Free Republic

China is eyeing participation in new privately funded U.S. space ventures, such as the Bigelow Aerospace inflatable habitat for biotech or other space-business endeavors. A Chinese role in these ventures could challenge the U.S. government to focus more attention on space cooperation with China. This is especially so, since the U.S. State Dept. would have to rule on such commercial cooperation. Bigelow is receiving substantial technical assistance from the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC), which developed the original TransHab inflatable concept considered earlier for use on the International Space Station (AW&ST Dec. 8, 1997, p. 39). Bigelow has taken over...

HAMBURG, Germany (AFP) - A former North Korean diplomat is accused of ordering material from a German firm that could be used in the production of nuclear weapons, Germany's Der Spiegel reported in its Monday edition. The news magazine said a German businessman would go on trial in Stuttgart, southwest Germany, next month in connection with the case. The diplomat was named by Spiegel as Yun Ho Jin. It said he used to work as a Pyongyang representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. According to Der Spiegel, Yun Ho Jin ordered special aluminium tubes from...

ISLAMABAD: Foreign bank accounts of two senior Pakistani nuclear scientists, who allegedly received money for passing nuclear technology to Iran, have been traced by investigators even as the government ordered all ministries and departments not to invite Dr A Q Khan, the father of the country's atomic bomb, to any official function. The foreign bank accounts in which the proceeds from the transfer of some nuclear technology to Iran have been deposited were traced back to at least two senior nuclear scientists , unnamed officials were quoted as saying by the local daily The News on Sunday. These accounts were...

Xybernaut and Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics to Develop Mobile/Wearable Computing Solutions; China's Aerospace Industry Priority Target FAIRFAX, Va.--Nov. 25, 2003--Xybernaut(R) Corporation (Nasdaq:XYBR) and the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Beihang) today announced that they will conduct joint research and development of mobile/wearable computing, and its application to the commercial and government sectors in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under terms of the agreement, Xybernaut and Beihang will establish a National Center of Competence for Wearable Technology for research, development and deployment of Xybernaut technologies and their applications throughout the PRC. Xybernaut will provide technologies, know-how and...

The good news is that the Pakistan Air Force has finally phased out its 36-year-old U.S.-supplied F-6 aircraft and inducted a fleet of 22 F-7PG jets, newly acquired from China over the past three months. The bad news is that China's F-7 (although much modernized, and beefed up with a MiG-29 engine) is basically a venerable Soviet-era MiG-21 Fishbed, which first flew in 1955. With more than 8,000 produced, the MiG-21 remains by far the most popular combat aircraft of the jet age. China has been producing the F-7 for even longer than the Pakistanis have had the old F-6...