NASA has no choice but to refuse China’s request for help on a new space station

The Martian has been praised as the rare science fiction movie that takes pains with scientific accuracy, but one of the more prosaic events in the movie is actually among the least likely.

In the film, Chinese and US space agencies work together to save the day. But in fact, that kind of international Kumbaya moment is forbidden by US law—a restriction underscored today (Oct. 13) at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC).

The chief designer of China’s space program, Zhou Jianping, said his country would solicit international partners for a space station it plans to launch in 2022, with opportunities ranging from shared experiments and spacecraft visits by foreign crews to building permanent modules to attach to the main station.

The European and Russian space agencies already have signed preliminary agreements with China, but NASA will have to snub the project.

The ban on cooperation between NASA and the China Manned Space Program is a legacy of conservative lawmaker Frank Wolf, who cut off any funding for work with China in protest of political repression there and for fear of sharing advanced technology; he retired in January, but the restrictions remain in place.

And NASA is not a fan of them.

More: Quartz