## 3 Geopolitical Conditions
### The New Race  
The collapse of the USSR was the final chord of the space race, the arms race, as well as the Cold War in general and paved the way for U.S. world domination in the following decades, which are referred to as Pax American. In this period, one could observe the relaxation of geopolitical tensions after decades of the Cold War [37]. For space exploration,this pause meant the advent of global cooperation. The most appealing symbol of the phase of cooperation was the International Space Station (ISS), which was launched in 1998. However, with rising geopolitical tensions, cooperation has weakened. Russia has announced plans to exit the ISS by 2028, while NASA is planning to deorbit the ISS around 2030 [39; 40]. A new rival in space exploration has emerged against the U.S., China, which has been developing its space sector for years and in 2022 launched its national space station, Tiangong. China's space capabilities have long since overtaken those of Russia's faltering space program (see Figure 3). An apparent sign of weakness of Roscosmos was the crashing of Luna-25 in 2023, the first Russian lunar lander since 1976 [10; 20; 41]. In 1970, China launched its first satellite, becoming the fifth nation to reach orbit. In 2003, [PERSON]'s space flight made China the third country with an independent manned space mission in its track record. In the last two decades, China has significantly outpaced Russia and is now competing directly with the U.S. Driven by geopolitical ambitions and national prestige, China has significantly expanded its space capabilities, backed by substantial state funding and a long-term strategic vision. The Chang'e program has led to multiple successful lunar landings, including the first-ever landing on the Moon's far (dark) side (2019), which returned lunar samples (2020). Meanwhile, Tianwen-1 successfully placed a rover on Mars in 2021. A critical milestone was the completion of the Tiangong space station in 2022, making China the only country with its own national orbital station at the moment [10; 20; 41]. Both the U.S. and China seem to focus the efforts on the Moon. On the one hand, the Moon could be treated as a gateway to further deep space exploration and a source of valuable resources. The gravity well of the Moon is much easier to escape than the Earth's. Moreover, the resources of water ice and helium-3 could be used for rocket fuel and nuclear fusion. On the other hand, the Moon could be seen as a choke pointfrom the military applications and dominance in space perspective. NASA's Artemis program, launched in 2017, aimed to return humans to the Moon by 2026 (this date is already delayed) and establish a sustainable lunar presence. The Artemis Accords, signed by 53 nations under the U.S. umbrella, aim to create an international framework for lunar resource utilization and governance. China, in partnership with Russia, is countering this with the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), aiming for a 2030s Moon base. To the initiative, 11 other countries joined [41; 42; 43]. The U.S. has restructured its space policy by establishing the United States Space Force (USSF) in 2019, making it the sixth branch of the U.S. military [44]. \"China's military, the People's Liberation Army (PLA), oversees both military and civilian space activities\" [45]. The PLA \"is shifting from a force focused on nuclear deterrence to one more capable of achieving a variety of coercive effects in, from, and to space\" [46] (p. 2). From this point of view, space is emerging as a new domain of geopolitical competition. According to [47], worldwide government spending on space programs reached an all-time high of about 135 billion dollars in 2024. The United States led in space-related expenditures, allocating approximately 79.7 billion dollars, while China ranked second, investing nearly 20 billion dollars in space initiatives. In 2013, global public spending for space activities was estimated at 53.6 billion dollars.