Люди во время встречи первого восхода солнца Нового 2023 года в Сеуле  - Sputnik International, 1920, 21.04.2023
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US' Wolf Amendment Fails to Hinder China’s Impressive Space Exploration Program

© Sputnik / Anna Ratkoglo / Go to the mediabankChina's Long March-5 Y8 heavy-lift rocket carrying the Chang'e-6 lunar probe
China's Long March-5 Y8 heavy-lift rocket carrying the Chang'e-6 lunar probe - Sputnik International, 1920, 22.07.2024
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After Beijing's Chang'e-6 probe carrying samples from the far side of the Moon successfully finished its mission, China welcomed international scientists to join in investigations into the materials. The US, however, opted to stick to its hawkish policy undermining the ties within the international scientific community.
China's Chang'e-6 space mission recently returned with the very first lunar samples that could contribute much to the study of the cosmic body. The mission was named after a Moon goddess from Chinese mythology.
The only nation to hesitate to partake in the joint research was the US, all because of the Wolf Amendment that restricts US-China space cooperation.

The Wolf Amendment is a law passed by the US Congress in 2011 that prohibits the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from using federal funding to engage in bilateral cooperation with the Chinese government, unless such operations are approved by the Congress or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The amendment can be seen as an attempt to undermine the soaring growth of China’s space exploration program.
A Long March 5 rocket, carrying the Chang'e-6 mission lunar probe, lifts off as it rains at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China's Hainan Province - Sputnik International, 1920, 03.05.2024
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For the past years, China has achieved much in space exploration. For example, the country has enhanced the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, fully assembled the Tiangong space station, the Tianwen-1 probe successfully landed on Mars, and, the most recently, the Chang'e-6 brought back 1,935.3 grams of lunar rock.
“It's [the amendment] almost propelled them [China] to make their own programs and missions to rival those in the US,” Makena Young, a fellow with the Aerospace Security Project at the American think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, commented on China’s progress in the area.
In a way, the Wolf Amendment is an extension of the harsh anti-Chinese sentiment prevalent in the US political establishment. It is hardly beneficial for US space efforts, and directly harms global space exploration efforts as a whole, experts stressed.

“The Wolf Amendment has really handcuffed earth sciences here at Langley. I've been told not to even answer emails from Chinese domains. From this perspective, the Wolf Amendment has stopped much earth science work from ever getting started,” said Greg Schuster, a research scientist at NASA's Langley Research Center.

He was echoed by Marco Aliberti, a senior research fellow at the European Space Policy Institute.

"You cannot build an effective solution for a global space governance without China participating in it," he underscored.

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