31–40 of 76 posts
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?)
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.
As we gain ability to do my re in space more cheaply it will get more important
In https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46061943 danishSuri1994 said that if others like China and ESA did not also develop reusable rockets they would be priced out of orbit access entirely. I have a question about that, but their comment got killed faster than I could type and submit my question so I'll ask it a level up. Why would not having reusable rockets price someone like China or ESA out of orbit access? I c…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
I actually think the US industry is perfectly capable of competing in the space race if given regulatory streamlining, long-term consistent goals, and relatively modest funding by congress. But none of those are going to happen. I mean SpaceX was delayed to do an environmental impact statement to check whether their rockets would land on whales in the gulf of mexico. Nobody's serious.
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.
It feels like China hit an inflection point where they can rapidly progress, catch up, and perhaps surpass the US technologically. The road out of “developing country” took forever but now I see them producing great products in basically every industry. I think this is still a negative for the US though. China’s competitiveness means the Dollar and the US economy aren’t going to be dominant for long, or at least they…
Hard choices lie ahead.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It feels like China hit an inflection point where they can rapidly progress, catch up, and perhaps surpass the US technologically. The road out of “developing country” took forever but now I see them producing great products in basically every industry. I think this is still a negative for the US though. China’s competitiveness means the Dollar and the US economy aren’t going to be dominant for long, or at least they…
> The road out of “developing country” took forever but now I see them producing great products in basically every industry. Did it? We're talking 1949 up to a few years ago. 70 odd years from mass starvation to having their own space station. One could even say it's less than that, starting with the reforms in the 80s.
[1] https://petapixel.com/2025/09/26/incredible-photos-show-the-...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It feels like China hit an inflection point where they can rapidly progress, catch up, and perhaps surpass the US technologically. The road out of “developing country” took forever but now I see them producing great products in basically every industry. I think this is still a negative for the US though. China’s competitiveness means the Dollar and the US economy aren’t going to be dominant for long, or at least they…
It's hard to see how China can sustain itself economically when the population is predicted to half by the end of the century and 30% the population will be >65 years old by 2050. Hard choices lie ahead.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
You are missing that the money and research into figuring out how to solve many engineering and scientific challenges related to the missions had tremendous benefit to industry later. As we gain ability to do my re in space more cheaply it will get more important
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.
A Far Side lunar base is not some cool sci fi brag. It is a massive strategic advantage, and brushing it off misses everything that actually matters.
The Far Side is the only place in the Earth Moon system where you can hide military hardware and basically disappear. No optical tracking, no radar, no interception. The Moon itself becomes a giant wall of rock that blocks sensors, lasers, and signals. It is the closest thing to perfect concealment anyone is ever going to get in space.
From that position, gravity is on your side. Sending kinetic weapons toward Earth takes almost no energy. Sending anything from Earth to the Moon takes a huge amount of fuel just to fight the gravity well. The attacker on the surface is always at a disadvantage, and the lunar side barely has to spend anything to strike.
A base on the Moon also survives whatever happens on Earth. Even a full scale nuclear exchange leaves it untouched. That means guaranteed retaliation. It becomes a true third strike platform, something no one can wipe out in a first strike. It locks in deterrence in a way that completely changes the strategic balance.
And if one country gets there first, mutual deterrence is over. They hold an untargetable, unreachable launch point that the rest of the planet cannot neutralize. That is not a symbolic win. It is unilateral control over the highest ground humanity has access to.
I honestly do not know why some people do not see it. This is literally rewriting Earth geopolitics. For hundreds of years we worked within Mackinder’s logic: Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; who rules the Heartland commands the World Island; who rules the World Island commands the World.
With a lunar base it becomes: Who rules the Moon commands cislunar space; who commands cislunar space commands Earth orbit; who commands Earth orbit commands the Earth.
This is not about pride or prestige. It is about who controls the one location in the solar system that offers absolute strategic dominance. Whoever controls the Moon controls the high ground.
Good luck competing with China if they get there first.
EDIT: Apparently posting six comments in thirty minutes counts as "You're posting too fast. Please slow down. Thanks. " and whoever decided that is a proper knob. I got throttled again, so if you reply, I can't respond anymore for now.
In https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46061943 danishSuri1994 said that if others like China and ESA did not also develop reusable rockets they would be priced out of orbit access entirely. I have a question about that, but their comment got killed faster than I could type and submit my question so I'll ask it a level up. Why would not having reusable rockets price someone like China or ESA out of orbit access? I c…