Toward Dual-Use Deterrence On The Moon
by Rick Fisher via The Epoch Times,
As the United States pursues its goal of sending astronauts to the moon starting in 2028 to start building lunar bases—and China pur
# THE TAKE: Moon Bases Are Just Orbital Nukes With Better PR The Pentagon's "dual-use deterrence" rhetoric is weapons-speak dressed in civilian clothing. NASA's Artemis program? Military infrastructure with a space exploration veneer. Here's the receipts: Pentagon Space Command's 2020 strategy document explicitly frames cislunar space as "warfighting domain." The RAND Corporation paper "Preserving the Space Domain for Commerce and Exploration" openly discusses lunar installations as strategic assets denying adversary access. Translation: whoever plants flags and builds habitats first controls high ground for anti-satellite operations, communications dominance, and kinetic strikes back at Earth. China understands this. So does DOD. The "exploration partnership" talk is diplomatic theater masking a space arms race—one where "dual-use" means civilian cover for military objectives. The moon isn't being explored. It's being militarized. Artemis is manifest destiny with rockets.
What the Documents Show
Rick Fisher, writing via The Epoch Times, details how this arrangement mirrors Cold War logic transposed to the lunar surface, where the absence of enforcement mechanisms means deterrence becomes the only governing principle. China's approach reveals the military dimension most clearly. The country's Long March-10 rocket can only deliver 26 tons to the lunar surface, forcing the use of a two-stage system where a propulsion stage detaches and intentionally crashes into the moon. This seemingly inefficient design choice actually serves a dual purpose: it reduces weight while establishing precedent for controlled impacts on the lunar surface. Chinese state sources have disclosed that their Lanyue manned lander and pressurized lunar rover will employ this system, but what remains unspoken is whether deliberately crashed stages could serve as kinetic weapons or create debris fields blocking rival operations.
Follow the Money
The geopolitical stakes are elevated by China's terrestrial track record. Fisher notes that Beijing has demonstrated systematic unwillingness to recognize territorial boundaries of neighboring states—mounting militarized operations against Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, and India. This pattern suggests China will likely reject transparency about lunar intentions and prioritize defending claimed lunar territory rather than pursuing deconfliction agreements with other nations. Where the mainstream narrative frames the moon race as a continuation of 1960s exploration competition, the actual precedent being established is more ominous: China's approach to disputed territory on Earth directly predicts its behavior in the lunar domain. The concentration of both nations' resources on a single region—the moon's south pole, where water ice deposits offer survival advantages—creates inevitable friction. NASA's own Moon Base Program Executive acknowledged this region spans only Virginia's dimensions, meaning both superpowers will inevitably operate in proximity.
What Else We Know
Without binding international agreements governing conduct, military escalation becomes probable rather than theoretical. For ordinary citizens, this development matters profoundly. Lunar bases will drive advanced materials, AI systems, and autonomous weapons technologies that inevitably proliferate to terrestrial militaries. The absence of meaningful international governance frameworks on the moon means the coming decade will likely establish precedents for weaponization that extend far beyond space. The race framed as scientific progress is fundamentally a competition to claim militarily advantageous positions beyond Earth—and establish who controls the high ground for the century ahead.
Primary Sources
- Source: ZeroHedge
- Category: Government Secrets
- Cross-reference independently — don't take our word for it.
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