The historical space race that occurred between the US and Russia during the cold war is clearly over, and cooperation seems to be the normal interaction among space programs today. However, with so much of that race having been ignited by the struggle to be the first to the moon, it is more than reasonable to worry if that trend will repeat itself with a race to the planet Mars. Everyone from Europe, India, Japan, and Australia to the three key players in space travel today, the United States, Russia, and up-and-coming China have space programs budding and eyes turned to Mars. Though their progress differs, all have studied Mars and possible travel to it.
The current state of European peace is providing a golden opportunity to focus on global scientific endeavors. Russia has announced a very ambitious plan of space exploration in years to come. It involves permanent habitation of the moon followed shortly by travel to Mars. Both India and China are in the throes of an unmanned lunar mission, and have research devoted to following it up with manned missions to both the moon and Mars.
Cold hostility towards the Chinese by the United States has forced their program to go the space race alone. In the same trend, the Soviet Union experienced a brief deceleration in its progress at the end of the Cold War. Because of the capitalist- communist conflict, much of the world is unwilling to share information or aide with the Chinese. To this day, the two share little direct contact at all, and have only collaborated to share information when it is on global rather than two-party terms. Fears are raging in the Western world that with new military-run operations by the Chinese in space that the next war of global proportions could take place not on the globe at all, but instead in the skies above it. This seems to be just another familiar piece in the puzzle of a race to space.
The good news is that despite much rivalry and competition, the similar interests of a diverse range of nations provide an ideal opportunity for cooperation and partnership. Evidence of this has already been seen in many programs such as the international space station as well as the possibility as an international human home on the moon. All in all, amazing steps are being taken towards an international home outside Earth’s atmosphere.
References
http://planetbye.blogspot.com/2009/03/mars-travel-preparations-in-russia.html
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3550741&page=1
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4208176.stm
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