NASA imposes blanket ban on Chinese nationals accessing worksites and calls

• NASA will no longer allow any Chinese nationals to contribute
• China and the US are competing in a new age space race
• A Chinese spy carried out an espionage campaign against US tech targets

NASA has confirmed that Chinese nationals are now barred from accessing NASA assets and premises, and are no longer allowed to join its programs even if they have valid visas.

“Nasa has taken internal action pertaining to Chinese nationals, including restricting physical and cybersecurity access to our facilities, materials and network to ensure the security of our work,” press secretary Bethany Stevens said.

From September 5, some individuals were suddenly shut out of their IT systems and were locked out of in-person meetings. Although they weren’t working as staff, some had previously been working as contractors or contributing to research as students, The Guardian reports.

Space race

Tensions are rising between China and the US, especially given the discovery of a continued espionage campaign carried out by a dual US/Chinese citizen in which sensitive data was exfiltrated.

NASA works closely with the US military, and the spy was allegedly able to steal information on radiation-hardened cameras that the US uses to send early warnings for hypersonic missiles and rockets, as well as data from sensors used by aircraft to confuse infrared heat-seeking missiles.

Reports confirm that over 3,600 documents were downloaded by the spy, from two electronics manufacturers. Geopolitical tensions have seen the two states compete to develop faster, more efficient, and more powerful technologies in almost every industry.

Both China and the US are currently working towards sending crews to the moon, with the US’s Artemis program aiming for a 2027 landing - although it has experienced delays.

“We’re in a second space race right now,” Nasa’s acting administrator, Sean Duffy, said on Wednesday at a news conference about discoveries made with a US rover on Mars.

“The Chinese want to get back to the moon before us. That’s not going to happen. America has led in space in the past and we are going to continue to lead in space in the future.”

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