If both the US and China land their lunar rockets on the same spot near the Moon's south pole, there could be an awkward confrontation between the two countries.
NASA's first crewed mission to the lunar surface, Artemis 3, and China's Chang'e-7 lunar rover mission have the same landing sites, according to Space News.
The locations may have been chosen because of their high altitudes, good lighting conditions, and proximity to shadowed craters which may be able to trap lunar water-ice.
It's not clear how the US and China will deal with a potential landing site overlap for their lunar missions.
More and more countries are planning to visit the Moon, which leads to a brand new dilemma.
The US is hamstrung when it comes to space negotiations with China by an appropriations bill add-in known as the Wolf Amendment, which severely limits NASA's ability to work with it.
Both Barack Obama and Donald Trump tried to engage in space talks with China.
There are no public plans for the Biden administration to re- engage the dialogues.
The choices of the two countries for lunar landing sites could be the first of their kind.
Christopher Newman told SpaceNews that it was not hard to see why they both wanted the same spot. It is a prime lunar real estate.
He said that this could be the first point of conflict over resources outside of Earth.
The Outer Space Treaty should be used for peaceful purposes because both parties signed it, according to Newman.
A lot will depend on who gets there first, according to Newman.
The same landing sites are being eyed by NASA and China.
China slams NASA leadership after its moon launch failure.
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