February 5 2024
New Space Race
1 America, China and Russia are locked in a new struggle over space
2 Fed chair expects rate cuts this year
3 US-China Cold War
2/5/69 United States population reaches 200 million
Music
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1 America, China and Russia are locked in a new struggle over space
The first shot of the next war between the world’s big powers, it is often said, will be fired in space. As conflict spreads on Earth, ill omens are emerging in the firmament. As countries race to develop new capabilities in space, some are also building the forces and weapons to fight beyond the atmosphere. On January 28th Iran said it had launched three satellites; Western countries fear they could be used in its ballistic-missile programme. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has opened a new chapter in space war. But America’s biggest dread is China, which seeks to match if not surpass America’s primacy in the heavens. Admiral Christopher Grady, vice-chairman of America’s joint chiefs of staff, explains it bluntly: “Space has emerged as our most essential warfighting domain.”
Among the most closely observed objects are two recently launched robotic space planes, smaller versions of the space shuttle. America’s x37-b lifted off from Cape Canaveral on December 28th. China’s Shenlong, or Divine Dragon, was lofted a fortnight earlier. Both missions are largely secret. Space planes’ ability to undertake long missions, deliver and capture payloads, change orbit and return to Earth to refuel make them potentially important weapons. Russia launched Cosmos 2570 in October, the latest “nesting doll” in orbit: it released a second satellite, which then let out a third. To American commanders, such things look like a test of a “kill vehicle”, in other words a projectile for destroying satellites. A foretaste of space hostilities came on the evening of November 14th 2021, Colorado Springs time, when two electronic bells warned the joc of a missile fired from Russia’s Plesetsk cosmodrome. Early-warning satellites detected the fireball, ground radars tracked the missile and computers soon projected its unusual trajectory: neither a ballistic-missile nor a satellite launch, but a Nudol anti-satellite weapon aimed at a defunct Soviet spy satellite. Some in the joc thought Russia would aim close to the target. Others reckoned, correctly, it would blast the bird. This may well have been a Russian warning to America: stay out of the impending war in Ukraine or risk conflict that will stretch into space. Never mind the 1,800 bits of debris that forced astronauts in the International Space Station (including two Russians) to shelter in their escape craft.
America, China and India have all tested Earth-based anti-satellite (asat) missiles like Russia’s Nudol
Chinese documents speak of using “surprise, swift, limited-scale, overawing strikes” in space—not as part of war, but to deter one or to force early capitulation. China has the second-largest number of satellites and the country has stepped up the pace of its launches in recent years.
On Earth objects need propulsion to keep moving. In space they keep moving because friction is negligible, their orbits determined by gravity. A destroyed plane falls to the ground; a sunken ship goes to the bottom of the sea. The remains of a satellite struck by a missile stay in orbit for years or decades, endangering everything in their path. With enough junk, a collision could start a chain reaction of impacts, known as the “Kessler syndrome”, rendering some orbits all but unusable.
Economist
https://www.economist.com/international/2024/01/31/america-china-and-russia-are-locked-in-a-new-struggle-over-space
2 Fed chair expects rate cuts this year
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank has shifted its focus toward deciding when to begin cutting interest rates, but that solid economic growth means officials don’t have to rush that decision. Given recent economic strength, “we feel like we can approach the question of when to begin to reduce interest rates carefully,” Powell said during a rare television interview broadcast on CBS on Sunday night.
WSJ
3 US-China Cold War
In US-China space race, success depends on lunar landings and orbital ‘parking spots’
Chinese Hacking Against U.S. Infrastructure Threatens American Lives, Officials Say
China’s yuan replaces US dollar, euro as Russia’s ‘primary’ foreign currency for overseas economic activity
China Home Sales Slump Persists After Evergrande Liquidation
US Accuses Chinese Memory Chipmaker, AI Firms of Aiding PLA
US deems more Chinese tech companies ‘military’ and a national security risk
New Zealand Takes Step Toward Joining Aukus Security Pact
2/5/69 United States population reaches 200 million
Thanks for reading!
Music
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Full list of winners https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/04/arts/music/grammys-winners-list.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
