It’s unclear how China will use the win that would come from a successful Chang’e 7 mission, namely the visuals from its vehicles traversing the Moon’s South Pole. It has several options, one of the most intriguing being to claim that the territory explored by its rovers—establishing a keep-out zone for NASA.
That would be a clear provocation, but it could also further galvanize efforts in the United States to invest in Artemis and take the hard steps to accelerate its rollout. It would give Isaacman even more capital in his efforts to reform NASA.
One also suspects it may prompt people who do not view China’s efforts to “beat” NASA back to the Moon as a big deal to reconsider their position.
So the concern is the part of the moon everyone cares about is tiny. Previously it was easy to give other countries plenty of distance to do whatever they were doing. However now there’s a strong focus on places that appear to have exposed water ice, which is only a few craters near the South Pole. Suddenly the moon is tiny and we might be working elbow to elbow