> probably so we dont see how fast they are progressing.
The problem is we don't know either way. They could be super advanced, or it could be that they are covering up shortcomings.
It feeds into the bigger question of: why do this stuff? If it is to advance human knowledge the results should be shared. It the results aren't being shared it's an exercise in nationalism with limited significance.
A similar situation arose in the history of computing. Colossus might have been the first programmable electronic computer, but it is a historical curiosity since it was kept secret until the 1970s. Humanity already had microprocessors by the time it was made public. Despite being a "first" it made little contribution to progress and is arguably of little import. Any secret research program runs the same risk.
> If it is to advance human knowledge the results should be shared.
It’s easy for us to imagine that this day and age there are no competing civilisations and that every country will wholeheartedly share their progress. I suspect China, as Russia and perhaps India at some point, sees itself as such a competing civilisation. We assume that those times have ended but i think they haven't. In this context China does it for its own benefit. I somehow doubt they are not already either actively probing, or considering probing, mars, the moon and asteroids. Japan does it - we know this thanks to, albeit anaemic, coverage in the western media. If China has even a little bit of respect for its thousands of years of history it knows that the next meaningful territorial and resource expansion is space and it is only natural that it will try to outcompete us. Secret or not from us it makes no difference for china. Colossus may have been secret but the science that lead to its development wasn't and thats more important than the product itself. Just as the uk had fertile ground for developing it and later on for developing many computing advances, China is now creating fertile ground for space tech. We should keep an eye on it, and promote news about their progress, so the average joe will understand that unless we invest even more in space development then we are on track to becoming a secondary civilisation, ridden by debt and petty goals.
What do you mean "we don't know either way"? People can visit China and look around. China also sells technology so you could buy stuff and see how it works.
They might be "covering up their shortcomings" but why would would they do that if that makes them lose customers? You can't sell technology based on hot air. It doesn't make any sense.
What use is technology if you don't widely deploy it and commercialize it? It's not like China isn't one of the biggest trading nations in the world.
> It feeds into the bigger question of: why do this stuff? If it is to advance human knowledge the results should be shared. It the results aren't being shared it's an exercise in nationalism with limited significance.
The point is to advance _their_ knowledge, not to share it with all of humanity. To establish a regular presence in space that they can build out from. If space is the next colonizable frontier, China would surely want to be getting in on the action as soon as they can. It's an exercise in nationalism in the sense that it's meant to advance their national interests, but whether it's of limited significance is for the future to know.
It's not so much that this is censored but merely that the reporting on this is very selective/biased. Most news is simply interest driven. Also, the Chinese don't really seem to particularly care how the rest of the world feels about what they do in space.
People like Scott Manly and a few others report on rocket launches around the world regularly on Youtube. The last few years China has really stepped up the number of launches. They are at this point not dependent on other countries to get stuff into orbit; or anywhere else in our solar system.
I'd not be surprised if the next person on the Moon would be launched there from China. They have multiple unmanned lunar missions coming up in the next few years and several successful missions in the past few years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Lunar_Exploration_Prog...
