Twelve years ago, Peter Navarro and Greg Autry wrote,Death by China: Confronting the Dragon — A Global Call to ActionPublished in 2011, this prescient book warned of the Chinese Communist Party’s global assault on human rights and the environment, as well as its increasingly aggressive military posture. It also devoted an entire chapter to China’s expanding space capabilities, warning that “China’s aggressive expansion into space could be the ultimate weapon to bring the United States to its knees.”
I wish I could dismiss Autry and Navarro as overblown alarmists, but unfortunately, they were right. Death by China, for example, warned that Chinese destructive kinetic energy anti-satellite tests would pose a threat to space navigation, and noted that China was actively testing the ability of powerful ground-based lasers to “dazzle” or degrade U.S. space assets. Years later, when I served as commander of the International Space Station, we were forced to maneuver to avoid debris from a Chinese ASAT test.
Red Moon Rising argues that landing an American on the moon is as important a victory today as it was during the Cold War, but the vision must be much bigger.
A few months later, while gazing out my window one night into the darkness of western China, I suddenly saw a disorientingly bright flash of light: a laser beam from a Chinese ground station. These two events left me in no doubt that our friends in China were planning to dominate space, by any means necessary.
Their recently published book,Red Moon Rises: How America Can Beat China on the Final Frontier,Autry and Navarro provide an updated description of this very real threat and offer a series of concrete policy recommendations to ensure U.S. leadership in space.
Space Race 2.0 is here. While the deterioration of relations between the West and China has brought us to the brink of a strange new Cold War, the authoritarian state of China is clearly overtaking Russia to assume the role of the world’s second largest space power. China has no intention of stopping there, declaring its official national goal of space leadership by 2045. If that happens, it will be very bad for America and all freedom-loving people on Earth.
“Red Moon Rising” highlights the significant threats we would face in a future conflict with China in space, including nuclear high-energy electromagnetic pulse weapons. Just as China and Russia have declared their “unlimited” cooperation on Earth, the two countries appear poised to cooperate in space, including the frightening possibility of using HEMP.
Readily available Chinese military documents not only reveal the capability to deploy these weapons, but also make it frighteningly clear that Beijing considers HEMP a type of “cyber weapon” that is not bound by the international agreements and norms that have long constrained the use of conventional nuclear weapons.
This book also examines the Chinese Party’s official newspaper, Global Timeshas publicly stated that “EMP is not actually an act of war.”
Autry and Navarro don’t just focus on the negative. Their most important insight is a set of concrete policy recommendations to ensure America’s success in space and a peaceful international future. Red Moon Rising argues that landing Americans on the Moon through the Artemis program is as essential a victory today as it was during the last Cold War, but the vision must be much bigger. They write:
The key words here are “sustainable,” “long-term,” and “utilization.” We’re not going to do another “flag and footprint”; we’re going to return to the Moon in the long term, leverage the resources there, and build a sustainable space economy centered on commerce. The goal is very clear: America intends to lead humanity in settling the solar system and using the wealth it contains to improve life on Earth. We’re not going to let China and Russia define the future of humanity in space or on Earth.
Red Moon Rising places notable American commercial space companies at the center of the book. It provides a fascinating look at the early emergence of the industry, and many of the policy recommendations revolve around economic growth, building commercial space infrastructure, and reducing program costs through greater use of public-private partnerships. The author wisely advises that “socialism cannot beat China in a centrally planned, government-led space race.”
Red Moon Rising is an informative and fun read – every claim is backed up with direct quotes and data, with over 40 pages of recommended sources and footnotes – and perhaps most importantly, Autry and Navarro use wry humor to find hope in even the darkest future space scenarios.
