Re: Another space race: China & Russia vs. the USA


Guy Fawkes wrote:

I might add that a Chinese/Russian flyby would put the U.S. in a difficult
position as simply mimicking this with a CEV would not be sufficient. Most
likely it would *force* thie U.S. into putting considerable resources into
putting a man on Mars for years on end with a potentially fatal outcome.
Checkmate!

I don't think that we're just going to react to what they do: we have
a coherent plan for Lunar exploration (Constellation) which seems
affordable, reasonable and likely to lead to a permanent outpost
instead of just petering out as did Apollo. By the 2020's, which is
the decade we'll be gearing up to reach Mars (our current goal is
2030), there will probably also be considerable private activity in
orbital space and even some on Luna (Richard Branson has explicitly
stated that operating a Moonbase is his ultimate current goal with
Virgin Galactic). So we'll have constructed a solid basis for further
exploration and other activities.

The 2010's will not be the 1960's -- we are starting from a much higher
level of technology and _meaningful_ private support. For one thing,
the men who are running American government and industry today are, to
an extent unimaginable in the 1960's, men who grew up with the dream of
space.

Sincerely Yours,
Jordan

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