Top-secret X-37B mini-shuttle mission lifts off from Cape Canaveral

Jeff Findley wrote:
says...

China *being* in space is a game changer. Commercial being in space is
a game changer. For totally different reasons.

Please tell me how is China being in space a "game changer".

Ability to launch into space equals ability to take out any satellite
below geosync. Goodbye GPS and you name it should they decide to go to
war.

Ability to launch into space grows as developed and development only
stops when the country decides to stop. Very little development has
been done in the west since the fall of the Soviet Union - Both sides
decided to ramp down development. We can't assume that since the west
slowed development the Chinese will as well. On this growth path they
don't even need to decide to go to war. They just need to keep building
until there is enough industry in space to make it worth continuing
launches to sustain that industry. Industry grows once it's in place.

Basically the exact same game changes that happened when each other
launching country started. Will they decide to destroy existing
infrastructure and go to war? Will they dedicate the resources to
dominate space presence?

In article , says...

Jeff Findley wrote:
says...

China *being* in space is a game changer. Commercial being in space is
a game changer. For totally different reasons.

Please tell me how is China being in space a "game changer".

Ability to launch into space equals ability to take out any satellite
below geosync. Goodbye GPS and you name it should they decide to go to
war.

Wikipedia says the US has no less than 30 "healthy" GPS satellites in
orbit. You're essentially asserting that China would be able to
successfully destroy all 30 in a very short period of time. How are
they going to pull that off?

Don't you think the US would become a bit, shall we say, alarmed at the
site of 30 simultaneous launches from China? Such a sight could appear
to be a nuclear first strike and would be met with the appropriate
(nuclear) response. After all, the US won't wait for the mushroom
clouds to appear before launching a retaliatory strike.

Or are you asserting that the US would allow China to place 30
(supposedly friendly) satellites in relatively close proximity to its
GOS satellites? That's just insane. If they tried that, I'd think
they'd find out very quickly how effective the US military capability
is.

Even supposing China miraculously destroyed all GPS satellites, what
about the 24 operational GLONASS satellites in orbit (Russia)? Do you
suppose that China will destroy those as well? Russia will respond as
violently as the US if China attacks its network of GLONASS satellites.

Ability to launch into space grows as developed and development only
stops when the country decides to stop. Very little development has
been done in the west since the fall of the Soviet Union - Both sides
decided to ramp down development. We can't assume that since the west
slowed development the Chinese will as well. On this growth path they
don't even need to decide to go to war. They just need to keep building
until there is enough industry in space to make it worth continuing
launches to sustain that industry. Industry grows once it's in place.

China still has a long way to go to "catch up" with the US in terms of
its capabilities in space. One a-sat test is not the "game changer" you
think it is.

Basically the exact same game changes that happened when each other
launching country started. Will they decide to destroy existing
infrastructure and go to war? Will they dedicate the resources to
dominate space presence?

Has our resident chicken little convinced you that the sky is falling?

Jeff
--
"the perennial claim that hypersonic airbreathing propulsion would
magically make space launch cheaper is nonsense -- LOX is much cheaper
than advanced airbreathing engines, and so are the tanks to put it in
and the extra thrust to carry it." - Henry Spencer