China's race to space

"Trump had the right idea about exploring space. Obama hated it, and Biden does not understand it. Meanwhile, China has its path clearly marked out. And that path ends with a colony on Mars and a mining operation on the Moon."  

Saw something interesting on YouTube recently. It was a short documentary, produced by a couple of Canadians. It was not pro-America, nor anti-America. I was however - all about China. As the United States has been worried sick about beating the Russians into space in the past, the Chinese have been going to town. 

This all started (believe it or not), during the time of Mao. In fact, the rocket boosters are to this day called Long March, in honor of Mao's 4,000 mile flight and fight with the Chinese nationalists in the 1930's. It made Mao Zedong the leader who he was. From the time he assumed power in 1949 until his death in 1976, Mao was consumed with the idea of China becoming a major player in world events and technologies. After Russia put Sputnik into orbit, Mao also became interested in space. Unfortunately for Mao however, not much has happened until after Mao's death.

In fact, the United States made sure the path forward would be hard for China. The International Space Station (ISS), turns out not to be so international after all. The welcome mat was pulled away from China, as they were told they were persona non grata on board the ISS.

Here is the irony - China is now building their own space station (Tiangong Space Station). It has modern technology built into much of it. The ISS on the other hand, only has 10 years of life left. Once the ISS is gone, I wonder if the Chinese are going to invite us onboard their space station. We will have the very small Lunar Gateway Station sometime this decade, but that will be about it.

China and Russia have also signed an agreement to mine the Moon together. The somewhat scarce Helium-3, may be hard to find on Earth, but is abundant on the Moon. The Russians and Chinese want to go after it, big time. Helium-3 is good for their nuclear fusion research programs. And us? Are we going to mine that also? I guess we will have to ask Elon Musk. As of late, NASA seems to trip over their own shoelaces when it comes to mining the Moon.

China has already sent rovers to the dark side of the Moon, and also to Mars. Why Mars? That is the big prize. This will come as a shock to nobody - China is building a clone of Musk's Super Heavy rocket. Why? Rumor has it, China wants to send a gaggle of folks up to Mars and start the colonization process. So does Musk. Is this now the real space race? China vs. Musk? Seems it might be.

This is what happens when we are not watching the other hand. While Biden has us all tied up in knots, worrying about the Green New Deal, and enforcing mandatory Covid shots, China is eating our lunch. How? By soon to be mining Rare Earths in Afghanistan, and then mining Helium-3 on the Moon. China will be getting richer, as we get poorer.

Trump had the right idea about exploring space. Obama hated it, and Biden does not understand it. Meanwhile, China has its path clearly marked out. And that path ends with a colony on Mars and a mining operation on the Moon. Oh, to have a second term of Donald J. Trump...