China, Japan race for the moon

AP via Yahoo! ^ | 08/24/07 | HIROKO TABUCHI

[Nathan Zachary]

"I don't understand why the US has not found one good application for a Moon-base?"

Are you saying moon base Alpha wasn't real? Then where did they film that TV show? I thought Hollywood always filmed on location /s

[PugetSoundSoldier]

I hope they concentrate on mining the moon... We should focus on mining the oceans. More minerals and 1000 times easier - and cheaper - to get. Considering the difficulties inherent in space travel - including gravity wells and the lack of any atmosphere - we should really focus on resources that are readily available here.

Let Russia, China, and Japan fight over the moon. We’ll just take the entire Eastern half of the Pacific...

[tdewey10]

Couldn’t agree more. Mars is a pointless excersie right now. The focus of the US space program should be a quick return to the moon with the establishment of a permanent manned settlement as soon as possible thereafter.

And yes can we all accept that the Moon Treaty is worthless. As soon as any country gets a permanent foothold they’re going to toss the treaty and claim the land.

[COBOL2Java]

My money’s on Japan. I hear the food given to the Chinese astronauts can kill ya! And an hour later, it kills you again! [rimshot]

[NCC-1701]

"...Been there...done that...signed USA..."


'Nuff said!

[The KG9 Kid]

Japan will win this new space race with a pirouette behind the back slam-dunk.

[Xenophon450]

And Chinese space food???? Rat poison and bird flu FTL...

[VaBthang4]

My money is on Japan...twice before China gets there once...

[Scythian]

Sheeze, they're going to fake-land there too now?

[narby]

Been there...done that...signed USA

Been there ... abandoned that ... signed USA

[Captain Rhino]

True enough.

But if you want to fabricate big, really big structures in space, you have to fabricate them off of the Earth’s surface. The Moon has titanium and unfiltered sunlight, two prime resources for microdeposition manufacturing. (Think of it as 3d lithography with a microwelding torch.)

Send the manufacturing machines to the Moon, combine them with freely available energy and raw materials to manufacture the parts. Cuts down tremendously from what you would have to haul up from Earth’s gravity well.

[FixitGuy]

China going into space with its total disregard for safety, blowing up stuff and creating trash in the orbits of other satellites, is truly frightening.

You just can't hand a backward country technology and expect that they will have the good sense and morals to use it wisely!

[ElectricStrawberry]

Can the Reds even get that thing off the ground....with all the lead paint, who knows?

[RightWhale]

A question is the direction the next Admin will take. They could cut the manned return to the moon and the manned trip to Mars. They might leave robotics in the budget while cutting manned spaceflight altogether.

[RightWhale]

The 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty rules. The 1984 Moon Treaty also rules most countries if not the USA, but claiming space resources is definitely out of the question.

[RightWhale]

The USA did not sign the Moon Treaty, but it doesn’t matter since it signed (and sponsored) the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty. It’s over, Buck Rogers.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Been there...done that...signed USA

Leif Erikson might have said the same to the first English settlers, given the chance - but the people who came later and stayed were the ones who ended up with North America. Same with the moon - the fact that we were up there a few weeks total several decades ago means very little now next to a permanent base.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

The 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty rules. The 1984 Moon Treaty also rules most countries if not the USA, but claiming space resources is definitely out of the question.

These treaties will hit the circular file when there's money to be made and strategic advantage to be had.

[RightWhale]

Those are two separate issues.

Money to be made was in the world of the possible 30 years ago.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Money to be made was in the world of the possible 30 years ago.

From the moon? How so?