Chang'e-6, which has successfully completed the sampling mission on the back of the moon, has become the hottest "top stream" in the international aerospace industry, and even the most critical Western media about China on weekdays have not hesitated to praise the Chang'e-6 mission, and many countries have submitted applications to the mainland for joint research samples as early as possible. However, just when the international space community was excited about China's space achievements, the United States put forward a "wonderful" demand to us, that is, to protect the so-called "historical relics of the moon landing."
According to the news released by the Hong Kong media "South China Morning Post" on June 30, a Chinese researcher revealed to the media that the negotiating team sent by the US government is discussing with Chinese experts "how to protect the historical relics of mankind on the moon", and the so-called "relics" include the American flag planted on the moon by American astronauts in 1969, and the footprints left on the lunar surface by Armstrong, the "first man on the moon". As for the concerns of the US side, our attitude is very clear, that is, there is no reason to worry that the "Jade Rabbit" lunar rover will cause damage to the first footprints left by mankind on the lunar surface at this stage. In fact, this proposal of the United States is not a whim, as early as 2020, the United States passed relevant domestic laws to protect the landing site of the moon landing that year.
But because it is a domestic law, it is binding only on a small number of private companies that work with NASA. China's "Yutu-1" lunar rover landed on the lunar surface much earlier than this law, but the United States did not take any action at that time, the fundamental reason was that they did not believe in the mainland's lunar exploration capabilities, until the "Yutu-2" lunar rover successfully landed on the back of the moon in 2019, completely shattering the illusion of the United States "monopolizing the moon". Now, the United States is anxiously taking the initiative to find us for "discussion," not so much to protect the "historical relics of mankind's landing on the moon," but rather to say that the hegemonic mentality is at work, and in the name of "protecting the relics," it is "demarcating and ruling the country" with the mainland on the moon.
Since the first time humans set foot on the moon, the United States has considered the moon its own property. In the eyes of the United States, no country in the world can challenge its status as a "space hegemon." However, when the continent is able to sample and return from the far side of the moon, the United States will no longer have an advantage on the moon in the future. The hegemonic United States has an extremely strong "sense of territory," so discussing "protecting relics" with the mainland is essentially hoping that China will not enter the "sphere of influence" that the United States considers to be its own.
That is, the area where American astronauts used to be active on the front side of the moon in the past, thus forming a situation in which "well water does not interfere with river water", which is a very typical Cold War-style confrontation logic. However, we must also note that this move by the United States is not only to divide the territory, but also to expose the deep-seated reasons for the continued decline of the US space engineering capability.
On the surface, private companies such as Boeing and SpaceX act as the face of American spaceflight, but in reality, these private companies are unable to undertake truly critical space exploration missions, and only use commercial operations to help NASA ease financial pressure. Second, it is the excessive "financialization" of the United States after the Cold War, which has led to the lack of attention in manufacturing and other fields, the most intuitive embodiment of which is that the shipbuilding and aerospace fields are difficult to match the ambitions of the United States. What is even more deadly is that the United States' aerospace engineering capability has been thunderstorming in recent years, and the most recent case is that the "Starliner" commercial spacecraft, on which Boeing has high hopes, has been temporarily stopped many times due to malfunctions before launch, and after launch, it has also been unable to carry astronauts back to the ground because of malfunctions.
For the United States, which once brought humans to the moon and returned them safely, this series of mistakes is undoubtedly a serious blow to the image of the United States as a space hegemon. At present, the United States has taken the initiative to find China to discuss the "protection of relics", which is undoubtedly a "boomerang", after the United States has passed the so-called "Wolf Act" to prohibit any cooperation with China's space industry.