NASA and China have been engaging in a non-competitive, indirect competition to see who will be the first to return to the moon, and the space agency has faced a couple of setbacks in its Artemis project, while China is exploring a “new engine running on hydrogen-oxygen”. The Cold War ended in the 1960s, but the space race never ended. Governments, private sector companies, and universities are all competing to be the first to achieve the next big thing in space exploration, with the goal of helping humans leave Earth.
Renewable sources of fuel are the future
One of the main reasons scientists continue to search for new, renewable sources of energy is because of the limited availability of fossil fuels and oil outside of Earth. As far as we know, there are no fossil fuels or oil outside the planet, and the process of replicating these resources to fuel space travel is not currently possible.
One possibility is extracting hydrogen from the South Pole of the moon to provide fuel for future missions. If this works, future missions would not need to carry all their fuel from Earth, as could instead refuel in space, which would be a game-changer. However, China and NASA are currently racing to be the first to achieve this goal, despite the fact that any region in space would not belong to the first country or organization to arrive.
China brought back hydrogen-oxygen engine
Between the end of 2024 and the start of 2025, China quietly made a significant breakthrough. They test-fired a brand-new 220-ton hydrogen-oxygen rocket engine, which is the most powerful engine of its type that they have ever built using this type of fuel. But what really makes it stand out is the design. What makes this engine stand out is its design, which uses a closed-cycle system. This means that it burns fuel in a way that produces more thrust, wastes less energy, and opens the door to reusability.
Hydrogen engines are being considered by multiple vehicle manufacturers, but it’s not a very common move in the space industry. Liquid hydrogen is one of the most efficient fuels, and when combined with liquid oxygen, it creates a clean-burning combination that does not harm the ozone layer and is also renewable.
NASA has placed a significant bet big on this technology. Its Artemis program is built around the Space Launch System (SLS), which uses a similar hydrogen-oxygen setup. The goal is to return humans to the Moon for the first time in decades. Later, it can be used to a retrieve mission in Mars to recover the samples taken by the rovers in the Red Planet. Artemis II and III are on the horizon, with the latter expected to carry the next crew to the lunar surface, the first time since 1969.
China should be ready to launch in a couple of years
China, on the other hand, is moving quickly. The recent engine test shows just how far they have come in a short time. A reusable, high-thrust engine could give them the power to launch heavier spacecraft, support longer missions, and eventually land their own astronauts on the moon.
The competition between NASA and China is not a simple sprint to see who lands the best engine first. The Space Treaty, signed by over 200 countries, states that no country or government has the right to claim ownership of a specific part of space. The treaty also prohibits the development of projects related to space exploration as a means of exerting political leverage.
Whoever reaches a new destination first and sets up infrastructure, what humanity might never do because of the lack of conditions for a space colonization.