EXCLUSIVE: Moon sample talks show space engagement by rivals US and China | Space

By Joey Roulette | REUTERS

NASA and Chinese officials are engaged in talks to let American scientists analyze rocks retrieved by China from the moon’s far side, according to the head of the U.S. space agency, as Washington pursues improved communication with Beijing on issues involving space.

China in June became the first country to collect rock samples from the permanently dark side of the moon’s surface, a demonstration of its growing prowess in space. Chinese officials offered the material to the world’s scientists for study, but publicly mentioned a U.S. law that limits cooperation by NASA with China.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said officials with his agency have been discussing with their Chinese counterparts the terms of Beijing’s loan agreement for the moon rocks after he assured American lawmakers “a month or two ago” that the talks would not pose national security concerns.

“We are now going through further clarification” with China, Nelson told Reuters at the International Astronautical Congress, a gathering of the world’s space agencies, in Milan.

Nelson said he thinks the talks will end “positively,”…