Clinton Huxley wrote:Coito ergo sum wrote:
If the West (Europe and the US) doesn't go to Mars in the next 25 years, then nobody is.
Blinkered view of Western exceptionalism, I'm afraid. Nothing lasts for ever, not even the American Empire....
One, I never mentioned any sort of exceptionalism. The fact is that the West HAS successfully explored space, right? We have been to the Moon. We have sent robots to Mars, ion drive ship to a comet, spacecraft to an asteroid, and probes past all the planets and many moons, and even to the edge of the solar system.
It's not that the West is "better" than anyone else, it's just the reality that we have done it. We have the infrastructure. We have the knowhow. We have the experience.
The US doesn't have an Empire, by the way. That was European shtick. We've conquered a lot of territory, but most of the time we, in due course, march back home. Of course, however, "nothing lasts forever." However, to say that India will be on Mars within 25 years, when they only launched their first lunar probe about 2 years ago....is a bit of a stretch.
Clinton Huxley wrote:
Coito ergo sum wrote:
China and India have not shown themselves to be competent at this stuff. China's rockets have a high failure rate,
Good job those space shuttles never blow up....
Where did I say we never had an issue? Two shuttles have blown up in over 30 years. Tragic. However, the US has been on the Moon, many times. We have launched most of the satellites. We have the knowhow regarding launching manned missions consistently and constantly, and living and working in space. We, and the Russians, did the lion's share of the building of the space station. We, and the European Space Agency, teamed up on Cassini Huygens.
On a 25 year time frame, India would need to make up a lot of ground in order to have men walking on Mars.
Clinton Huxley wrote:
Coito ergo sum wrote:
and the Indians can't hardly build a car, let alone a spacecraft.
They managed a pretty competent Moon probe.
One. In 2008. Are you not aware of how much more they have to do to even get men into space reliably, and walking on the Moon, let alone walking on Mars?
Clinton Huxley wrote:
Besides, your average European would say the americans can hardly build a car...
Yes, Europeans say a lot of things. Of course, to say Americans can hardly build a car, when it was American auto manufacturers that taught the world how to build them, is rather rich. Obviously, Japanese and European manufacturers make great cars, though. I'm not suggesting they are inferior.