial intelligence.

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