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NASA's budget is still 18 times larger than the Chinese space program: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA
by dworin 13y ago
NASA's budget is still 18 times larger than the Chinese space program:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_National_Space_Administration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_National_Space_Administra...
Not to diminish the significance of this accomplishment, but the Chinese space program is still in a catch-up phase, which allows them to make significant advances quicker than if they were at the frontier.
- milesf 13y agoI wonder if China has the same level of waste that NASA does. Elon Musk is making great strides in space exploration because he is willing to embrace new technologies and do the work in-house, as opposed to NASA's way of using only "proven" technologies that are nested 5-6 levels deep in outsourcing, with each level taking a cut. I'm certain SpaceX could make a dollar go a lot further than NASA can. Perhaps the Chinese even further.
- acadien 13y agoWhen the lives of astronauts are on the line it seems like a pretty good idea to use proven technologies even if they are expensive. That said, I completely agree that new technologies are needed to make it cheaper to go to space and SpaceX seems to be leading the way here.
- gaius 13y agoExpensive but also lowest bidder.