With the China-India space race getting everybody back in the 1960s Cold War attitude, it's good to see some truly bombastic, ridiculous claims about weaponising space. What's strange (and maybe worrying) is that the latest claim comes from a Chinese scientist on the lunar programme.
Jiang Jie, a scientist at the China National Space Administration's Lunar Exploration Programme Centre, told the Beijing Times that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is discussing the possiblity of establishing a missile base on the moon following the successful launch of the Chang'e-3 lunar module this week.
China, which plans to send its first astronaut to the moon by 2030, views the moon as a potentially deadly weapon, according to Jiang. Like the Death Star in Star Wars, the moon could be used as a military battle station to launch ballistic missiles at any target on Earth.
While this plan would not only ruin the "That's not a moon..." quote, it is also likely forbidden under the Outer Space Treaty, to which China is a signatory. The treaty prohibits the placement of weapons of mass destruction in space. A Space Preservation Treaty has also been proposed, which would ban the placement of all weaponry in space. (Also: the Death Star uses a Concave Dish Composite Beam Superlaser, not missiles, duh.)
Firing missiles from the moon would also be incredibly difficult from a practical perspective, due to having to take into account the Earth's gravitational field and orbital velocity. This is why the US in particular has focused efforts on laser-based space weapons, which are less affected by gravity or orbit.
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