The moon is a satellite of the Earth, and people can see it every night, but it always hides its own backside until China's Chang'e-6 probe brought back soil samples from the far side of the moon, and people began to unveil it.
After China completed the feat of bringing back the backside of the lunar soil for the first time in human history, it did not skimp on its own research, but welcomed scientists from all over the world to apply for research samples and share the results together.
But unexpectedly, the United States did not receive an invitation, which made NASA unable to sit still, and NASA spokesman Marco told reporters that NASA did not receive a direct invitation from China. So the question is, why didn't China invite the United States, and what is the problem?
Which countries does the China Space Agency work with?
Before understanding why China did not invite the United States, it is necessary to understand which countries China has cooperated with in the Chang'e-6 mission. According to public information, China cooperated with the European Space Agency, the French space department, the Pakistani space department and the Italian space department in this mission, and there is no situation of "not cooperating with other countries".
In particular, China and the European Space Agency have collaborated before, for example on the space station project. Therefore, from this point of view, China has always adhered to the concept of openness in the field of space development, that is, win-win cooperation and jointly building a better future for mankind in the peaceful use of space.
In addition to the above-mentioned countries, China and Russia have also put forward cooperation intentions around the moon, according to a report by the Observer Network in March this year, Borisov, president of the Russian Space Corporation, said that Russia is considering cooperating with China to build a nuclear power plant on the moon from 2033 to 2035. Although the cooperation has not yet been confirmed, it shows that China's space research has attracted worldwide attention, and it is no longer a small fight of its own.
So why didn't China invite the United States this time?
As for why China did not invite American scientists this time, in fact, the fundamental reason is not China, but the United States itself. Back in 2011, the US Congress passed a document called the Wolf Amendment.
The document was led by then-U.S. House of Representatives Congressman Wolfe, who proposed in the amendment that NASA should be explicitly prohibited from using government funds and equipment to cooperate bilaterally with China's space sector without the permission of the FBI and Congress.
The amendment was discussed in the National Assembly and finally passed as a legally binding bill. Since then, space cooperation between China and the United States has been greatly affected, and although the two countries worked together briefly on the Chang'e-4 project, the cooperation process was bumpy due to the Wolf Amendment.
After the Chang'e-4 project, China and the United States almost broke off cooperation in the field of space, which is, as the folk saying goes, "old and dead never get along". Therefore, it is not that China does not invite American scientists to participate in lunar soil research, but that the Americans themselves close their homes and do not let others in.
Why did the United States pass the Wolf Amendment?
So the question is, why did the United States, as the first country in the world to send astronauts to the moon, come to this point in the field of aerospace to rest on its laurels today? At the end of the day, it is about maximizing the interests of the United States, and two of these factors are dominant.
The first factor is that the U.S. space strategy is not a peace strategy. Unlike China's idea of peaceful use of space, the United States has been trying to militarize space, and the United States has now established a Space Force, which is dedicated to enhancing the United States' combat capability in space, using space platforms to attack other countries' satellites or directly attack other countries' territories.
The United States' ambition is "known to all passers-by." At this point, the United States certainly does not want to cooperate with other countries, especially potential rival countries, for fear that relevant countries will obtain its military secrets.
The second factor is that the United States is concerned about China's acquisition of American space technology. This is an old-fashioned topic, and the United States has always been worried about China's "stealing technology", whether it is in the aerospace field or in the chip field, there are similar concerns.
Therefore, the United States not only refused to export high-end chips to China, but also stopped space cooperation.
In fact, the opposite is true, as the head of the Dutch ASML company said, the United States restrictions on exports to China, but instead prompted China to speed up the research and development of domestic chips, which is ultimately detrimental to the United States. Therefore, in the field of aerospace, the United States will only cause one result if it stops cooperation in order to guard against China, that is, it will lose to China sooner or later.
As Samson, director of the Washington office of the World Security Foundation's think tank, said, although the relationship between China and the United States is not harmonious, there is great potential for space cooperation between the two countries, and only when the United States stops the relevant restrictions can the cooperation be "restarted". In fact, this passage can be clearly explained in an old Chinese saying, that is, "the bell must be tied to the bell".