Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 24, 2024 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher While the ongoing and unpredictable United States presidential campaign promises to highlight partisan political divisions on numerous issues, the last decade has seen U.S. space policy tending toward a basic consensus stressing three pillars that can be credited, two to Republicans and one to Democrats. […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 3, 2024 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher In China, space related crashes or falling debris from space launch vehicles (SLV) are not cause for celebration. They are usually cause for embarrassment and as they usually happen over populated areas, they can also be very dangerous for Chinese especially if the crash involves […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, June 26, 2024 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher In the last week China has advanced its ambitions for Moon control and space control via two operations: first on June 26 China recovered the world’s first Moon samples from the far side of the Moon; and on June 23 the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, June 12, 2024 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher For its fourth flight — in less than a year — on June 6, Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship epitomized what the SpaceX mission announcer called their “rapid iterative development” process, exploiting a crash or “failure” to produce data that improves the next mission. Perhaps the […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, June 5, 2024 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher The Chinese and American “new race” to the Moon was advanced by two major developments in the first week of June 2024. On June 4, China’s second sample-return Moon landing probe, Chang’e-6, successfully launched its 2-kilogram (4.4 lbs) Moon sample carrying ascending stage into Lunar […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, May 29, 2024 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher China’s play was a classic exercise in coercion straight out of a 1930s gangland movie: Pay me and I will make sure my crazy cousin does not thump you! But in this case, on March 26 China had gathered in Seoul, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, May 15, 2024 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher Despite its many self-inflicted crises and its increasing political-economic subordination to China, Russia is still striving for a superpower level space program with ambitions to compete with the United States and China on the Moon. But in addition, Russia’s space program is growing less transparent […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, May 8, 2024 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher On April 17 before the U.S. House of Representative Committee on Appropriations, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) director Bill Nelson expressed his concerns about China beating the United States back to the Moon: “It is incumbent on us to get there first and to […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, May 1, 2024 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher Elon Musk’s “surprise” April 28 visit to China to meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, blowing off a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is a continuation of the strategy he has employed to rise above, even to survive near-violent U.S.-China strategic contest: Increase […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, April 24, 2024 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher As President Donald Trump revealed the new flag of the United States Space Force, on May 20, 2020, Chinese state media Global Times intoned, “China upholds the ideals for peaceful use of outer space and opposes weaponizing it or seeking out a celestial sprint to […]
