Over the past two months, the heads of NASA and the China National Space Administration (CNSA) have jointly and separately called for renewing cooperation in space exploration between the United States and China.

The renewed call for cooperation comes amid separate programs by both NASA and CNSA to land humans on Mars by the 2030s. NASA later this year will see the first launch of its Space Launch System (SLS) heavy rocket that will take a multinational team of astronauts to land on Mars by 2035.

Like Us on Facebook

China plans to land its first robot rover on Mars by 2021 and is currently developing a heavy rocket that can reach the Red Planet. Over the next 15 years, China will develop and launch a heavy lift rocket nearly 10 meters in diameter and with five times the carrying capacity of current rockets for voyages to Mars.

Last April, CNSA head Prof. Wu Weiren affirmed China is ready to again work with the U.S. despite the legal ban on cooperation imposed by the U.S. and the perception among influential members of the U.S. Congress that CNSA remains a military-led organization whose priority is to ensure China's military dominance of space beneath the guise of a civilian space program.

CNSA is an agency of the State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND), a pseudo-civilian organization apparently led by military officers of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

SASTIND and its predecessor have played a key role in developing China's space program since 1956 when China began its ballistic missile program. Today, SASTIND is China's comprehensive administrative office for national defense science; military technology and military industries.

"We would like to cooperate with the US, especially for space and moon exploration. We would welcome this very much," said Wu.

"We have urged the US many times to get rid of restrictions, so scientists from both countries can work together on future exploration.'"

And this May, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden suggested the United States resume cooperation with China in space by having Congress revise U.S. Public Law 112-55, Sec. 539 that bans any cooperative effort among the space programs of both the U.S. and China.

"We were in an incredible Cold War with the Soviets at the time we flew Apollo-Soyuz. It was because leaders in both nations felt it was time," said Bolden.

"That represented a great use of soft power, if you will. Look where we are today. I think we will get there (with China). And I think it is necessary."

Bolden suggested initial steps to unfreeze the thaw such as "working on weather satellite data sharing and things like that. Things that will make critics on China on Capitol Hill a little bit more relaxed about the idea of cooperation."

The 112^th U.S. Congress in November 2011 banned NASA from engaging in bilateral agreements and coordination with China, a ban enforced under Public Law 112-55, Sec. 539.

The probability of the U.S. Congress enacting a new law to overturn Public Law 112-55, Sec. 539 is remote considering the animosity between China and the U.S. over the South China Sea and the absence of lawmakers willing to go to bat for China.

The right wing Republican Party remains hostile towards China and its members control the committee in the House of Representatives responsible for NASA appropriations. The man who chairs the House of Representatives appropriations subpanel that oversees NASA, John Culberson (R-TX), in 2010 urged President Barack Obama not to allow further contact between NASA and CNSA.

"I have grave concerns about the nature and goals of China's space program and strongly oppose any cooperation between NASA and CNSA's human space flight programs without Congressional authorization," he said in a letter to Obama.

Bolden said he doesn't not expect the ban to be lifted during his tenure that ends with that of Obama's.

TagsNASA, China National Space Administration, Prof. Wu Weiren, charles bolden, SASTIND