China plans to launch three missions to the moon after discovering a new lunar mineral that could be a future energy source. The space race between China and the US is accelerating after Beijing’s National Space Administration got the green light to launch three orbiters to the Moon in the next 10 years, it announced on Saturday. The news was first reported by Bloomberg. It comes a day after China became the third country to discover a new lunar mineral, which it named Changesite-(Y), according to China’s state-run Global Times newspaper. China’s Chang’e-5 mission retrieved samples from the Moon in 2020 and has been described by the Global Times as a “columnar crystal phosphate mineral” found in lunar rock particles. The mineral contains helium-3, which could be a future energy source. The discovery may put more pressure on the US to step up its efforts after delaying its Artemis I moon mission for a second time. Mining on the moon could be the next source of tension between the countries, as NASA is also exploring the moon’s south pole, where China plans to build a research station in partnership with Russia. China has stepped up its space exploration efforts lately by building a space station, launching a series of missions to collect moon samples and placing a rover called Zhurong on Mars earlier this year to rival NASA. The US Apollo 11 mission was the first to bring samples from another planet back to Earth in July 1969, with about 49 pounds (22 kg) of material from the lunar surface. The China National Space Agency has been contacted for comment.
