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https://www.newsweek.com/china-take-over...ce-1721493

EXCERPTS: Speaking to German newspaper Bild on Saturday, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, who was sworn in as head of NASA in May last year, said there was a "new race to space" between the U.S. and China—a reference to the previous space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union between the 1950 and 70s.

[...] Nelson told Bild on Saturday, translated from German: "We must be very concerned that China is landing on the moon and saying: 'It's ours now and you stay out.'"

However, Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, hit back at the remarks during a ministry press conference on Monday. "This is not the first time that the NASA administrator has lashed out at China in disregard of facts," Lijian said. "Some U.S. officials have spoken irresponsibly to misrepresent the normal and legitimate space endeavors of China. China firmly rejects such remarks."

Lijian went on to accuse the U.S. of having "defined space as a war-fighting domain" and said it had "obstructed space cooperation, willfully imposed sanctions on space agencies of other countries, and passed legislation to prohibit all forms of space cooperation and exchanges with China."

Nelson's comments also stoked the ire of China's Global Times state news outlet, which published a report in which Nelson was referred to as "colonial-minded"... (MORE - missing details)

VIDEOS: 

• How China space program discovered water source on Moon!
• How China will beat SpaceX and NASA to Mars!

10 China space world records no one can beat! ... https://youtu.be/r-eRhcKN8c8

(Jul 6, 2022 01:54 AM)C C Wrote: [ -> ]https://www.newsweek.com/china-take-over...ce-1721493

EXCERPTS: Speaking to German newspaper Bild on Saturday, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, who was sworn in as head of NASA in May last year, said there was a "new race to space" between the U.S. and China—a reference to the previous space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union between the 1950 and 70s.

I think that a new Space Race could be a very good thing. Pretty much all of humanity's progress in space from Sputnik to the retirement of the Space Shuttle was the result of the first Space Race.

But sadly, I think that the US has evolved to be too much like Europe to respond effectively to a Chinese challenge. I'd expect the American left to argue, "Why should we expend effort on space while there is poverty, racism, "transphobia" to battle right here at home??" (They are always trying to turn us against ourselves, in pursuit of some utopian moral self-cleansing.) So like Europe, which opted out of the first Space Race, I'd expect the US to opt out of a second one.

Quote:Nelson told Bild on Saturday, translated from German: "We must be very concerned that China is landing on the moon and saying: 'It's ours now and you stay out.'"

However, Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, hit back at the remarks during a ministry press conference on Monday. "This is not the first time that the NASA administrator has lashed out at China in disregard of facts," Lijian said. "Some U.S. officials have spoken irresponsibly to misrepresent the normal and legitimate space endeavors of China. China firmly rejects such remarks."

Lijian went on to accuse the U.S. of having "defined space as a war-fighting domain" and said it had "obstructed space cooperation, willfully imposed sanctions on space agencies of other countries, and passed legislation to prohibit all forms of space cooperation and exchanges with China."

Looks like Nelson pissed off Lijian's communist masters. It's not like the Chinese don't talk about trying to answer US dominance in space.

Quote:How China will beat SpaceX and NASA to Mars!

China might indeed beat NASA to Mars. Hard to say, since while both talk bravely about their future Mars aspirations, neither NASA or the Chinese really have a credible Mars architecture at this point. (It's hard for me to imagine NASA ever getting the funding either, unless China scares the crap out of the United States.) 

But SpaceX obviously has the Mars architecture. It even has development hardware. Starship, with its payload, orbital refueling, and especially its reusability, will be far in advance of anything I expect the Chinese to design for themselves in the foreseeable future. Of course the Chinese probably already have stolen copies of the Starship engineering drawings, so they can try to copy their way to fast progress.

I suspect that the best path forward for the United States might be with the government and NASA providing much of the necessary funding, and channeling that funding to SpaceX and the other "New Space" players that might exist (Blue, Firefly, Relativity, RocketLab, Axiom and even good old ULA), then get out of the way and let these players display the vision and innovation that they are famous for.

Back after nearly a week of internet outage. Phew.

What exactly is there to be gained by an insane "Men Persons-To-Mars!" expedition venture?
The enormous capital expenditure of actually establishing even a small colony on an inherently inhospitable barren wasteland achieves what overall benefit?
And to who? Assuming civilized technologically advanced humanity continues on for another century at least, wait at least that long for the technology to mature enough to make any such gung ho space venture relatively low-cost.

A good chance AI will be totally dominant by then in which case all the currently planned elaborate accommodations of human needs will be moot.
It's amusing to go back and check out the futurist projections of Jules Verne or H.G.Wells, and note how often and how badly eminent futurists of the day got it laughably wrong. In detail and in overview.

My AI 'prediction' could be one such, but more likely the futurist blundering lesson applies much more to 'visionary planners' at NASA and ilk.
As the saying goes: Less haste, more speed.