The world’s leading space agencies are gathering in Milan this week, fueled by rising geopolitical competition and a burgeoning private sector that is racing to keep pace with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The International Astronautical Congress (IAC), held annually since 1950, serves as a critical platform for scientists, engineers, companies, and political leaders from spacefaring nations to discuss potential cooperation amid global tensions.
This year’s congress brings together key players from the U.S. and China, marking a significant moment as the two rival nations engage in discussions around lunar exploration and other space initiatives. Notably absent from the proceedings is Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, which remains isolated from Western partnerships following the country’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Despite the absence of Russian representatives, nearly all 77 member countries of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF)—the non-profit organization behind the IAC—are participating in discussions that are expected to focus heavily on lunar exploration. Attendees anticipate significant discourse on NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to establish a coalition of nations for moon exploration, as well as Europe’s pressing need for enhanced sovereign access to space.
IAF President Clay Mowry highlighted the enthusiasm surrounding the congress, noting that a record 7,197 technical abstracts were submitted, with 37% of presentations coming from students and young professionals. “This is the most exciting time in space since the Apollo era in the 1960s,” he stated in an interview with Reuters.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson is poised to garner support for the agency’s strategy, which includes relying on private companies to succeed the aging International Space Station (ISS) after its scheduled retirement in 2030. The ISS has stood as a beacon of space diplomacy, primarily led by the U.S. and Russia, despite their terrestrial conflicts.
In the race for lunar exploration, NASA is investing heavily in its Artemis program, seeking to maintain a presence in low-Earth orbit to counter China’s Tiangong space station, which has hosted astronauts for three consecutive years. As the U.S. and China vie to land humans on the moon this decade for the first time since the Apollo missions ended in 1972, both nations are aggressively courting partnerships and leveraging the capabilities of private enterprises to advance their lunar ambitions, thereby influencing the objectives of smaller space agencies around the globe.
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