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Originally Posted by Emspak
Guys--
Russ, as an engineer, tell me if I am way out of whack here: is it possible the Chinese have not used radical new designs because it is just easier not to? Not to be flip, but were I running a space program in India or China, or even Japan, I would not spend time and loads of money on trying the fanciest new idea. I would make use of 100 years of accumulated experience on the part of Russia and the US.
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All things being equal, yes, it is much easier to use a technology that is already up and running. That assumes of course that the posessor of said technology is willing to give/sell you that technology. Upstanding type people, unable to get/buy said technology, would then develop their own. This is expensive and time consuming but the proper thing to do.
In the case of China, when we wouldn't give/sell the guidence systems they........appropriated them. Bad Chinese, bad, bad! :roll:
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Then there is money. There may be lots of cool new stuff on the drawing board in Beijing, but if it costs too much then it won't get funded. If it needs tons of some material that is unavailable except from hostile countries, then it probably won't get funded either. Satellite launch costs tend to be pretty constant -- take a look at Globalstar's annual reports or the ones from Iridium before they went under. So develpoing the empirical knowledge base would be just as expensive for anyone else as it was for the US and Russia, if done from scratch, no?
Anyway, trell me if I am nuts. But I think that rather than naive, I am someone who thinks that different countries have conflicts and interests that often play out in ways nobody expects.
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You have a point but....let's say I think you are over simplifying the situation. Yes. The ideas you offer were/are possibilities. Yes, they were probably scrapped for cost/political reasons. I'll guarantee you, however, that there were other, more....practical, reasons. Take it from an old mud puppy (Army officer) anything you have suggested here (and more) was thoroughly studied, evaluated and analyzed-to-death before any action/inaction was adopted.
Are you nuts/naive? Who am I to say? Let me just say.....On the level of a nation, on the scale of USA, USSR, China, defending itself, there is little that is left to chance or "good will". Think about what you could accomplish with the $5 trillion that is spent annually on defence in the USA alone. You can assume similar numbers in the other major powers. Believe me. There are people, in or associated with the military, who's sole purpose in life is figuring out all of the permutations of every possibility. You can also believe me, they have thought of things you haven't dreamed about.
:-?
