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backcountrydrifter t1_j1mgh1l wrote

Without a microprocessor supply chain all of Xi’s galactic ambitions are in lockdown.

Even with it, communism is going to hold him back too much. Governance by decree is a pretty terrible way to run a space program.

If you put one person loyal to the party in charge on the moon or mars and then have to wait for the party to make decisions with the lag/delay of asking for permission from xi it will inevitably turn into a problem.

Life comes at you fast. It comes at your exponentially faster in space.

I’m relatively certain Covid, xi pinning his entire CCP platform to him performance against Covid, and the subsequent years of lockdowns, economic pain, and disparity with the rest of the world will cause enough discontent to kill his ambitions internally.

The world is at a precipice of revolution.

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Utxi4m t1_j1mgvfr wrote

>Without a microprocessor supply chain all of Xi’s galactic ambitions are in lockdown.

What part(s) of space exploration needs sub 7nm chips?

>Life comes at you fast. It comes at your exponentially faster in space.

While that indeed is a valid point, the Chinese approach seems a tad more agile than trying to get Congress aboard with changes in real time.

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backcountrydrifter t1_j1mnt50 wrote

It’s not a nationalist thing for me. It’s that the Russian coolant leak at the international space station is a pretty good example that there is no nationality in space. There are just astronauts.

As a species we are far too interconnected at this point for China to have any real unilateral ambitions without cooperation with the rest.

Congress is no solution. They are effectively dead in the water as well.

As a species we are quickly approaching the point where we either do the same predictable shit of world wars, greed , and control… or we learn how to cooperate enough to become an interplanetary species before we finally extinguish ourselves on this planet.

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Utxi4m t1_j1mo7fc wrote

>As a species we are far too interconnected at this point for China to have any real unilateral ambitions without cooperation with the rest.

China got excluded from any and all collaboration with western space agencies. If they want anything in the sector, they need to go it alone.

>As a species we are quickly approaching the point where we either do the same predictable shit of world wars, greed , and control… or we learn how to cooperate enough to become an interplanetary species before we finally extinguish ourselves on this planet.

I agree. But sadly I really really doubt collaboration will win out.

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LittleBirdyLover t1_j1nrucy wrote

western space agencies

Just the U.S. China works with ESA and other “western” agencies.

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MoonMan75 t1_j1mqq7n wrote

China has a microprocessor supply chain. They bought around 500 billion worth last year and are working on making their own.

Communist USSR reached space first. And China is state capitalist anyways.

Why do you assume that Xi will be micromanaging every decision related to space? He's a human, not a robot. He just signs off on the major things and everything else is delegated to other people.

People have been clamoring about Chinese revolution, collapse, whatever for decades now. Never materialized.

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TheGreatDave666 t1_j1n5sk2 wrote

>Even with it, communism is going to hold him back too much

You know theyre State Capitalist, right?

Communism is a misnomer, unless China is a

Stateless, Classless society that has abolished the commodity form.

Which it's not, it's a Nation State that has MANY classes and MANY commodities.

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user_dan t1_j1mvyk6 wrote

>Without a microprocessor supply chain all of Xi’s galactic ambitions are in lockdown.

To the extent that this is even an issue, it is a temporary one. China's space ambitions is over the next couple of decades.

>Even with it, communism is going to hold him back too much.

I get that people get confused by "communist" in the single party's name, but China is a state capitalist dictatorship. Not much in the economy or government resembles communism.

>Governance by decree is a pretty terrible way to run a space program.

The space program is not going to fund, form and come up with goals on it's own. Government has to be directing it.

>If you put one person loyal to the party in charge on the moon or mars and then have to wait for the party to make decisions with the lag/delay of asking for permission from xi it will inevitably turn into a problem.

You don't know how the Chinese government operates. You also don't know how the US and other space programs operate.

>Life comes at you fast. It comes at your exponentially faster in space.

The Chinese plan is over several decades. SpaceX took 20 years to get to where it is at. In human timescales, space exploration is really slow. Nothing "exponentially fast" about it.

>I’m relatively certain Covid...

Yeah, covid has nothing to do with the Chinese space program.

>The world is at a precipice of revolution.

Because China did a space program update? I need to get my "Alien Lives Matter" and "No Chinese in Space" protest signs ready.

Space exploration tech is ubiquitous enough that China will be able to make some progress. The reality is China lies about their GDP and economy. If the past has taught us anything, China probably does not have the money to fund the space ambitions they just announced.

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Johnnywaka t1_j1n29ts wrote

The Soviet Union was the first country to put a man in space. Cope

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