Welcome to space race 2.0

As competing nations set their sights on lunar resources, the US has made some unlikely alliances in an effort to maintain a technological lead over China, writes Christian Davenport

- Christian Davenport

Saudi Arabia is not known for space exploration. Its space agency is barely four years old. It has never launched a rocket and claims a single astronaut: Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, a member of the Saudi royal family who flew on the American STS-51-G space shuttle in 1985.

But the kingdom has signed on to Nasa's moon programme, a quest to explore the lunar surface as well as a massive diplomatic effort led by the United States to create a broad international coalition in space, even with countries with little or no experience outside Earth's atmosphere - or, as in the case of Saudi Arabia, countries whose relations with the US are strained. More than 20 countries have signed on to what Nasa calls the Artemis Accords, a legal framework that establishes rules for the peaceful use of space and governs behaviour on the surface of the moon.

The accords are perhaps the most ambitious international space policy effort since the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. They would require countries to adhere to a set of rules, such as publicly sharing scientific discoveries and creating "safety zones" where nations could work undisturbed on the lunar surface.

But the accords are designed to do far more. They are intended to foster an alliance in space that would allow the United States to finally return to the moon and create an enduring presence there - a key step in what some consider to be a space race with China. In conjunction with the State Department, Nasa has sought to create a broad coalition under the accords, with traditional allies such as Canada and France, as well as countries seeking to build their space programmes, such as the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria and Rwanda.