NASA restricts Chinese nationals from agency facilities and systems

NASA has blocked Chinese nationals from using its facilities, materials and computer networks, effectively barring some researchers, contractors and students with valid U.S. visas from working at the agency, officials and news reports said.

The restrictions, first reported by Bloomberg and confirmed by NASA, were discovered by affected individuals on Sept. 5 when they found themselves denied access to the agency's data systems and excluded from meetings related to their work, both in person and virtually. NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens told news outlets the agency had taken "internal action pertaining to Chinese nationals — including restricting physical and cybersecurity access to our facilities" to "ensure the security of our work."

Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, reported that the move applied to Chinese citizens who had been contributing to NASA research as contractors or students rather than as agency employees. It was not immediately clear how much advance notice, if any, NASA provided to those who lost access or how many people were affected.

The action marks a further narrowing of scientific and technical collaboration between the United States and China at a time of rising geopolitical and technological competition. China is already barred from participating in the International Space Station after U.S. restrictions, including the so-called Wolf Amendment, prohibit NASA from using federal funds to engage in bilateral cooperation with China without explicit congressional approval.

U.S. officials have said national security concerns and the rapid pace of China's space program underlie the new restrictions. NASA's acting administrator, Sean Duffy, framed the broader competition as a renewed space race, saying at a news conference that "the Chinese want to get back to the moon before us," and asserting the United States would not be overtaken. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz echoed lawmakers' concerns for U.S. strategic advantage at a recent Senate hearing, saying, "If our adversaries achieve dominant space capabilities, it would pose a profound risk to America... [the] stakes could not be higher."

Beijing has framed its space ambitions as part of a collective mission for humanity. Last year the director of the general technology bureau of China's Manned Space Agency described U.S. worries as "unnecessary," and Chinese officials have emphasized their plans to accelerate lunar and deep-space exploration. The two countries have both announced plans for crewed lunar missions in coming years.

The rivalry extends beyond prestige to resources and commercial opportunity. The moon's surface contains minerals and metals such as iron and titanium, as well as helium-3, a potential fuel for future fusion technologies, and rare earth elements that are critical to modern electronics. Control of those resources, and of the infrastructure and technologies that enable access to them, is a key part of strategic calculations in Washington and Beijing.

The new NASA restrictions follow a broader tightening of U.S. screening of foreign students and researchers, especially those from China, amid a series of prosecutions and allegations involving intellectual property theft and espionage. Scientists and academics have increasingly faced scrutiny, visa delays and additional vetting that critics say can chill legitimate research cooperation.

NASA did not immediately provide operational details about the technical or administrative mechanisms used to restrict access, nor did it specify whether any work would continue under alternative arrangements. Agency officials have said the measures are intended to protect sensitive information, but they did not outline how long the restrictions would remain in place or whether exemptions could be granted.

Advocates for scientific openness warn that reduced collaboration can slow research and complicate international responses to global challenges, while national security proponents argue that tighter controls are necessary to prevent the transfer of technologies with military applications. The move by NASA underscores the growing difficulty of balancing scientific exchange with security concerns as the United States and China deepen competition across space exploration, advanced technology and defense.

As both countries accelerate lunar and space programs, the new restrictions mark another point of friction in a relationship that observers say will shape the trajectory of space exploration and the governance of activities beyond Earth orbit in the years ahead.