Posted on 11/01/2003 11:57:35 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
BEIJING - China plans within five years to launch a probe to orbit the moon, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday, citing a space program official.
The announcement came as China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei, was in Hong Kong making his first public appearances since orbiting the Earth last month.
Since the success of Yang's nearly 22-hour flight inside a Shenzhou 5 capsule, there has been a stream of disclosures about the ambitions of the once-secret space program.
"China is to launch its first moon-probing satellite in the next three to five years," Xinhua said, citing an interview with Zhang Qingwei, deputy head of Yang's delegation in Hong Kong.
Plans call eventually for landing a robot probe on the moon and retrieving samples of the surface, Xinhua said. It did not say when that would happen.
China's space program is a key prestige project for the communist government, which launched its first satellite in 1970.
After satellites and manned space flight, a moon probe would be the "third milestone" of China's space program, Zhang said, according to Xinhua. The moon probe would be launched aboard one of China's Long March III A rockets, he said.
Officials say the country plans to launch another Shenzhou capsule within two years and eventually wants to send up a permanently manned space station.
Hong Kong's Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, left, applauds as China's first man in space, astronaut Yang Liwei completes signing an autograph on a poster of an Exhibition on China's first manned space mission at the exhibition opening ceremony in Hong Kong's Science Museum, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2003. Beijing gave Hong Kong the opportunity to host Yang's first public appearance since he orbited Earth 14 times, hoping the instant superstar's visit will infuse locals with a bit of the patriotism that's been missing since the 1997 handover from British sovereignty. (AP Photo/Anat Givon)
Government is the only entity willing to finance large projects tied to national security and economic infrastructure - Panama Canal, TVA, national interstates, etc. Once established business follows and profits. There is water on the Moon at the poles. At the south pole, with a benign thermal environment, are mountain peaks that in near constant sunlight. The far side of the Moon is shielded from Earth's static noise. Comsats and military satellites are between here and the Moon. And you can't think of a way to make a profit?
This isn't a matter of more money, it's a matter of direction. Exploration always opens the door to unimagined things.
Will we continue to be a serious player if we allow other countries to move beyond us in space? Do you think we have the same drive and national commitment we had 40 years ago?
Oh, come ON! Are you serious? I could think of lots of ways to make a profit on space exploitation. FIRST, I'd have to get an environmental impact study - (10 years and a few million dollars) to ensure my launch pad didn't incenerate some endangered insect, weed, or fungus. Then, I'd have to get "permits" of every imaginable type from every level of government bureaucracy - also costing many precious ducketts. THEN, I'd have to litigate every launch against radical enviro-nazis because of the amount of greenhouse gasses I put in the atmosphere every time I fire a rocket. I could go on for hours.
My brother-in-law works for NASA; I have 2nd-hand knowledge of the tremendous amounts of wasted money and time on the silliest of projects.
Space exploration (and any scientific endeavor, for that matter) should be a task for private business, unless it is a National security issue. Enough of the pie-in-the-sky boondoggles with my tax dollars.
Other countries won't move beyond us in space. As I said to you in another China-beating-us-in-the-space-race post you started, they are doing in the NEXT decade what we did 40 years ago.
I'm not worried about China - they will implode before they are a serious space-race threat.
* Defeat the Soviet Union (space program/starwars - ie the U.S. can do anything it sets its mind to belief that drove the Soviets bankrupt trying to keep up with us.)
*Panama Canal (boosted military and economic)
*TVA (strengthened the U.S. economy)
*Interstate Highways (strengthened the U.S. economy)
*Computer miniaturization (space program spin-off - strengthened the U.S. economy and military)
Were the payoffs worth the price?
Private enterprise would be on the Moon now except Congress pulled back after we beat the Soviets to the Moon. They saw no compelling national interest to continue. Stupid. If they hadn't, all those ideas being developed toward a spacefaring society would be in place now. Instead these earnest but pent up economic dreams are desperately trying to find a way to accomplish their goal.
.
Just damn.
If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...
I doubt it, they are only going up to see if the Flag we left really says "made in china" on it.
Their space program is run by their military. They have dirt cheap labor and no congress to tell them how to spend their money. I think they can run a parallel path of semi-capitalism with an eye on space dominance. Hell, why wouldn't they? We're stuck in the water, while they're making progress. I don't care if it's ground we've covered. The fact that we're not active participants now and did not use and build on what we learned from our race to the Moon, ie stay and build a presence there, shows them the door is open to them to pass us by.
Been there done that? I don't think so. Planting flags isn't the same as developing an infrastructure before moving on to the next phase. If we'd done that, we wouldn't be crying over our lack of space access. When our military opened the frontier, they built outposts and the people followed. We didn't just send Lewis and Clark and then say we'd accomplished something. No, we built an infrastructure that supported and encourgaged private enterprise and expansion.
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