Chang'e-6 has successfully landed and brought back a "big gift", that is, a lunar soil sample taken from the far side of the moon, which has made NASA very jealous. Because although the United States is a space power, it has also collected lunar soil samples on the moon in the past, but they are only in some areas, and the United States has not even landed on the far side of the moon, let alone sampled. If NASA has access to lunar soil collected by China from the far side of the moon, it will be able to provide more reference information for the United States to visit the far side of the moon.
Chang'e-6 returned to Earth
However, to NASA's distress, although China is willing to share the results of lunar exploration with the outside world, it did not invite the United States this time. According to the Global Times, NASA spokesman Mark recently publicly stated that this time China took samples on the far side of the moon and invited France, Italy and other countries to participate, but did not seek cooperation with NASA. While China welcomes scientists from all over the world to participate in the study of lunar soil, it has not directly invited NASA.
In this regard, Mao Ning, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the mainland, made a positive response at a regular press conference on July 1. Mao Ning said that China is open to China-US space cooperation. Earlier, China issued an opportunity announcement to the world on the Chang'e-6 mission, welcoming all countries to participate in the study of lunar samples, but the US seems to have forgotten the existence of domestic laws such as the "Wolf Clause" and does not know whether the US government will allow US scientists and scientific research institutions to participate in exchanges and cooperation with China.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning
China has always emphasized win-win cooperation, but when it comes to cooperation, the US side does not have a positive attitude, and now that it is the turn of "win-win", the US side will have to step in sideways. On the issue of lunar soil lending, China has earlier issued regulations such as the "Measures for the Management of Lunar Samples", and everything must be done according to the process, and the Chinese side does not like to politicize scientific and technological issues. But the key point is that it is the United States that is now asking China to cooperate, and it is the United States that is hindering China-US cooperation. Even if China did not invite the United States, it was to help the United States abide by the "Wolf Clause".
Mao Ning's response was perfect. It not only shows China's willingness to cooperate with the international community in the field of aerospace, but of course, in fact, China also does the same. It also responded to why the US side was not invited to participate and roasted NASA on the fire. Now that the ball has come to the feet of the United States, whether it is to repeal the "Wolf Clause" through a bill, or for the sake of "political correctness", it will not apply to China to share lunar soil.
NASA
With the current political atmosphere in the US Congress, it is unrealistic to want to repeal the "Wolf Clause", and when the NASA administrator asked for funds in Congress, he was always under the banner of confronting China, but now he is asking Congress to repeal the "Wolf Clause", which obviously will not be supported. But for NASA, the United States is now facing an unprecedented dilemma in the space field. For example, NASA's moon landing program, which has been restarted in recent years, has been repeatedly postponed for various technical reasons, indicating that the United States has a big problem with its engineering capabilities in the space field. Therefore, if we want to seek development, it is indispensable to strengthen foreign cooperation.
In fact, the answer to what the United States will choose has already been given when Chang'e-5 brought back lunar soil samples, that is, to give Congress the green light to treat this cooperation as a special case without abolishing the "Wolf Clause". It is reported that five American scientists with close ties with NASA have applied to China to borrow the lunar soil brought back by Chang'e-5.
U.S. Congress
From China's point of view, the decision on whether to borrow from the United States or not is in the hands of China. If the U.S. wants to seek cooperation with China, it must do at least two things first. The first thing to do is to get your attitude right. Judging from NASA spokesman Mark's statement, it is full of arrogance, and it seems that China must cooperate with the United States to carry out its lunar exploration program, and it cannot do without the United States. China does not accept such arrogance, and the United States is not qualified to play in front of China. The second thing is to clear the obstacles. Earlier, in response to this topic, Bian Zhigang, deputy director of the Continental Space Administration, clearly pointed out that the root cause of the obstacle to Sino-US space cooperation lies in the "Wolf Clause" of the US side. If this obstacle is not removed, it will be difficult for China and the United States to carry out more extensive cooperation in the aerospace industry.
If the US side fails to do even these two things, it is completely reasonable for China not to borrow them. The participation of Europe and some developing countries in the Chang'e-6 lunar sampling mission is enough to prove that China's space cooperation is transparent and open, and there is no need to prove this through cooperation with the United States.