A new report finds China’s space program will soon equal that of the US and overtake it in the next five to ten years “if we don’t do something”
https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/09/a-new-report-finds-chinas-space-program-will-soon-equal-that-of-the-us/?utm_campaign=dhtwitter&utm_content=%3Cmedia_url%3E&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
49 Comments
I don’t care which country’s space program is the best, I just want as much new information/discoveries about space as possible.
A little misinformation here, a little disinformation there, a few bots to amplify: voila, a country willingly cedes it’s position on the world stage.
Congrats, China, I bet you didn’t think it’d be this easy.
If China has the political will and engineering prowess to build space stations, explore the Moon, Mars and beyond… Good for them!
Announcer: they, in fact, did not do something.
If you compare state efforts, it may be true.
BUT!! You dont take into account that in the U.S. innovation doesnt primarily come from the state (as in China). Putting together all the private efforts that the U.S. have plus NASA, they are years ahead of China.
If you are only comparing NASA agains CNSA, then the article may hold true.
The U.S. is the only country in the world with a profitable space company. This kind of commercial viability gives it a lot of advantage.
The White House: Let’s cut the NASA budget by 20%. That’ll show them.
Clearly, the US sees keeping its mass shootings high as a bigger priority than space and renewable energy.
BTW, China is already well ahead of US on renewable energy because US still thinks that coal is the way of the future apparently.
Sorry, we’re kinda busy shooting missiles at boats leaving <checks notes> Venezuela.
It’s embarrassing being an American right now.
{Looks at current US administration} Yeah, we’re not going to win this.
A decaying empire and a new power developing science at an amazing pace, it’s like movie.
Republicans are more interested in undoing everything instead of doing anything.
Let’s be honest… Under Trump America is no longer the superpower it once was and everyone knows it….. That’s why Putin has behaved the way he has and Japan has told Trump they’re not upping tariffs on China and to stick his tariffs up his arse.
Firefly the TV show predicted it. Everyone will have to speak Chinese in space!
The damage is already done, this ship sailed like 6 months ago. Thousands of NASA employees & contractors have been fired, left for other jobs, or retired much earlier than they would have. The vast majority will not come back even if funding is restored. China and ESA will overtake NASA in very short order.
Good thing we built a ballroom!
🎶 Dancing in the moonlight 🎶 💃🏼🕺🏼
We *are* doing something. We’re getting rid of NASA. By removing all public funding, we encourage the amazing potential of capitalism, and private companies. As soon as NASA is no longer a threat to their profit margins, we will see dozens of space-age companies popping up and rocket launching us to the moon, and beyond. Those companies will naturally compete with each other over those available profits, driving massive innovation. We’ll see a colony on Mars in less time than it takes to get there!
Oh
And in case it’s needed
/s
It is a good thing then that the president just reclassified NASA as a spy agency, and then asked to have every mission with the word ‘climate’ in it to be outright cancelled, no matter the project complete percentage. /sigh
People worry about China on the Moon, but the U.S. space program is far from stagnant. SpaceX is literally working toward a sustained habitat on Mars . That’s not theory, that’s funded rockets and test flights happening now. So while China may push for a foothold on the Moon, U.S. ambitions are still larger in scope. The real conversation isn’t who touches down first, but who sustains presence and writes the rules for resources and long term infrastructure.
The century of humiliation has lit a real fire under China’s arse.
As long as one group of humans keeps reaching for the stars, I don’t care who it is.
Cutting its funding, removing all personnel that dont have MAGA viewpoints, creating “Space Force” and focussing on weaponising NASA over it being a scientific organisation is pretty much gonna end its progression as an entity.
I won’t mind if we can get more hubbles and webbs in space from China.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
|Fewer Letters|More Letters|
|——-|———|—|
|[CNSA](/r/Space/comments/1ninmd2/stub/nekbjdr “Last usage”)|Chinese National Space Administration|
|[DoD](/r/Space/comments/1ninmd2/stub/nekkcz0 “Last usage”)|US Department of Defense|
|[ESA](/r/Space/comments/1ninmd2/stub/nel0mn4 “Last usage”)|European Space Agency|
|[GSLV](/r/Space/comments/1ninmd2/stub/nel7sr4 “Last usage”)|Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle|
|[HALO](/r/Space/comments/1ninmd2/stub/nel8nvz “Last usage”)|Habitation and Logistics Outpost|
|[HLS](/r/Space/comments/1ninmd2/stub/nekxpjc “Last usage”)|[Human Landing System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_program#Human_Landing_System) (Artemis)|
|[ISRU](/r/Space/comments/1ninmd2/stub/nel5qgb “Last usage”)|[In-Situ Resource Utilization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_situ_resource_utilization)|
|[ITAR](/r/Space/comments/1ninmd2/stub/nek8iql “Last usage”)|(US) International Traffic in Arms Regulations|
|[JAXA](/r/Space/comments/1ninmd2/stub/nel0mn4 “Last usage”)|Japan Aerospace eXploration Agency|
|[LEO](/r/Space/comments/1ninmd2/stub/nekg7y2 “Last usage”)|Low Earth Orbit (180-2000km)|
| |Law Enforcement Officer (most often mentioned during transport operations)|
|[NOAA](/r/Space/comments/1ninmd2/stub/neka6o5 “Last usage”)|National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, responsible for US ~~generation~~ monitoring of the climate|
|[SLS](/r/Space/comments/1ninmd2/stub/nekoip0 “Last usage”)|Space Launch System heavy-lift|
|[SRB](/r/Space/comments/1ninmd2/stub/nekinza “Last usage”)|Solid Rocket Booster|
|[TCM](/r/Space/comments/1ninmd2/stub/nekub1u “Last usage”)|Trajectory Correction Maneuver|
|Jargon|Definition|
|——-|———|—|
|[Raptor](/r/Space/comments/1ninmd2/stub/nel5qgb “Last usage”)|[Methane-fueled rocket engine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raptor_(rocket_engine_family)) under development by SpaceX|
|[Starlink](/r/Space/comments/1ninmd2/stub/nekssqg “Last usage”)|SpaceX’s world-wide satellite broadband constellation|
Decronym is now also available on Lemmy! Requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below.
—————-
^([Thread #11673 for this sub, first seen 16th Sep 2025, 18:23])
^[[FAQ]](http://decronym.xyz/) [^([Full list])](http://decronym.xyz/acronyms/Space) [^[Contact]](https://hachyderm.io/@Two9A) [^([Source code])](https://gistdotgithubdotcom/Two9A/1d976f9b7441694162c8)
Pull half the funding from NASA, that will definitely fix it /s
Why do you have to do anything. What’s wrong with not being number one in space travel?
Highly unlikely if you include the billion dollar secret black budget programs! Perhaps the US can let some of that technology compete!
Well it seems T renamed it to spy agency, no longer space agency.
Its handy when you have the 2nd largest gdp in the world. But yet 74th ranked average income for their citizens.
I’m sure getting rid of NASA is going to help.
Quick, tell Cheeto-man that China is gonna beat us in space!
To be fair; if they don’t then who’s gonna get us the help to go get Matt Damon?
Well they just got a top mathematician that used to live here until he left just recently, so that’ll help them out
I learned the other day that China have their own space station and do lots of testing
Lets continue to defund education and various science grants and start a war with higher education. That’ll help.
Maybe cutting all our research funding will help!!! /s
Regardless of whether it turns out to be true, it seems like people have been saying this for years. Let’s just bring back the funding for our own sake.
That means, the program’s they are allocating funding for now are already ahead of the U.S.
The US has become a nation of yes man, so I don’t expect much progress there
Good for them! It’s up to China and other nations to us into the future.
Not to worry, we won’t. The president needs a new ballroom, and ice needs money…
Science is not political. Good for them! We need science to move us into the future!
Thankfully the United States is in fact doing something. It is stripping funding to NASA.
We did do something. Trump quietly signed an executive order labeling NASA a spy organization. So, what we did was ensure the defunding of our space program so China could have a better one!
Considering dum dum has made NASA a spy agency now? It’s only a matter of time
Throw more money at SpaceX, that should help. /s
Anyone with half a brain knew this was happening.
It’s always over little bro who knows how long it will take for science to recover if these fucking freaks are ever ousted.
Good for them! And if we’re lucky, that will hurt politician’s egos badly enough to get them to do something.