I kinda what you to explain this.

Why is it better to be 239,800 miles from a satellite, moving at different orbital speeds, instead of being 200 miles from a satellite moving at the same common orbital speed?

I think that you cartoon view of the Earth/Moon/Satellite distribution is wrong...

I think what DeWolf was saying is that if you control the Moon you control what happens on Earth.

Right now we don't have the tech to travel to the moon in an efficient manner.
It's expensive and it takes a long time. BUT... That wont be the case in 30 years.

Can you imagine a super fast rocket like vehicle that can travel to the Earth from the Moon in less than 90 minutes?

If (when?) we invent the tech to travel at around 10% the speed of light that travel time becomes a reality.

(including acceleration time to 10% the speed of light and deceleration back to 0.)

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Come back in 20 years and see what tech they have.

We'll just nuke it and have WWIII on the moon.

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And they will still need to be ground...so the benefit is?

The ability to market them as "space balls"...duh. :p

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Meanwhile Japan’s Hayabusa 2 went to an asteroid, shot a hole in it and collected material to answer questions about the origin of life on earth. They dropped the material in Australia and Hayabusa will visit another asteroid. Japanese space program is very advanced.

It's great living in an anti-science country. USA, USA, USA

I used to think it would 10-20 years for others to catch up to us. Turns out it was last week.

Heu Shaun, are you interested in a slightly used radar dish?

It hasn't been maintained too well but it's CHEAP!

You haul it away and it's yours!

I loved the movie Contact.

In 2020 there have been 39 orbital launches from US soil. 36 from China. 14 from Russia. 5 from European soil. 4 from Japan.

Why would the EU need to spend as much as the US? They wait for China and Russia to steal the tech, and then pay pittance for it.

^^^ Space Station.

Modern rockets? Moon shots, spacey stations? Shuttles? Merica has been there done that. Thanks to the man Werner Von Braun. Like it or lump it, Our space craft are full out German. LOL! Like this forum right here, der Porsche is German. Cheers to Werner, cool rockets, baby!https://i.redd.it/f5jairn5km431.jpghttp://img854.imageshack.us/img854/9...ervonbraun.jpg

They did, and the have a few grams of material. Just a couple of grams, but more than most countries. NASA just recently landed a probe on an asteroid, and it collected so much material the collection device is overflowing. Hundreds of grams of material. It will return the material in 2023.

https://www.npr.org/2020/10/23/927304296/a-nasa-probe-is-so-full-of-asteroid-material-that-it-now-has-a-problem

NO other country has successfully landed a rover on Mars, and have it move around. NASA has done it several times. The other attempts outside of NASA just crashed a probe into Mars.

https://time.com/3048733/nasa-mars-rover-driving-record/

25 miles on just one of the rovers. Russia landed a rover on the moon that did not quite make it 25 miles. And that was just the moon, which is of course where Niel Armstrong walked around on 51 years ago.

SHHHHH Sooner, it is much easier to be negative about the USA and more in vogue than to actually take the time to know what is going on.

Liberal marxist quote, LOL! Merica!:D

Yeah, we pretty much suck.

Following an initial design phase, NASA is expected to announce whether Blue Origin, Dynetics and/or SpaceX (all 3 are US based) are moving forward with their human landing systems, one of which will be the first private company to safely land American astronauts on the Moon in 2024.

When NASA’s Perseverance rover lands on Mars in February, the robot astrobiologist / geologist will search for signs of ancient life and collect rock and soil samples. As part of the mission, NASA will deploy the Ingenuity helicopter from the rover in the first demonstration of rotorcraft on another planet. The agency also will attempt to produce oxygen from the Martian atmosphere – a critical step for future human exploration of the Red

In late July, NASA will launch the first test for planetary defense. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test, about the size of a small car, will deliberately crash into an asteroid moon in fall 2022 to change its motion. This is just a test, as the asteroid Didymos nor its targeted moon Dimorphos, pose any threat to our planet.

NASA will ship the SLS core stage to Kennedy early in the year for integration with the Orion spacecraft. Artemis I, the first uncrewed flight test of SLS and Orion, is on track to launch on its month-long mission around the Moon by fall. The Orion crew module for Artemis III will be delivered to Kennedy, where the crew module for Artemis II is already undergoing preparations for its mission.

Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines (both US based) will each launch their first Commercial Lunar Payload Services flights to the Moon in the fall, delivering a suite of payloads to the lunar surface ahead of future Artemis missions with crew. This will be the first American robotic missions to land on the Moon in 50 years

In October, NASA will launch Lucy as the first mission to study the Trojan asteroids – remnants of ancient material that formed the outer planets, now orbiting the Sun at the distance of Jupiter. By the end of that month NASA will launch the James Webb Space Telescope, the flagship astrophysics mission exploring distant worlds and studying the first generation of galaxies formed at the beginning of the universe.

In 2021, NASA aeronautics teams will complete construction and prepare for the first flight of the X-59 QueSST, our low-boom supersonic X plane that will provide data that could lead to faster long-distance travel throughout the world. The X-57 Maxwell, the agency’s first all-electric experimental aircraft, will also conduct its first flight next year. The agency’s aero researchers also will launch an effort to advance electric propulsion for large commercial transports with an electric powertrain flight demonstration, helping to develop a fuel- and cost-efficient alternative to traditional jet-engine-powered aircraft.

“With our rover landing on Mars, an asteroid protection space test, the Webb telescope launch, and the Artemis I mission among other activities on the horizon, we have another big, big year ahead for America’s space agency,” said Bridenstine.