In recent days, the international community has followed with attention and expectation NASA’s Artemis 2, which sent the Orion capsule into space. The main objective was to circle the Moon and take images of the hidden side of Earth’s natural satellite. The mission was carried out 54 years after the last expedition that took man to the lunar surface, Apollo 17, in 1972. The prospect is that in 2028 NASA will launch a new mission, Artemis 4, with the aim of landing on the Moon and subsequently starting the construction of a lunar station by 2030.
However, the resumption of the effort to land on the Moon takes place in a scenario of growing competition between the main global powers and a resumption of the space race. As the political scientist argues, to be the hegemonic power in military terms, the country that occupies this position must have command of the sea, air and space, in what he calls “command of the commons”.
This means that the dominant power must have sufficient military power to guarantee access to these spaces and also limit third party access to them. This is a function of the military and technological preponderance of the dominant power in international politics. For the United States, command of the commons was one of the pillars that sustained its global hegemony over the last few decades.
During the Cold War, the space race was one of the central elements in the dispute between the United States and the USSR for global preponderance. The Soviet Union started this race ahead by sending the Sputnik spacecraft in 1957. Subsequently, the United States began a race to send manned missions to the Moon and achieved its goal in 1969, when man set foot on lunar soil for the first time.
During that period, there was great discussion about the possibility of militarizing space, which did not materialize. In 1983, the Reagan administration launched , which aimed to install an anti-missile system in space and became known as Star Wars. The attempt to dominate space was responsible for major technological advances and the development of satellite navigation and communication technologies that are even used for civil purposes.
Exploitation of natural resources
Today, the race for space has not yet taken on a militaristic character, but it has new dimensions that were not part of the Cold War context, such as the possibility of exploring mineral resources existing on the lunar surface or other planets in the solar system.
The analyst states that we are living in a unique moment in the history of humanity. We have reached the exploration of the last frontier of resources available on the planet. This leads to the need to develop new technologies for exploring resources in difficult-to-reach places or in places marked by political and military conflicts.
The depletion of Earth’s resources increases the impetus for space exploration in search of resources that exceed growing human demand. The effort to occupy the Moon has as one of its main objectives, which is rare on the Earth’s surface, but which is used in nuclear fusion technology and could play a central role in the energy transition and dependence on fossil fuels.
Other resources such as platinum, palladium and iridium can also be found on the Moon. Lunar mining is expected to generate . Furthermore, there is an expectation that the construction of a station on the Moon will serve as a base for the exploration of other planets in the solar system, especially Mars.
China as a new space competitor
Currently, the United States’ main competitor in the space race is China. It already has its own space station, Tiangong, in addition to having numerous communication and location satellites and its own satellite navigation system, BeiDou, with 55 of its own satellites.
Furthermore, the Chinese space program has relied on the development of Shenzou spacecraft that have taken Chinese astronauts into space since 2003. China has the Chang’e lunar exploration program that aims to land on the Moon and begin the construction of lunar bases in partnership with Russia by the 2030s.
The country has also carried out unmanned missions to the moon, managing to land robots on the lunar soil and installing a satellite to guarantee communication with Earth even on the far side of the Moon. Furthermore, China was one of the first countries to land on Mars with the unmanned Tianwen-1 mission, with the aim of promoting new missions to the planet.
Context of energy transition and UN crisis
Given this scenario, expectations are growing regarding the commercial exploration of space resources. Although still in its infancy, this possibility is beginning to become a possible reality in the medium term. The intensification of exploratory missions and the possible start of construction of bases on the Moon or other planets will have profound impacts on the economy and the race for resources.
In the context of changing countries’ energy matrix, the exploration of resources in space can contribute to accelerating this transition and fostering the development of new technologies that will contribute to an effective energy transition. and the development of new clean energy technologies and the continued change in countries’ energy matrix will have a profound impact on the redistribution of power between powers.
The new race for space poses important questions for international politics at a time when the formation of consensus and promotion of cooperation through multilateral means is weakened by the power struggle between the main powers. Issues such as who has the right to exploit lunar resources or those of other planets and how this exploration will be divided; Questions about the possibility of military use of space, what rules and norms will be established for the exploration of space, are some of the dilemmas that arise for countries.
The UN (United Nations) would be the main space for creating norms and rules for space exploration. However, the difficulty in advancing negotiations and forming consensus amid geopolitical disputes led the Americans to initiate a series of bilateral treaties that determine the partners and bases for exploring the Moon based on American priorities. Those established in 2020, for example, establish the parameters for lunar exploration between other partner countries, private companies and the US.
Space exploration brings opportunities for significant technological advances for humanity. However, the dispute for global preponderance can once again give dark tones to this advance for humanity. As the competition for global preponderance intensifies, there is a possibility that space will become an important arena of this competition.
is the coordinator of International Relations at .
This text was originally published by The Conversation, on April 14, 2026. The content is free for republication, the source is cited, and has been adapted to the standard Poder360.
