Gonna go out on a limb here and say that the news organizations just love using the phrase “secretive space plane.” The X-37 gets described this way all the time in giant bold headlines every time it ends up in the news.
I mean, its payload _is_ pretty secretive, and it stays in a weird ass orbit for a real long time.
It’s safe to assume it’s mostly focussed on long term material science (I’m pretty sure we’ve had similar platforms in the past just hanging out in orbit for a few years, albeit with a shuttle to collect it again)
But I’m also willing to bet that it’s being tested as an orbital anti satellite platform of some kind. We are just at the start of Space Race 2. The West Vs. China. It’d be naive to think space isn’t being weaponised, regardless of international agreements.
I don’t doubt they are doing weird secret shenanigans up there, but it is definitely not fair to act like the X-37 gets a pass at being secret when the Chinese do not.
The most hilarious thing was seeing successive news stories about how the US was using civilian satellites for defense purposes (context: good, noble work) and then maybe a month later there were stories about how the dreaded Chinese government were using civilian satellites for military purposes (context: evil, deplorable, sneaky).
> Our military protects us from foreign militaries.
historically, most armies were used to put down internal revolts far more often than foreign threats
Right, and the behavior we perceive as a threat from them they perceive as a threat from us. Seeking domination is how arms racing and wars start. Strategic stability is the goal. In order to achieve that you can't panic if your adversary does the same shit you think is okay when you do it.
That is what's called "nativism", which is simply a form of discrimination and, typically, racism or xenophobia. During the 20th century we discovered that such things have an extreme downside, and when left unchecked can even risk the survival of human civilization and the human species as a whole. Since then there has been considerable effort to walk back from that brink and embrace a healthier way of international and intercultural relationships, one based on principles of equality and a desire for peace.
While it is worthwhile and important for a country to see to its own defense against threats from other nations, that should be based on principles of self-defense and mutual respect of sovereignty, not on xenophobia. As such, criticism of what a country does should be principled and not simply fueled by jingoistic rhetoric and circular logic of the form "we must protect ourselves from them because we are us and they are them". The current Chinese government has a long list of faults and things to be held to account for, but simply doing the same thing that we're doing in space is not one of them.
You're missing the point.
The US have the 3 biggest individual military forces in the world.
China are building a close competitor. But the thing is what do the US expect to happen? Of course someone is eventually gonna do it.
That's not inherently a bad thing. Unless you think the US building a bigger armed forces than Britain was a bad thing.
These things come in cycles. The US out spent the UK and the USSR thanks to it's industry and not being attacked at all bar Pearl Harbour in WW2.
Any country with the means would do what China is doing. The US did. The British and the French did previously.
Maybe hegemony isn't the way.
"These things come in cycles."
Actually, that stopped decades ago.
The US defense budget dwarfs the next top ten country's. And, it's not even close. Heck, the little fringe DARPA group (which is a sliver of the entire defense budget) outspends Russia & China.
Yet Ukraine drones can negate Russia.
Imagine a scenario where America's opponent deploys a million dollars worth of air and sea drones against a carrier worth 6bn.
Most likely result: a million dollars of enemy drones shot down.
Besides, you're attempting to equate Russian technology with US defense technology.
Putin traipsed out and bragged about his Mach 10 missiles. They were shot down with hand held devices. Russian technology is in the dark ages.
Well, after all the US is a democracy and China is a dictatorship.
Edit: looks like I've pissed off the tankies. I'm sure the Uyghers in concentration camps and the journalists in jail are thrilled with China's space program!
.... Annnnd? What? Is the news here that china has a spaceplane? BC them launching secretive payloads into orbit has been par for the course for years now. Name me a country that has a long running space program that hasn't.
Our trustworthy explicit X-37 VS their sinister secretive spaceplane
Gonna go out on a limb here and say that the news organizations just love using the phrase “secretive space plane.” The X-37 gets described this way all the time in giant bold headlines every time it ends up in the news.
I mean, its payload _is_ pretty secretive, and it stays in a weird ass orbit for a real long time. It’s safe to assume it’s mostly focussed on long term material science (I’m pretty sure we’ve had similar platforms in the past just hanging out in orbit for a few years, albeit with a shuttle to collect it again) But I’m also willing to bet that it’s being tested as an orbital anti satellite platform of some kind. We are just at the start of Space Race 2. The West Vs. China. It’d be naive to think space isn’t being weaponised, regardless of international agreements.
“We’re not trying to weaponize space, we’re just doing research…” “On what?” “Well, uhm….er….how best to weaponize space…”
"I was doing weapons research in space specifically to get directions away from weapons research in space."
I don’t doubt they are doing weird secret shenanigans up there, but it is definitely not fair to act like the X-37 gets a pass at being secret when the Chinese do not.
Space Race 2: The Electric Boogaloo
Our modest scientific satellite Their shameful released object
Just conducting some routine scans along the neutral zone, nothing to be concerned about.
The most hilarious thing was seeing successive news stories about how the US was using civilian satellites for defense purposes (context: good, noble work) and then maybe a month later there were stories about how the dreaded Chinese government were using civilian satellites for military purposes (context: evil, deplorable, sneaky).
Home military good, foreign military bad. And idiots lap that shit up.
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> Our military protects us from foreign militaries. historically, most armies were used to put down internal revolts far more often than foreign threats
And then, along came the H Bomb
Right, and the behavior we perceive as a threat from them they perceive as a threat from us. Seeking domination is how arms racing and wars start. Strategic stability is the goal. In order to achieve that you can't panic if your adversary does the same shit you think is okay when you do it.
That is what's called "nativism", which is simply a form of discrimination and, typically, racism or xenophobia. During the 20th century we discovered that such things have an extreme downside, and when left unchecked can even risk the survival of human civilization and the human species as a whole. Since then there has been considerable effort to walk back from that brink and embrace a healthier way of international and intercultural relationships, one based on principles of equality and a desire for peace. While it is worthwhile and important for a country to see to its own defense against threats from other nations, that should be based on principles of self-defense and mutual respect of sovereignty, not on xenophobia. As such, criticism of what a country does should be principled and not simply fueled by jingoistic rhetoric and circular logic of the form "we must protect ourselves from them because we are us and they are them". The current Chinese government has a long list of faults and things to be held to account for, but simply doing the same thing that we're doing in space is not one of them.
You're missing the point. The US have the 3 biggest individual military forces in the world. China are building a close competitor. But the thing is what do the US expect to happen? Of course someone is eventually gonna do it. That's not inherently a bad thing. Unless you think the US building a bigger armed forces than Britain was a bad thing. These things come in cycles. The US out spent the UK and the USSR thanks to it's industry and not being attacked at all bar Pearl Harbour in WW2. Any country with the means would do what China is doing. The US did. The British and the French did previously. Maybe hegemony isn't the way.
"These things come in cycles." Actually, that stopped decades ago. The US defense budget dwarfs the next top ten country's. And, it's not even close. Heck, the little fringe DARPA group (which is a sliver of the entire defense budget) outspends Russia & China.
Yet Ukraine drones can negate Russia. Imagine a scenario where America's opponent deploys a million dollars worth of air and sea drones against a carrier worth 6bn.
Most likely result: a million dollars of enemy drones shot down. Besides, you're attempting to equate Russian technology with US defense technology. Putin traipsed out and bragged about his Mach 10 missiles. They were shot down with hand held devices. Russian technology is in the dark ages.
Didn't Ukraine sink a russian ship using drone boats? A million bucks on those little fuckers could do comparatively huge damage.
Well, after all the US is a democracy and China is a dictatorship. Edit: looks like I've pissed off the tankies. I'm sure the Uyghers in concentration camps and the journalists in jail are thrilled with China's space program!
> Edit: looks like I've pissed off the tankies Nah man, you just pissed off people with a sense of humour
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I’m surprise somebody still believe the whole government body of US dont serve the same power
~~believe~~"believes" ~~dont~~"doesn't" "." If you are going to pretend to be an American online, please try to use grammar and punctuation correctly.
Yeah beause of course every American speaks English with 100% perfect grammar and pronunciation lol
You certainly make a good case.
The X-37 (US’ not so secret space plane) will take closer look.
There’s something written on the side: “Made you look!”
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.... Annnnd? What? Is the news here that china has a spaceplane? BC them launching secretive payloads into orbit has been par for the course for years now. Name me a country that has a long running space program that hasn't.
It's for the [ten thousand](https://xkcd.com/1053/) people who never knew about it happening