MILAN — China unveiled a rock sample from the moon’s far side to a space summit overshadowed by shifting political and commercial rivalries on Monday, with traditional space power Russia absent from the Milan gathering amid tensions with the West.
The International Astronautical Congress (IAC) has been a venue since 1950 for scientists, engineers, companies and politicians of space-faring nations to discuss cooperation, even during the Cold War.
At the latest edition in Milan, the China National Space Administration showcased a rock sample that its Chang’e 6 rover fetched from the moon’s far side — the first such exploit and widely seen as evidence of Beijing’s rising space-power status.
A Chinese official whisked a red blanket off a glass case containing the tiny lunar fragment at a ceremony witnessed by space agency chiefs of Europe, the United States, Japan and elsewhere.
For its part, NASA was displaying rocks that its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft retrieved from the Bennu asteroid in 2023. “This is the most exciting time in space since the Apollo era in the 1960s,” Clay Mowry, president of the 77-nation International Astronautical Federation, the non-profit that organises the annual congress, told Reuters.
Talks were expected to touch heavily on lunar exploration, NASA’s growing coalition under its Artemis moon programme and Europe’s pressing need for more sovereign access to space.
A record 7,197 technical abstracts have been submitted.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson was expected to use the event to rally support for plans to tap private companies to replace the ageing International Space Station after its 2030 retirement.