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Just imagine all that effort and resources being spent on the International Space Station instead. I wonder were we, the combined humanity, could have been in t
by throwaway4good 4y ago
Just imagine all that effort and resources being spent on the International Space Station instead. I wonder were we, the combined humanity, could have been in terms of space exploration, if we just could have been bothered to work together.
- pishpash 4y agoThen you imagine, if two groups in a company bothered to work together.
- kelnos 4y agoI still think there's room for competition, though. Two groups can want to cooperate but have reasonable and valid differences of opinions on how do do things that are large enough to warrant going their separate ways. And perhaps some of the things China's station can do are just not feasible to tack onto the ISS, at least not without pushing timelines back past what China might consider acceptable. Not saying that's what's happened here; certainly China's independent efforts here are largely fueled by isolationism and protectionism. And NASA is prohibited by US law from collaborating with China, unless they get prior approval from Congress and the FBI for each collaboration[0]. But I think, as a general sentiment, sometimes competition can be healthy and push the state of the art forward faster. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Amendment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Amendment
- smileysteve 4y agoTiming wise, ISS is at end of life, and replacement plans are a decade off. So, in a way this produces needed overlap (from a humanity standpoint).