NASA started blocking Chinese nationals with valid visas from participation in his programs, which emphasizes the escalating space trace between the two rival forces.
The policy change, first reported by Bloomberg News, was later confirmed by the US Space Agency.
“NASA has taken internal action with regard to Chinese nationals, including limiting access to physical and cyber security to our facilities, materials and network to guarantee the safety of our work,” NASA -press secretary Bethany Stevens told AFP on Wednesday.
According to Bloomberg, Chinese nationals were previously allowed to work as contractors or students who contribute to research, although not as staff.
But on 5 September several people told the outlet valve that they were suddenly locked up from IT systems and had not excluded personal meetings. They spoke on condition of anonymity.
The move comes in the midst of escalating anti-China rhetoric under the government of President Donald Trump. The United States and China compete to send crews to the moon.
The US Artemis Program, a follow-up to the Apollo landings of 1969-1972, focuses on a landing of 2027 but has undergone cost overruns and delays.
China, on the other hand, is intended to land his “Taikonauts” by 2030 as part of his program, and has recently been more successful in obtaining deadlines.
“We are now in a second room competition,” NASA’s acting manager Sean Duffy told reporters on Wednesday and spoke at a press conference with regard to discoveries with an American Rover on Mars.
“The Chinese want to go back to the moon for us. That is not going to happen. America has led into space in the past and we will continue to lead in space in the future.”
China also wants to be the first country that a monster from the Martian surface returns, planned with a robot mission to launch in 2028 and to reduce stones as soon as 2031.
The Trump administration has meanwhile noticed through its budget proposal that he wants to cancel a planned Mars Sample Return Mission, a joint project with the European Space Agency.
It has hinted that the job can be completed instead by a crew mission, although no fixed details have been provided.
