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China lands rover on Mars

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Re: China lands rover on Mars

#51
post #38
post #25

I love that China is doing so well in space. I love that China has pulled millions out of poverty with an incredible economic uprising. However I'm terrified of the CCP. I'm terrified of the monitoring and suppression of dissenting views. I don't trust that they won't try to impose their influence on the rest of the world, and I'm not super happy about how they treat their own people. So news like this stirs very mix…

The problem is that some of those impressions you got about China are manufactured as part of the politics. Things can't be so torn, can they? Now it's your job to figure out which ones are manufactured and which ones are not.

I truly believe that the majority of Chinese civilians are well treated under their current government.

I also think the treatment of the Uyghurs is scary. That the control of media flowing into China is so controlled that the people are not free. The lack of democracy means there are not enough checks and balances to keep the people free. The way the one child policy has been enforced is not humane. The oppression of religion means people are not free.

I am not staying any country is perfect only that I would not like to live under that control. I also fear in my part of the world we could end up under their control in my lifetime.

Re: China lands rover on Mars

#52

This is good, there should always be friendly competition between Nations to drive Space Exploration. I hope this lights a bigger fire under the ass of the current US Administration and NASA to push ahead harder, faster and farther. The US doesn't know how lucky they are to have SpaceX and Musk.

SpaceX is no doubt cool. Nonetheless we're discussing China landing its first rover on a planet NASA's been flying a helicopter around for the last month. I mean, both are great accomplishments, but if you have to treat it as a competition and pick a winner...

Not to pour water on your statement, I'd say that the rate of change counts more. Nailing your first landing attempt on a powered descent (rocket-crate equivalent) is no mean feat. I'm actually pleasantly surprised given the high failure rate of Mars missions.

Re: China lands rover on Mars

#53

Um.. why isn't this being talked about more? I remember the discussions were very lively everywhere from Youtube to HN and Reddit when India was attempting to land its probe on the moon. A rover on Mars is a huge thing! Why are discussions relatively tame now?

Which India probe was this? I don't remember any discussion or news about India landing a probe on the moon in the past 10 years.

Re: China lands rover on Mars

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From 1947 to 1957 US media was filled with the idea that all progress in the Soviet Union was from stealing US innovations. Particularly the 1949 A-bomb, but other things as well. Then the Soviet Union launched Sputnik. Then they put a dog in space. Then they put a man in space. And the narrative changed.

> Then the Soviet Union launched Sputnik. Then they put a dog in space. Our german rocket scientists are better than your german rocket scientists! Operation paperclip, and all that.

One of the best books about soviet rocketry is "Rockets and People" ([1]). My blood boiled at how badly German engineers were treated on the Soviet side and how inefficient the use of their skills was. They literally landed Germans on an island and gave an important, but a standalone task (multi-channel telemetry). Over time, it became redundant and 7 years later all surviving german engineers were let to go home.

It's one sin to steal; it a bigger sin to not use what you have efficiently.

1. https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/rockets_people_vol1_deta...

Re: China lands rover on Mars

#55

This is good, there should always be friendly competition between Nations to drive Space Exploration. I hope this lights a bigger fire under the ass of the current US Administration and NASA to push ahead harder, faster and farther. The US doesn't know how lucky they are to have SpaceX and Musk.

The U.S. is lucky to have a billionaire made so through public funds?

Re: China lands rover on Mars

#56

> China had to develop all space technology on their own. It’s hard not to laugh at that statement. China runs the largest IP theft program in the world. To the point U.S. companies factor it in when doing business there. Just search this - https://duckduckgo.com/?q=china+steals&t=fpas&ia=web They also had the “thousand talents program”. That’s not to say what they did was not impressive, it was. But it’s also a lot…

Put your statement in some minimal check. The IP theft you are referring are just random business patent whose sole purpose is to prevent market competition... If you think a Mars Rover can be copied, well, you better copy one yourself...

[deleted]

Re: China lands rover on Mars

#57

> China had to develop all space technology on their own. It’s hard not to laugh at that statement. China runs the largest IP theft program in the world. To the point U.S. companies factor it in when doing business there. Just search this - https://duckduckgo.com/?q=china+steals&t=fpas&ia=web They also had the “thousand talents program”. That’s not to say what they did was not impressive, it was. But it’s also a lot…

>IP theft

I hope that one day we look back on Imaginary Property and the silly notion that pure information is a scarce resource that can be owned, and realize what a terrible anti-humanist idea it is. It was a concept dreamt up by lawyers primarily for lawyers.

Funnily enough, Elon Musk agrees, at least with regard to Tesla imaginary property: https://www.tesla.com/blog/all-our-patent-are-belong-you I'd hope he has the same approach with SpaceX things, but I admit I haven't looked into it as of this comment.

Re: China lands rover on Mars

#58
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is hard to separate China from such statements because China and its people are tightly coupled to the government. Not like the United States.

That's exactly the narrative that plays into the Chinese government's hands. That being said the Zhurong rover is funded by the China National Space Administration so it is actually the Chinese government. No one claims NASA employees act as private citizens.

SpaceX employees aren't USA employees.

That makes all the difference.

Re: China lands rover on Mars

#59
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same for China enable someone who is in charge of the mission to do whatever it is that person does... Can we stop for a moment to label anything from China with political statement?... Things are built by people, not some random business man...

It is hard to separate China from such statements because China and its people are tightly coupled to the government. Not like the United States.

Very funny to read this when the US went to the moon thanks to its government.

Re: China lands rover on Mars

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm not super happy about how they treat their own people Chinese people are certainly treated better from CCP than American people are treated. Look at the hate crimes targeted at Asian...

I don’t think the Uigyurs would agree with that statement. Particularly the ones that are being raped and re-educated in camps.

That's blatant slander. Think about the detergent presented as 'evidence of weapon of mass destruction' that led to the invasion of Iraq.
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