Thanks for writing this. I watched that video a while ago and was fuming from the number of times Brian blames China for something the US itself did before as well.
Brian seems to believe that 1) whatever the US space program does is good while whatever China does is bad, and 2) China can magically and immediately adopt the US’s best space tech, and that China deliberately doesn’t because communists want people to suffer.
The anti-satellite weapons complaint is particularly eregious. The USA, India, China, and Russia have all tested anti-satellite weapons, yet Westoids only complain about China and Russia. As with nukes, all strong military powers need anti-satellite capabilities for the same reasons. In fact, anti-satellite weapons are often adapted for anti-ICBM uses as well. Live testing is the only way to make sure they work.
The ‘rocket first stages falling from the sky’ point is only a problem with China’s current expendable rocket tech. China has several reusable rocket startups (see Dongfang Space for more info) and once they are up and running, the first stages will be able to do controlled landings instead.
Similarly, hypergolic fuels are simple and just work, making them great for initial rockets in a resource-strapped country like pre-2000s China. Now that China has more money and research talent, it is shifting to less toxic propellants like methane and kerosene.
To him, ‘checking biases’ means opening Ground News and adding every ‘China bad’ fact he can find that’s even spuriously related to space into the video script.
Thanks for writing this. I watched that video a while ago and was fuming from the number of times Brian blames China for something the US itself did before as well.
Brian seems to believe that 1) whatever the US space program does is good while whatever China does is bad, and 2) China can magically and immediately adopt the US’s best space tech, and that China deliberately doesn’t because communists want people to suffer.
The anti-satellite weapons complaint is particularly eregious. The USA, India, China, and Russia have all tested anti-satellite weapons, yet Westoids only complain about China and Russia. As with nukes, all strong military powers need anti-satellite capabilities for the same reasons. In fact, anti-satellite weapons are often adapted for anti-ICBM uses as well. Live testing is the only way to make sure they work.
The ‘rocket first stages falling from the sky’ point is only a problem with China’s current expendable rocket tech. China has several reusable rocket startups (see Dongfang Space for more info) and once they are up and running, the first stages will be able to do controlled landings instead.
Similarly, hypergolic fuels are simple and just work, making them great for initial rockets in a resource-strapped country like pre-2000s China. Now that China has more money and research talent, it is shifting to less toxic propellants like methane and kerosene.
To him, ‘checking biases’ means opening Ground News and adding every ‘China bad’ fact he can find that’s even spuriously related to space into the video script.