The US-China challenge, after the "terrestrial" matches on commercial tariffs, 5G and Hong Kong, moves to Space, the one with a capital S. After the Cold War which brought the United States and Russia to contend for the Moon, the great rivalry of the twenty-first century ups the ante and lands on Mars. With a third wheel: the Arab Emirates. Who will arrive first? The news of these days tell us that a new, fascinating and perhaps decisive chapter in the race for the Red Planet is about to open. The first to leave were the latest arrivals, the sheiks, for a mission, however, so to speak, "minor": the Al Amal mission will limit itself to orbiting around Mars to study its atmosphere.
Instead, in the next few days it will be the turn first of the Chinese "Question to Heaven" rocket and then of the American "Perseverance" robot, both directed towards the soil of the planet which reaches a distance of 400 million km from the Earth, and is considered the only where it is suspected that there may be forms of life. The two missions are therefore parallel and both will arrive at their destination no earlier than February 2021: a long journey, but less long than other times since in this period, which falls every 26 months, Mars and the Earth are separated by the shortest distance (from a maximum of 400 million km to a minimum of 56 million km) .
If therefore the choice of the moment is for astronomical reasons, it is to be sworn that the simultaneity of the missions will further unleash the rivalry between the two superpowers. The US has already been to Mars several times (the first one way back in 1976), while for Beijing this launch is an absolute first, in search of traces of past life or - who knows - of elements for a future colonization. President Xi Jinping has clear ideas: by 2049 China must officially become a "space power". And it's already making great strides. For example, last year the CNSA, the Chinese agency, was the first to land a spacecraft on the "dark" side of the moon.
Now, however, the focus is on the Red Planet, where not even the Soviets had ever arrived: so far only the USA and Europe have touched that soil so rich in iron oxide, which determines its rust colour, which recently, on 14 March 2016, launched through the European Space Agency (ESA) the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and the Schiaparelli Lander, part of the ExoMars mission. Schiaparelli actually failed to land, but he reached his destination anyway, gathering invaluable information. This time ESA is not in the game, but on the other hand a few days ago, thanks to the Solar Orbiter probe, photographed the Sun like never before, collecting the most detailed images ever obtained and discovering microflares never observed before.
Who will put the next medal on their chest? Even among the stars, China is gradually reducing the gap with the United States, and is now increasingly contending with Washington for technological supremacy, in various areas (think, for example, of the race for 5G). Next year, Beijing will begin composing its own orbiting station, which will compete with the international one (led by the United States), while a private company will test a reusable rocket, like those of Elon Musk. Around 2030 the CNSA even wants bring the first cosmonaut to the moon. In the meantime, the constellation of satellites for geolocation BeiDou has been completed, an alternative to the American GPS, essential for guaranteeing accurate maps for civilians and the military.
How does America respond? President Donald Trump is trying to relaunch with Artemis, a mission that by 2024 will put a station into orbit around the Moon and it will bring US astronauts back to stepping on its soil. Italy also got on board, reducing cooperation with the Chinese. The race to the stars has started, the next stop is Mars.
