 |
Since Comrade Klinton gave them the technology maybe they'll give him a reserved one-way ticket on the flight... |
Posted on 07/14/2002 2:56:18 PM PDT by knighthawk
WASHINGTON: China may launch its first manned mission to space by 2003 or 2004, the Pentagon says in its annual report to Congress on the state of Chinese military.
The report, issued on Friday says that Beijing has thorough knowledge of US and foreign space operations and has long-term plans to launch its own space station, and possibly a reusable space plane as well.
"China continues to make progress with its manned programme. The first unmanned test launch occured in November 1999. A second unmanned test flight occurred in January 2001.
"While one of the strongest immediate motivations for this programme appears to be political prestige, China's manned space efforts will almost certainly will contribute to improved military space systems in the 2010-2020 time frame," the report adds.
Aiming to expand its military might, Beijing, may also be developing jammers for use against Global Positioning System receivers, it says adding the country might already have acquired technical know-how to develop laser radars used to track and image satellites and may be seeking an advanced radar system with capability to track satellites in low earth orbit.
Besides, China may already posess capability to damage, under specific conditions, optical sensors on satellites and may have acquired high energy laser equipment and technical assistance, which probably could be used in the development of ground-based anti-satellite weapons.
|
Since Comrade Klinton gave them the technology maybe they'll give him a reserved one-way ticket on the flight... |
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.