In the face of the lunar soil brought back by the mainland's Chang'e-6, the United States went so far as to say that if China unconditionally gave lunar soil to the United States, then the United States would also be willing to accept it.
In response to the whimsy of the United States, the deputy director of the China National Space Administration also responded on June 27, saying that if the United States really wants to have normal space exchanges with China, it should take practical actions to remove obstacles.
As early as 2011, the United States passed the "Wolf Clause", which restricts NASA and some related space organizations from cooperating with Chinese companies and organizations in the space field. These include a series of technical exchanges, scientific research cooperation, aerospace projects, etc.
There is no doubt that the outside world generally believes that the fundamental purpose of this move by the United States is to restrict the development of China's space technology, and the "Wolf Clause" is essentially a measure to set up technical barriers and strictly restrict the flow of technology, and at the same time to restrict some material exchanges in the space field.
However, the United States did not realize at that time that China's space technology was entering a stage of rapid development, and it was developing rapidly in many fields such as satellites, launch vehicles, probes, manned spacecraft, and space stations. The most important thing is that the development of China's space technology does not need the support of American technology, and even if it is completely banned from cooperation with the United States, China still has achieved breakthroughs and even catch-up in many space fields.
Since the launch of China's Chang'e lunar exploration program, and according to the original plan, the tasks have been quickly completed, and many core technologies have been broken through. The United States' advantage in the field of lunar exploration is gradually disappearing, and in order to cope with China's rapid development of technology and many achievements in the field of lunar exploration, the United States has also begun to return to the moon, that is, the Artemis program.
In early June, the Chang'e-6 lunar probe, an important part of the mainland's Chang'e lunar exploration program, successfully completed the lunar exploration mission and began to explore the far side of the moon. It is worth noting that the Chang'e-6 lunar probe will complete the feat of excavating lunar soil from the far side of the moon for the first time in the history of human lunar exploration.
Lunar soil has always been the focus of attention of aerospace researchers, and its elemental composition is significantly different from that of lunar rocks, which have existed on the moon for more than hundreds of millions of years. At present, it is generally believed that lunar soil may be formed by asteroid impact on the moon, which is of great significance for the study of lunar changes.
On the one hand, these lunar soils come from the far side of the moon, which has never been explored by humans, and on the other hand, the lunar soil brought back this time is relatively short, with a time gap of at least millions of years from the lunar soil brought back by the United States.
It is not difficult to see from the current statement of the US NASA Agency that the United States also hopes to obtain the lunar soil brought back by the mainland, but under the restrictions of the "Wolf Clause", China and the United States cannot carry out cooperation in the field of spaceflight, and the US NASA Agency naturally cannot spend money to buy the lunar soil of the mainland.
It is precisely for this reason that NASA currently means that it hopes that China will unconditionally give lunar soil to the United States. Earlier, NASA Administrator Nelson published an article saying that China should be "more open" and hinted at private exchanges with the United States on lunar soil cooperation.
These reactions show that the United States is actually very eager to obtain the lunar soil brought back by the mainland, just as the United States hopes to use the mainland's Queqiao relay satellite to explore the far side of the moon. However, it is obvious from the mainland's response that it is not impossible to cooperate and exchange with the United States, but on this basis, the United States must express its sincerity.
The so-called sincerity is also very simple: since the United States now hopes to obtain the mainland's lunar soil and to borrow the mainland's Queqiao relay satellite, it should take the initiative to relax the "Wolf Clause" that restricts Sino-US cooperation in the space field.
In terms of exploring the universe and the moon, the mainland has always adhered to an attitude of openness and cooperation, hoping to further promote mankind's exploration and understanding of the universe and the moon through cooperation and exchanges. It is precisely for this reason that the mainland's Chang'e-6 and subsequent Chang'e-7 lunar exploration vehicles will allow countries to join, and the mainland will not charge any fees, only the participating countries need to share scientific research data.
In fact, it is enough to see from the statement of the deputy director of the China Space Administration that the mainland has given a solution, as long as the United States is willing to lift the restrictions, the mainland is willing to share lunar soil with the United States, and can even carry out deeper cooperation with the United States in the follow-up lunar exploration program.
However, the "Wolf Clause", which was previously used to restrict the development of China's space technology, has now not only failed to restrict the development of China's space technology, but has become a constraint for the United States. Although the United States is also trying to cooperate with other countries, this has not brought effective help to the United States' lunar exploration program. It is enough to see from this lunar soil incident that the United States seems to have once again "inflicted its own problems."
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