Years from now I hope we can look back on the Chinese military's shoot-down of an old satellite as the second Sputnik. Where Sputnik made us realize the Soviets were ahead in space exploration, this should make us realize the Chinese are ahead in military space technology. Our subsequent shootdown of one of our own satellites seemed necessary but also suspiciously timed. Were we proving we could do the same?
Air war has permanently changed the face of warfare; one can't well declare an advantage without air supremacy these days. Orbital war will do the same. We can't let China get a leg up here too.
IF IT'S BAD FOR CHINA'S GOVERNMENT, IT'S GOOD FOR EVERYONE ELSE.
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I can't remember where I saw it, but ages ago I ran across a useful device for discussions of space travel, space commerce, and space militarization: replace all references to "space" with "the oceans," and recognize that the exact same debates were held centuries ago.
Now, if we could just get some enterprising souls to play the part of Columbus and Magellan...
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