Quote:
Originally Posted by raymo
I think that humankind will explore, and eventually colonise, our solar
system and beyond, simply because it is there to be done. The fact that
these exploits will be very dangerous will be irrelevant; many past
explorers set out not knowing if they would return. It won't be hard to
find people to go on those journeys. There is IMHO a fair chance that an
exploration race will begin fairly soon between at least China and the U.S.
I think that the U.S.must be horrified at the prospect of China leading the way into space, and all that that might imply. China has announced that they are planning jaunts to the far side of the moon within two years, so who
knows, maybe they are planning another Spratly islands event there further
into the future.[ not that ownership of the far side of the moon is disputed,
of course].
raymo
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Yep. That's likely. I don't think the Chinese are going to subscribe to the 'Nobody owns space' ethos, once they are strong enough to say 'this is ours and we will mine it' without being seriously challenged by anyone.
I suspect they are going to do this in Antarctica. They do not recognise anyone else's claim (though the Antarctic treaty somewhat nullifies claims anyway) and have built a base on pretty much every slice of the continent.
If nobody is stepping in to stop them in the Spratleys, who is going to stop them in Antarctica/space?