Who will be the next Space Power?

With NASA being put out on the streets and the United States offically forced to rely on other countries for space transport, who do you think will be the next leader in space exploration?

Personally, I think it will be either Russia or Japan. I'm not sure about Europe, the crap's about to hit the fan big-time with social and economic issues so I'm predicting they might pull the plug on their space agencies as well.

Tibet. They have been secretly working on it inside their monasteries under the noses of the Chinese.

i would say either China or India.

"Delhi we have a problem!" "Thank you for calling tech support. My name is John, how can I help you?"

China, until inferior parts make the rockets crash in Taiwan.

Those Tibetan bastards

Mexico.

I foresee the ESA and NASA doing more joint missions together in the future. Don't know about the JSA, China will probably have a strong interest in its space agency if its economy remains stable.

Uganda.They will be the biggest spacepower i'm calling it.

But on a serious note china maybe

Nah I hear Somalia has a secret space program

Yeah they can afford a space program but they can't cure their famine.

I think Russia will be the next space power.

Space programs are really expensive. I don't think a single nation will be the space power, i think we will see further colaborations betwen nasa,esa, roscosmos and jaxa. India has the potential but faces more important issues the next 20-30 years. The Chinese will remain isolated and probably will not be accepted into any colaborations untill they fully transform into a democracy, no chance aslong as they keep stealing patents and knowledge on a large scale from the west. Also i think initiatives like Richard Branson's Virgin Space program will become more important in the next few decades.

America will continue leading Space Exploration. We're just in a rough spot, when it patches over NASA will be back on it's feet.

I don't think China will get to to where the U.S. is in terms of space. But private companies will probably be the next space power Virgin is an example.

The U.S., China, or Russia, though all have problems.

The U.S. is practically shutting down NASA, but I wouldn't dare rule them out just yet. They will still remain a think tank center for the independent companies to get new members, one that won't cost the privet compaines a dime.

Russia's main problem is capital. They need to bring up their budget. On another note, they also need to bring up their population.

China will have the most to gain from space exploration, particularly finding new places to settle. They have the opposite problem of Russia: they have TOO MANY people. However, a great problem with their space exploration goal is that in spite of everything, they are still in an isolationist mind. Its not just the government, its the culture of the people. As a world power, I doubt that they will ever be excluded from a joint venture. Besides the massive amount of materials and capital that they could bring, pissing them off on the global stage is probably not a good idea when so many countries buy their products. And falling debris obliterating Taiwan might be a sutible substitue to accomplishing space exploration to the Chinese. :lol: :lol:

India has issues at home in terms of politics and religion, this will hinder any space program as it will likely be reduced to a pet project that is backed only by a few who have to call in favors [earmarks] to get funding, materials, etc.

Like China and India, Japan would need to spread its population, the problem is isolationism. And funding. Plus, every time they try to launch a shuttle, its neighbors will cry foul and call it a step towards military missles just to stall them, or out of ligitimate fear.

Germany would have the same problem as Japan, as it is under military sanctions, though they would have less trouble [I think] with its neighbors claiming that it is a military manuver around the 'standing army' restritation.

If history and video games like EVE can tell us anything about privet exploration, its that it never ends well, and it would be sad to think that those companies start claiming space.

Donno about U.K. or France though I honestly think they are as negligable as Germany.

The new Space power will be Texas. Once they succeed from the Union. They already have the infrastructure.

Not so sure if the Japanese will focus their technological masterpieces at anything outside of our atmosphere but... they could

Mars.