China moon probe readied for 2007 launch

MSNBC ^ | Nov. 29, 2006 | Leonard David

[diesel00]

China’s unfolding space plans include that country’s first foray into exploration of the moon. A Chang’e I lunar orbiter is nearing final construction, being readied for rocketing to the moon in 2007.

Preparations to launch Chang’e I — named after the Chinese goddess who flew to the moon in a popular fairy tale — are to be completed by February for launch later next year, according to a November 29 report by China’s Xinhua news agency.

Among several tasks, the orbiter will provide 3D images of the moon’s surface, chart elements on the moon, measure the thickness of the lunar soil, as well as monitor the space environment between the moon and Earth.

[diesel00]

Insignia of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP). The logo is the Chinese character for the word "moon" and the two gray strokes in the middle were also shaped to look like footprints. So obviously the project's goal is to land on the moon.

[minus_273]

every time i read articles like this, i wonder what the true objectives are. I guess the good side of this is that it might create a new "space race" of sorts and give NASA a kick in the pants

[al baby]

Bill Clinton father of the chicoms space program

[taxed2death]

Good luck, it's off limits until 2012. This thing is gonna tank.

[Indy Pendance]

Wal-mart will get there first.

[RightWhale]

Yes, China intends to land astronauts on the moon. Probably sooner rather than later.

[kinoxi]

They'll keep at it until they get it. No spending restraints or manpower issues for the chicoms. I wouldn't expect an 'official' announcement until they feel that one probe was going to make it.

[Radix]

Under the Ming Dynasty in the early 1400s China began seafaring and had amazing successes and accomplishments. They reached areas that were quite remote.

After just a couple of decades, they gave up on exploration.

The innovation and challenges simply became too much of a burden for the monolithic government and the consequences of advancing their civilization were simply too much of a threat to the status quo.

Nothing really changes over time.

A few decades after the amazing accomplishments of the Chinese, Christopher Columbus discovered America... and the rest is....history

[RightWhale]

They will announce before launch for maximum PR payback. They have been announcing their manned flights long in advance. The Chinese like their space program. A lot.

[kinoxi]

The Chinese like their space program. A lot.

Yes they do. They have no real concern for astronaut safety either . I wouldn't be surprised if they started shooting people to the moon just in case one made it. /half sarcasm

[RightWhale]

They don't like to lose astronauts any better than we do. It's very expensive and delays the program.

[taillightchaser]

You beat me to it!!

[kinoxi]

Most of their R&D was sold to them by clinton. Their general expenses are much lower and financed by the rest of the world. (where was your keyboard made, etc.) They will risk as many lives as necessary to get to the moon and claim the achievement.

[RightWhale]

That's not exactly correct. Most of their manned space technology was developed from Russian gear. Risking lives is expensive, and the US has done the same.

[kinoxi]

I think they (chicoms)are more willing to sacrifice human life. It's my opinion. I may be wrong ,but I guess we shall see.

[Steely Tom]

I think they (chicoms)are more willing to sacrifice human life. It's my opinion. I may be wrong ,but I guess we shall see.

When they get in trouble, they'll expect us to rescue them. And if we decline, it'll be interpreted as a hostile act.

[RightWhale]

Some of them certainly did during the Korean War. They have progressed from the human wave attack since it is totally ineffective in the nuclear age. I wouldn't fault their engineering program, though. They graduate twelve times as many engineers a year now as the US does, and they are just as capable. They will be very difficult to match in space as time goes on.

[Steely Tom]

Oh yeah, and the MSM is going to play this as if no one has ever been to the moon before.

[RightWhale]

Good point. They will coordinate as much as possible so there is some backup just as we do now with Russia. Moon trips will still be very dangerous with next to no backup for a long time to come.

[kinoxi]

China has many internal issues unrelated to this particular topic. I don't see their engineers as immutable pawns. I don't think they want to be pawns. Just my opinion of course.

[diesel00]

Oh yeah, and the MSM is going to play this as if no one has ever been to the moon before.

It's not whether you've done it before that matters, it's whether you can do it now. This is a brutal fact of life. No country in the world can land a man on the moon and get him back alive right now. If the timelines of both China and the US go as planned, they will both land a man on the moon at around 2020.

[diesel00]

Yes they do. They have no real concern for astronaut safety either .

What evidence do you have for that? The Chinese manned launches have been reported before the launch. If it fails and astronauts die, the whole world knows. I would think under these circumstances, the Chinese team would care pretty darn a lot about the safety of their astronauts. Just like any space-faring country would.

And you do realize that our space shuttles have an observed catastrophic failure rate of 1 in 57 launches? For many people that is also a very high (and unacceptable) safety risk.

[kinoxi]

Thanks for leaving out the /half sarcasm when quoting me in post #10.

[GAB-1955]

"Bill Clinton father of the chicoms space program"

No, he wasn't. The Chinese had rockets as early as the 1970s, and what Clinton gave the Chinese was something the U.S. needed to give them to get U.S. commercial sattelites into orbit, since there was a backlog then. However, the Long March was already in commercial production.

The Shenzhou is based on the Soyuz, not any U.S. model.

It was one of Clinton's many mistakes, but it didn't create the Chinese space program. Such knee-jerk reactions not based on fact stifle good discussion.

[Petey139]

Actually they do care for their astrounauts because

a) the suit cost millions just to produce and thats excluding the designing stage.

b) The training is extremely expensive. They have to send batches of people to Moscow for training. If it cost $20 M just to tour space, imagine how much it would cost to train 1 astronaut.

c) It cost a fortune for the craft.

If you lose the astronaut, then you lose a huge investment and you are also the laughing stock of the village.