Comments on: China, politics, and space

By: Jeff Wright

Jeff Wright — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 05:29:45 +0000

Scott Lowther unearthed some documents about guns for astronauts at up-ship.com..’musings of a weapon oriented mind or something. Soyuz had an over-under rifle/shotgun….but now they have clip-fed Makarov-Tokarev handguns. All cosmonauts are armed. They even made a laser pistol.

By: markedup2

markedup2 — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 14:54:45 +0000

I don’t find this Chinese attitude amusing in the least.
I agree. Before I read your response, I was torqued that someone – even a “journalist” – would describe it as such. It is not the least bit amusing and certainly not from the Chinese perspective.

It’s also not the least bit surprising. This should be an obvious analogy to anyone who is paying any sort of attention. Whatever happened to that “Asia Pivot”, anyway?

On the bright side, it is far, far more aspirational than descriptive. Anyone who lands on Luna, let alone Mars, and claims the entire thing – be it for the CCP or SpaceX – is an idiot who will be roundly mocked. One can only claim what one can hold. While we’re still landing in tin cans, claims are worthless when someone with a .22 pistol can kill your entire base by pressure breach (even if it does send him flying off in the other direction).

Now I’m curious: Laying prone on Luna’s surface, how much friction is there? Can one fire a .22 pistol without sliding? A .45? A rifle?

By: wayne

wayne — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 13:26:27 +0000

Fury [2014]
“He’s here to kill you!”
https://youtu.be/fz_kzAx5it4
2:04

By: wayne

wayne — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 13:23:48 +0000

Roughly 90 million hard-core, fanatical, chinese communist true-believer, statist-apparatchik’s, need to GO.
All the way.
Sooner or later.
One way, or another.

Aliens (1986)
“The Only Way To Be Sure”
https://youtu.be/nnHmUk_J6xQ
2:06

By: Jeff Wright

Jeff Wright — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 06:32:44 +0000

I admire their perspective….their passion-their HUNGER– for all things space. Outside of we happy few…no one here cares about space. The China Olympics still resonates in my mind. As Bill Maher said…they are a serious people…not to mentioned disciplined. A Constitutional Democratic Republic demands morality where free expression is allowed…and the author of the Three Body Problem said they’d collapse if they became as we are now. AMERICA, get it together….or China deserves its place in this new ocean….as it is our treasure fleet that now burns.

By: David M. Cook

David M. Cook — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 05:23:07 +0000

So, if the Chinese get to Mars first, they will prevent anyone else from landing? Will this involve the use of force? Could they claim the entire planet with one base?

By: wayne

wayne — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 01:34:47 +0000

U2
“Seconds”
https://youtu.be/XSl0W-NsL98
3:10

By: Chris Lopes

Chris Lopes — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 21:16:07 +0000

It’s not amusing, but it is predictable. The Outer Space Treaty was written and signed at a time when going to those “islands” and claiming territory was mostly theoretical. Almost all of the signing nations had no space program to speak of so they were giving up nothing.

Now that the technology has advanced enough to make the theoretical practical, and has spread to more than just the US and Russia (the nation formerly known as USSR), that treaty has a bit less relevance. When the time comes to actually settle these places, the treaty will either be reinterpreted or just plain ignored.

By: Ian C.

Ian C. — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 18:41:21 +0000

“The universe is an ocean,”

I remember that exact quote. From IAC 2018 or 2019. By some astropol analyst. But most people ignored it.

“in direct violation of the Outer Space Treaty.”

Why should they care? If they want, they can leave with a year’s notice and do whatever they want.