In the July/August issue of Foreign Policy, John Hickman writes that China’s lunar ambitions could scramble politics here on Earth.
“Control over the moon isn’t really on the radar screen for most U.S. military planners. It has been 40 years since the United States last put a man on the lunar surface; in 2010, President Barack Obama canceled plans for a manned mission to the moon as part of a larger downsizing of NASA. When presidential candidate Newt Gingrich suggested committing U.S. resources to a permanent settlement on the moon, he was virtually laughed out of the Republican primaries.
“But China certainly isn’t shy about its heavenly ambitions. In 2011, Beijing announced plans to put a man on the moon by 2020, and its space agency has publicly suggested establishing a “base on the moon as we did in the South Pole and the North Pole.” Still, Washington has given little thought to the possibility that once a permanent settlement is established, Beijing might seek to assert extraterrestrial territorial sovereignty, effectively declaring part of the moon’s surface Chinese territory.”
Such endeavors involve tremendous technological innovation and invention and push the envelop for exponential tectonic shifts in the development of non-human productive capital tools supported by government research and taxpayers. As such, it is extremely crucial that the companies engaged in the supported research and the companies that actually build the tools and machines be directed to broaden their ownership among their employees and other citizens, so that the future income-producing and wealth-building benefits can be shared more broadly and not allowed to concentrate in a small minority.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/06/18/red_moon_rising
