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China Has Three Reusable Rockets Ready for Their Debut Flights

china-in-space.com

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Re: China Has Three Reusable Rockets Ready for Their Debut Flights

#11

Post by Koala_ice »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #8
delusional wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't necessarily think the knowledge is lost, but the second system effect sure is in full swing.

It isn’t lost. But it’s decaying. I remember picking through an aerospace scrapyard in North Hollywood a decade ago with extremely-talented launch engineers (and entrepreneurs). The aim was to look at parts, measure them and figure out why they were built like they were. We looked, a little, at stuff like nozzles. But mostly we focussed on bolts, joiners, turbine blades and the like.

That sounds like living amongst the ruins of the Roman Empire

Re: China Has Three Reusable Rockets Ready for Their Debut Flights

#12

Post by bpodgursky »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #2

That's awesome. Secretly (?) I'm hoping for another "space race"— this time between the U.S. and China. I'm hoping this for the U.S.'s sake. I'm hoping that good can come of it.

Would the US even fight?

We've lost the shipbuilding race, auto race, drone race, without anyone in DC actually noticing. Most Americans don't even realize China has a manned space station. If China had a presence on the moon, would that wake up congress, or would they just put out a few tweets and go back to cultural dramatics?

Re: China Has Three Reusable Rockets Ready for Their Debut Flights

#13

Post by perihelions »

foobarian wrote: post #10
JKCalhoun wrote: post #2

That's awesome. Secretly (?) I'm hoping for another "space race"— this time between the U.S. and China. I'm hoping this for the U.S.'s sake. I'm hoping that good can come of it.

I can't help but wonder about why countries are doing this. Launch detection? Cameras? Other secret use? Making money for commercial sats? (Starlink, maybe GPS-equivalent, other?)

Satellite constellations (links in the final paragraph of the OP article).

Re: China Has Three Reusable Rockets Ready for Their Debut Flights

#14

Post by MichaelNolan »

spyspy wrote: post #3
JKCalhoun wrote: post #2

That's awesome. Secretly (?) I'm hoping for another "space race"— this time between the U.S. and China. I'm hoping this for the U.S.'s sake. I'm hoping that good can come of it.

If you haven't been following space updates closely, the US is _already_ in a race with China, especially in regards to the Artemis (moon) missions. That being said it's mostly being used as an excuse to keep SLS alive and prop up the legacy space contractors... It's hard to lose a contest you won 60 years prior...

> It's hard to lose a contest you won 60 years prior...

If you pick a random person off the street and ask them who discovered the Americas will they answer 1. Leif Erikson, 2. Indigenous peoples or 3. Christopher Columbus? If you ask people who invented the smartphone will they say Apple or some other company?

It’s absolutely possible to lose a race you had previously won.

Re: China Has Three Reusable Rockets Ready for Their Debut Flights

#18

Post by estimator7292 »

bpodgursky wrote: post #12
JKCalhoun wrote: post #2

That's awesome. Secretly (?) I'm hoping for another "space race"— this time between the U.S. and China. I'm hoping this for the U.S.'s sake. I'm hoping that good can come of it.

Would the US even fight? We've lost the shipbuilding race, auto race, drone race, without anyone in DC actually noticing. Most Americans don't even realize China has a manned space station. If China had a presence on the moon, would that wake up congress, or would they just put out a few tweets and go back to cultural dramatics?

Honestly I doubt it. Current government doesn't really have the ability to get their shit together and compete with anyone in any capacity.

As much as usgov would love another reason to clutch pearls and shriek about China, we simply don't have the industry or resources to compete without a federal investment so massive that we wouldn't have any tax money left to give to the already ludicrously wealthy. And we can't have that.

But really american industry has been so thoroughly gutted that we can't compete anymore. Everyone else builds everything better and cheaper than we can. If there's a new space race to be had, we've already lost.

Re: China Has Three Reusable Rockets Ready for Their Debut Flights

#19

Post by nitwit005 »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #2

That's awesome. Secretly (?) I'm hoping for another "space race"— this time between the U.S. and China. I'm hoping this for the U.S.'s sake. I'm hoping that good can come of it.

The practical part of space flight is launching satellites, and weapons. Both countries are already doing both.

If we're discussing manned missions to the moon or Mars, as an American I'd prefer China spent all the money and the US didn't bother. It'd be cool to see it happen, but no one can identify practical benefits, aside from a political win.

Re: China Has Three Reusable Rockets Ready for Their Debut Flights

#20

Post by xnorswap »

MichaelNolan wrote: post #14
spyspy wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you haven't been following space updates closely, the US is _already_ in a race with China, especially in regards to the Artemis (moon) missions. That being said it's mostly being used as an excuse to keep SLS alive and prop up the legacy space contractors... It's hard to lose a contest you won 60 years prior...

> It's hard to lose a contest you won 60 years prior... If you pick a random person off the street and ask them who discovered the Americas will they answer 1. Leif Erikson, 2. Indigenous peoples or 3. Christopher Columbus? If you ask people who invented the smartphone will they say Apple or some other company? It’s absolutely possible to lose a race you had previously won.

Or indeed, ask them who won the space race, because by most measures, that was the Soviets too.

Soviets achieved:

  - First artificial Orbit ( Sputnik )
  - First animal to orbit ( Laika )
  - First Man to orbit ( Yuri Gagarin )
  - First Woman to orbit (Valentina Tereshkova )
  - First EVA ( Alexei Leonov )
  - First moon landing ( Luna 9 )
  - First landing on another planet ( Venera 8 )
Many of these years before the USA achieved the equivalent. The first female US astronaut wasn't until the mid 1980's.

The Americans were at one point beat so bad that they invented their own game that only they were playing.

Yes, that spurred their entire economy and the boosted scientific investment paved the way for the decades of dominance since, and that should be rightly celebrated, but the idea that the USA "Won the space race" because of the moon landing is Hollywood nonsense.

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