China planning moon landing as first step to Mars

spacedaily.com ^ | 20 May 02 | AFP

[RightWhale]

The story grows. China's moon base will be at the only spot that has water. Mars, though? Will Mars be the Red Planet for real. Dragons in space.

[Willie Green]

Like I just posted here:

"If the Chinese can figure out how to raise dogs and rice up there, good for them."

[Ford Fairlane]

We had better get up there & stake a claim to that water. Otherwise, all those old science fiction books that had us fighting the reds in space will come true.

[r9etb]

This sounds like posturing. The goals, not to mention the 2010 date, are the sorts of things pointy-haired bosses like to say.

I can see them putting a guy in space, and perhaps doing a small space station by 2010, but as Jim Oberg pointed out, the logistics for a moon base are beyond them right now.

I have to think that the real reason they're doing this is because it's a status thing. Space is what Great Nations do. This probably increases the chances that they may actually try -- it's much easier to justify it on nationalistic grounds than it is on technical ones.

However, the essentially political nature of the attempt also makes me think that it'll be the first thing to go when China's domestic difficulties begin to mount.

[mhking]

...will establish a base on the moon as we did in the South Pole and the North Pole," he said.

They did?

[finnman69]

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The "Reds" in those Saturday morning serials always looked like Russians...

[Harrison Bergeron]

Reminds me of that highly underrated old Star Wars movie ripoff "Ice Pirates." A great Sci Fi yarn.

[RightWhale]

ping list A.

[RightWhale]

ping list B.

[Charles Martel]

"I do not believe that this generation of Americans is willing to resign itself to going to bed each night by the light of a Communist moon..."
- Lyndon B. Johnson

Possibly the ONLY LBJ quote worthy of this forum.

[RightWhale]

ping list B.

[Hodar]

..the logistics for a moon base are beyond them right now.

And in the early 60's, putting a man on the moon was beyond our abilities too. However, stating a goal, and working towards a goal, means that the abilities grow. The sciences that have spun off of NASA are over 100x the cost of the Appollo programs. The advances that were made in communications, medicine, computers, software, materials, remote sensing, etc, etc. have far exceeded expectations. As it is now, the USA does not have a stated goal or mission in space; let alone a timeline for doing anything remotely new.

[Night Hides Not]

Just think of the public relations coup they'll score when they bring back the US flag from Mars! I bet Sheila Jackson-Lee will be willing to appropriate millions of our tax dollars for its safe return.

Sad to say, but I bet she'll still be a Congress critter if she hangs around that long. No amount of redistricting will carve up her district enough for her to lose.

[Ford Fairlane]

Ice pirates was an excellent movie

[Jay W]

"I do not believe that this generation of Americans is willing to resign itself to going to bed each night by the light of a Communist moon..." - Lyndon B. Johnson Possibly the ONLY LBJ quote worthy of this forum.

While that was true for LBJ's generation, I doubt it is for the current generation. A year or so ago Jay Leno on his "Jay Walking" stint came across a young college graduate from one of California's esteemed state universities, and asked her how many moons Earth has. Her answer? Five.

This only begins to point to the scope of the problem we're dealing with today.

[rageaholic]

Calling O.J. Simpson...

[RadioAstronomer]

We don't have the money to be able to go back to the moon.

[RightWhale]

How quickly could NASA get back to the moon?

It would take a year to let contracts, and another two years to get some hardware delivered. At the minimum, three years. Probably more like 5 - 10 years, which was the original schedule in the 60s.