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The intelligence community now assesses with confidence that China is poised to succeed in landing humans on the moon and constructing a permanent base camp at the lunar south pole by the end of this decade.

China has repeatedly stunned the U.S. intelligence community with rapid progress in its space exploration program. Their advances have established that a new space race is on between Washington and Beijing — this time with the ultimate goal of sending a crewed mission to Mars.

America’s success may come down to a team of scientists based out of Idaho Falls.

The intelligence community now assesses with confidence that China is poised to succeed in landing humans on the moon and constructing a permanent base camp at the lunar south pole by the end of this decade, four intelligence officials told McClatchy.

Among the 21 missions set to be ordered in the fifth year of Phase 2 task orders, only eight are anticipated to be ordered under a continuing resolution.

U.S. defense and space agencies are working toward the world’s first in-orbit demo of a nuclear thermal rocket. It will support commercial activit on the moon.

NASA will test a nuclear-powered rocket for space travel. The technology could speed up a manned trip to Mars from the current seven-month minimum to 45 days.

NASA in collaboration with the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is seeking a nuclear propulsion system that could potentially cut down the travel time to Mars by half.

2 Government, Industry Explore Nuclear, Solar Space Engines COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado — More commercial and military activity is taking place in space, and the Defense Department and industry are investing in emerging propulsion technologies to move systems in orbit faster, farther and more efficiently. ............................................In 2021, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency selected Lockheed Martin…