War on Earth could spill over to the moon, Chinese space scientists warn
Study models how geopolitical tension could extend into orbit with rival spacecraft dogfighting, evading each other or blocking strategic routes
Spacecraft could hide in the complex gravitational environment around the moon, where their trajectories are difficult to predict, before emerging and moving towards targets closer to Earth when needed, according to a team from the Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xian.
The craft could also be stationed near “choke points” – regions where important or fuel-efficient routes converge – ready to intercept rivals and potentially force them to break through or take less efficient routes, the researchers wrote in the Chinese-language Journal of Command and Control in July.
Such capabilities could have an impact without an actual confrontation, they argued.
“Without directly using force, [a country could] compel an adversary to change its route, delay a mission, give up a launch window or incur higher costs,” said Dang Zhaohui, the report’s lead author and an associate professor at Northwestern Polytechnical University’s school of astronautics.
“What is at stake in cislunar orbital competition is not any single spacecraft, orbit or route, but the ability to access, control and use space – and to deter adversaries – that they provide.”