Dec 21, 2023 02:00 AM
https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/12/us...ter-china/
EXCERPTS: A bipartisan committee in the US House of Representatives recently issued a report on the economic and technological competition between the United States and China and offered nearly 150 recommendations to "fundamentally reset" the relationship.
[...] "The Chinese Communist Party has pursued a multi-decade campaign of economic aggression against the United States and its allies in the name of strategically decoupling the People’s Republic of China from the global economy, making the PRC less dependent on the United States in critical sectors, while making the United States more dependent on (China)," the report states.
[...] The specific language in the report is this: "Fund NASA’s and the Department of Defense’s programs that are critical to countering the CCP’s malign ambitions in space, including by ensuring the United States is the first country to permanently station assets at all Lagrange Points. The CCP understands well the need for space-based operations and is developing formidable space capabilities to challenge US dominance in this domain."
So what are the Lagrange points, and why are they the new high ground in space? But the basic gist is that there are five points in the Earth-Moon system where the gravitational pull of the two bodies is effectively canceled out.
Each of these Lagrange points has some strategic value, but some more than others...
[...] The House report provides no detailed information about what kinds of assets the United States and its allies should stage at the Lagrange points. But it seems clear that a first step will involve satellites that provide better situational awareness to monitor what China and other actors are doing in cislunar space.
“We’re in another space race back to the Moon, and this time it’s with China," Duffy said. "We want to be first because we want to set the norms." (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: A bipartisan committee in the US House of Representatives recently issued a report on the economic and technological competition between the United States and China and offered nearly 150 recommendations to "fundamentally reset" the relationship.
[...] "The Chinese Communist Party has pursued a multi-decade campaign of economic aggression against the United States and its allies in the name of strategically decoupling the People’s Republic of China from the global economy, making the PRC less dependent on the United States in critical sectors, while making the United States more dependent on (China)," the report states.
[...] The specific language in the report is this: "Fund NASA’s and the Department of Defense’s programs that are critical to countering the CCP’s malign ambitions in space, including by ensuring the United States is the first country to permanently station assets at all Lagrange Points. The CCP understands well the need for space-based operations and is developing formidable space capabilities to challenge US dominance in this domain."
So what are the Lagrange points, and why are they the new high ground in space? But the basic gist is that there are five points in the Earth-Moon system where the gravitational pull of the two bodies is effectively canceled out.
Each of these Lagrange points has some strategic value, but some more than others...
[...] The House report provides no detailed information about what kinds of assets the United States and its allies should stage at the Lagrange points. But it seems clear that a first step will involve satellites that provide better situational awareness to monitor what China and other actors are doing in cislunar space.
“We’re in another space race back to the Moon, and this time it’s with China," Duffy said. "We want to be first because we want to set the norms." (MORE - missing details)