[Cincinatus' Wife]

November 2001 - China Announces 2005 Space Plans --Say space arms race has begun

[Renegade]

NASA became to big and bureaucratic. The more administrators you get involved, the slower a program proceeds , and the more chance of a failure. We need to scale down the size of the entity, and zero in on one project at a time . In that type of setup projects will be completed .
We fumbled the ball by not staying with the new payload design system initiated soon after the first shuttle launch. They should have foreseen the limits of the present STS craft due to the material stresses put on the spacecraft.( or did they, and wanted this to happen for some predetermined reason ??)

[Michael81Dus]

It should be not too difficult to damage the heat shield so that these moon-travellers cannot return. /black humour off

[Wonder Warthog]

"Scientists have acknowledged the usefulness of H3 in helping achieve nuclear fusion success. The moon appears to be a large source of naturally occurring H3, a commodity that would be of such value that the transport back to Earth would be economically feasible."

ARRRGGHHH!!!! Journalists "never" get it right. It ain't H3 (tritium)--tritium is easy to make by bombarding other light elements with neutrons. The isotope in question is He3, the rare light isotope of helium (normally He4).

The sun pumps out a lot of He3 in the solar wind--which impacts and is trapped on the lunar surface.

To quote from (http://exn.ca/apollo/Future/):

"Unlike the Earth, which is insulated by its atmosphere, the Moon is continuously buffeted by solar winds. These carry substances into the lunar soil that wouldn’t be found on Earth. One of the most important of these is Helium 3, a helium isotope which is very rare on Earth. Helium 3 (or He3) has been proven in limited experimental conditions to work in fusion reactions, and is a promising fuel for fusion power generation because, in contrast with other fusion fuels, it isn’t radioactive itself, and when it is fused, releases no radioactivity."

[Movemout]

"the fact remains that the Chinese are devoting resources and gearing up to do something that we are no longer technologically capable of achieving in the immediate future."

I like Bob Walker but this is a disingenous statement. We can establish a lunar campsite within five years, technologically speaking. Mr Walker knows this. What we lack is the political will and commitment to do it.

You are absolutely dead on in your allegation that we need a framework in which to move forward. This lack, more than anything, has contributed to NASA's aimless drifting for three decades.

[Wilhelm Tell]

So why are the Chinese using Russian space technology? Just because the Russians could launch a manned rocket every other week if they wanted to? Some of their technology is so OLD it has been used without major incident for YEARS. I bet the Russians can't afford to throw money at problems the way we can! We have five modern space shuttles... we have four modern space shuttles... okay, we have three modern space shuttles...

All sarcasm aside, that might be a good way to quickly start a space program -- a combination of proven Russian rockets with the latest Chinese electronics. Maybe in forty years we will finally have an economical and safe space plane that will make all of that obsolete, but until then...

[doc30]

Does anyone know what is the military/strategic value of a moon base? Can things be done from the moon that can't be done from Earth orbit?

[Steely Tom]

Dear China:

Please go into space. Please go to the moon.

Please try to knock out some of our communications satellites.

(steely) (born too late to participate in our first space race)

[Georgia_JimD]

The Chineese space rockets are different than all the others on Earth...

When launched they spin and whirl up to space while spraying a shower of sparks.

[jpl]

Space will have to wait a while. They're just too busy researching the answer to the burning question of whether the mean global temperature over the next century is going to rise 1.25 degrees or 1.5 degrees.

[Paul Ross]

Ping.

[ladyinred]

We have enough problems here on earth, why worry about Space except for our defense interests.Do I sound like an old fogey? LOL

[Jim Noble]

I think when the China-India team goes to Mars, it will fundamentally change the way we look at our situation on this planet.

I hope so.

[expatguy]

Rest assured the Chinese wont waste time sending up useless missions with different race, colours and creeds of astronauts.

Leave it to America to achieve such milestones as the FIRST Lesbian in space, the First Transgender and the First Homosexual in space.

[KevinDavis]

Again robots are boring!

[TexasCajun]

Why are we building a Space Station and not a Moon Station?