4 ms·
The US should really be looking at cooperating more with China in space. Not wanting to help them with rocket technologies is understandable but there's no rea
by Symmetry 10y ago
The US should really be looking at cooperating more with China in space. Not wanting to help them with rocket technologies is understandable but there's no reason they shouldn't participate in the international space station or its successor.
- devy 10y agoI totally agree. It's extremely stupid to ban a country from space exploration and scientific experiments solely based on geopolitical reasons.
- finid 10y ago...there's no reason they shouldn't participate in the international space station or its successor. Just so you know, the Chinese are not on their knees begging for access to the ISS. There're doing fine on their own, and are likely happier with it that way.
- blisterpeanuts 10y agoThere have been security concerns about sharing space technology with China, versus with Japan and Europe. Russia is also not highly trusted, but on the other hand their space technology is regarded as equal to ours, so there's not much security risk to cooperation. Probably moving forward, China will move into the top tier of space powers alongside Russia, the U.S., Japan, and western Europe, and ahead of India (which has its own program albeit with a lower budget). At that point, cooperation between China and the West would be mutually beneficial. One thing China brings to the table is a very low cost program; they seem to be able to do launches for one tenth the U.S. budget.
- varjag 10y ago> One thing China brings to the table is a very low cost program; they seem to be able to do launches for one tenth the U.S. budget. This is incorrect. SpaceX Falcon 9 has lower launch costs than Chinese Long March, and it's as American rocket as they get.
- idra 10y agoThere are many reasons. The biggest one is that they will steal any technology they can get their hands on and use it for any purpose they please.