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Title: A New Report Finds China's Space Program Will Soon Equal That of the
US

Link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/09/16/2050...

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: As Jonathan Roll
neared completion of a master's degree in science and technology policy at
Arizona State University three years ago, he did some research into recent
developments by China's ascendant space program. He came away impressed by
the country's growing ambitions. Now a full-time research analyst at the
university, Roll was recently asked to take a deeper dive into Chinese space
plans. "I thought I had a pretty good read on this when I was finishing grad
school," Roll told Ars. "That almost everything needed to be updated, or had
changed three years later, was pretty scary. On all these fronts, they've
made pretty significant progress. They are taking all of the cues from our
Western system about what's really galvanized innovation, and they are off to
the races with it." Roll is the co-author of a new report, titled "Redshift,"
on the acceleration of China's commercial and civil space activities and the
threat these pose to similar efforts in the United States. Published on
Tuesday, the report was sponsored by the US-based Commercial Space
Federation, which advocates for the country's commercial space industry. It
is a sobering read and comes as China not only projects to land humans on the
lunar surface before the US can return, but also is advancing across several
spaceflight fronts to challenge America. "The trend line is unmistakable,"
the report states. "China is not only racing to catch up -- it is setting
pace, deregulating, and, at times, redefining what leadership looks like on
and above Earth. This new space race will not be won with a single
breakthrough or headline achievement, but with sustained commitment, clear-
eyed vigilance, and a willingness to adapt over decades." "The key takeaway
here is that there is an acceleration," said Dave Cavossa, president of the
Commercial Spaceflight Federation. "The United States is still ahead today in
a lot of areas in space. But the Chinese are advancing very quickly and
poised to overtake us in the next five to 10 years if we don't do something."
"There's other things along the lines of budget battles," Cavossa said. "We
don't want to see the US government scaling back its reliance on commercial
satellite communications. We don't want to see them scaling back commercial
remote sensing data buys, which is what they've been doing, or at least
threatening to do. We want to make sure that there's a seamless transition
from the ISS to commercial LEO destinations, and then a transition away from
old programs of record to commercial transportation alternatives. That's what
the US government can do and Congress can do here in the next couple of years
to make sure that we stay ahead."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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