China plans to put own version of Hubble space telescope in place by 2005

yahoo.comnews ^ | October 12, 2003 | AFP

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The project, which was originally hatched by the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1992, is now the focus of two research groups working to meet the timetable, the Beijing Star Daily reported.

The Chinese telescope will be about one meter (three feet) in diameter, weigh two tonnes and have a lifetime of three years, according to the paper.

The report comes as the world's most populous nation is eagerly waiting to become the third country to put a man into space after Russia and the United States.

The Chinese government has announced that the Shenzhou V manned space vehicle will be launched between October 15 and 17 and orbit the earth 14 times on a 21-hour mission. The landing is scheduled to take place in Inner Mongolia.

The Hubble has provided invaluable information to astronomers since being dropped off in space in April 1990.

The telescope captured the best view of Mars ever obtained from Earth. It also helped gather evidence to support the Big Bang theory and provided the first convincing proof by an optical telescope of the existence of black holes.

The Hubble is scheduled for retirement in 2010, when NASA plans to replace it with a new-generation orbital observatory.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Now China is sending a man into space. Why? By Joan Johnson-Freese, The writer is chairwoman of the National Security Decision Making Department at the U.S. Naval War College. The views expressed in this article are the author's alone. Reprinted with permission from YaleGlobal Online (http://yaleglobal.yale.edu). Celestial ambitions

[Support Free Republic]

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[waterstraat]

Get ready for lots of such things coming out of china. The manufacturing/high tech/military capabilities of the chinese will awe the world over the coming decades as the United States shifts its high tech and manufacturing over to the chinese communists. China will have the skills, equipment, talent, and money to become the most advanced and most powerful country in the world within a few decades.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

We can't afford economically or militarily to take a backseat.

[spetznaz]

It has been said that the 19th century was Great Britain's, the 20th America's, and that the 21st will be China's.

[waterstraat]

We can't afford economically or militarily to take a backseat.

If you dont trust the Chinese communists to be supplying us with our manufacturing and high tech needs in the future, then you dont believe in free trade.

[waterstraat]

Actually, china was one of the most powerful and most advanced countries in the world in the late 1700's, dont underestimate what china can do with a billion people, and lots of high tech, lots of money, and state of the art factories.

[Moonman62]

We can't afford economically or militarily to take a backseat.

China is in a desperate attempt to save their totalitarian regime. Their space race is little more than a competition to waste more money than we do. Our Hubble has done some very good things, but its lifetime cost is several times higher than it should be. (It would be cheaper to launch replacements, instead of maintaining it.) The chinese "Hubble" will just duplicate effort. China might get some prestige out of this, if they don't bankrupt themselves first.

[boris]

I guess the main mirror will be almond-shaped?