Episode 23 --- China’s Space Agenda Gets Serious

China is building on a decade of lunar exploration with this month’s launch of its Chang’e 5 sample return mission; China has an orbiter and lander halfway to Mars; and by 2022 plans on putting a permanently crewed 60-ton space station in low-Earth orbit.  They even have long term plans for mining Helium-3 on the Moon.  In this episode, China space expert David Burbach of the U.S. Naval War College discusses these and other issues, in particular, how the current election will affect NASA’s own Artemis schedule and China as a potential threat beyond low-Earth orbit.