Re: What if the Chinese built a small nuclear pulse vehicle?

On Jul 20, 8:16 pm, "Martha Adams" <mh...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
<Willie.Moo...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:a6f22767-e4a1-498e-8838-6ac53a862da3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx





A fleet of four shps carrying a total of 250 crew members, on a grand
tour of the solar system, launched from China's Gobi desert -
completed in four years - with landings on the moon, mars, orbiting
venus and depositing probes - landing on the poles of mercury, on
Ceres, and Juno, and Pallas, experimenting with changing orbits of
asteroids, landing on the Galilean moons of Jupiter, and the major
moons of Saturn, retrieving samples from the rings of Saturn, and
returning to Earth - all in the space of four years, with total
reusability of the space vehicles - would put China leagues ahead in
its effort to dominate global affairs and leave the USA far far
behind.

China could then put forth a plan to

a) orbit a direct broadcast wireless internet service
b) orbit solar power satellites cheaply
c) survey and capture rich asteroids

and in this way come to dominate global communications, global power
production and global raw material production.

Using the communications infrastructure to employ telerobotics world
wide, they could put teleoperated robots and factories anywhere, and
supply them with raw materials and partially finished goods
fromorbit.  They would dominate employment world wide.

Once this was completed, they might then use a portion of the vast
wealth they've created to build cities on the moon and mars and
maintain manned outposts throughout the solar system, providing them
permanent escape from Mutual Assured Destruction - and giving them a
leg up in world affairs beyond the obvious economic benefits.
.

It's a funny thing, one can guess the future but when
that future arrives, it's different somehow than was
forecast but to same or greater effect.  I think this
pulse ship is such a guess.  I certainly agree with
Mookie about immense progressive consequences, however
he misses a key point.

It's *being there and doing that.*  The big jump is to
achieve the first two or three pulse ships; after that,
there begin to be a lot of people around with hands-on
knowhow; further technological evolution is removed
from the realm of imagination and becomes machine shops,
takeoff/landing fields, and *an economic network.*  So
here is certainly a way the Chinese could quickly jump
ahead of slow, cross-linked and ideologically correct
NASA, and if they did this, we'd find ourselves
permanently behind.

*I don't want* the future to grow from other countries
outside America while America sits tied up in its pork
wars and new elaborated citizen spying and controls.
I'd sure like to see America become progressive again,
but as I look ahead, I can't.  The future seems to be
out there in big turbulent China, where they *get
things done*.  And now I've seen Mookie's connection
of pulse ships to near-future reality, I think I've
seen something of the real future I'm going to get.

Titeotwawki -- mha  [sci.space.policy 2208 Jly 20]- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I dunno - Heinlein called it I think in his 'Future History' stories.
There a repressive religious regime took over American politics for a
number of years - there was even slavery on Venus - and America
emerged from that nightmare and took again its rightful place in the
family of nations.
.

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