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China eclipses its competition in new moon mission

CLEP.png
Photo fromCreative Commons
2020 could very well be the year of the “Tài Kōng Ren” (太空人 astronaut), as China aims to land its first man on the moon within the next decade. The anticipated lunar landing marks the beginning of a new era in international space exploration and one in which China could lead the pack.

With the Obama administration’s recent decision to pull the plug on NASA’s moon mission program, “Constellation,” the lunar torch has officially been passed and China seems next in line.

Already among the leading extraterrestrial exploring countries, China became the 3rd nation to independently send a human into space with the launch of astronaut Yang Liwei aboard Shenzhou 5 in 2003. One year later in 2004, government officials announced the unmanned lunar exploration program which would probe rock samples and conditions on the moon. Today, China’s official space program CNSA already has plans to launch a second lunar probe in October--this time scanning the moon’s surface for prospective parking spaces for its future landing.

But, alas, China is not alone in shooting for the moon: the mission for another human touch-down on the lunar surface is simultaneously sought out by India (who plans to launch its first astronaut in 2016), and Japan (who already sent a satellite to the moon to capture astonishing footage of its surface).

All this man-on-the-moon talk makes it seem like it's the 1957 space-race all over again. But this time the moon's video footage comes crystal clear in HD quality and that Taikonaut is texting on his iPhone.

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Comments [rss]

  • BBC1

    Yes, your most effective debating method is to use vulgarities. LOL!

  • nanheyangrouchuan

    Well, Robert Goddard invented the first actual rockets. China didn't actually developing anything when Qian Xue Shen brought his knowledge back, just like China didn't develop its own bomb, it used Soviet blueprints and another Chinese person, trained and educated in the US (he probably ended up being re-educated in the 1970s).

    China simply believes it can blatantly steal and do what it wishes due to being the middle kingdumb.

    China's space guidance systems are all US or Russian derived as well. Now even the Russians don't want chinky chong China participating in the ISS.

  • BBC1

    "China didn't actually developing anything when Qian Xue Shen brought his knowledge back"

    So using your above logic, did the Americans, Japanese and Koreans stole German technology to establish their automobile industries?

    Qian was a brilliant rocket scientist in his own right, and mentioned in the same brath as Von Braun.

  • nanheyangrouchuan

    One could say that the Germans stole the idea for internal combustion engines from the US and UK steam powered car engines that appeared first.

    Qian and von Braun had nothing without Goddard's space frame and solid fuel innovations.

  • BBC1

    That is exactly my point, 1 thing leads to the other. In fact, any aerospace engineer can tell you China is the pioneer of rocketry, with the first martyr of flight, when a Mandarin tied himself to a sedan powered by masses of rockets. One thing leads to the other.

  • BBC1

    Lamby, the question here is not who invented the rocket, it is about a wild accusation that China's space program is entirely based on stolen technology. Qian is a brilliant rocket scientist in his own right. Anyone who studies Aerodynamics know about the Qian equations. Chinese are very talented aerodynamicists. T Wong, a Chinese American, designed the first Boeing Aircraft, since Mr Boeing was actually an entrepreneur, not an accomplished engineer. You also mentioned the Russians gave the nuclear blueprint to the Chinese, which is unprobable, since the nuclear explosion in China happened a few years after the Soviet chill, and why would Stalin do that? And Khruschev less likely. The point is, as I pointed out, the Chinese did get some assistance from Russia, but this is not stolen. Stolen is when you get something without permission.

    The Shenzhou space capsules and the long march rockets that hoist them into space are much more advanced than the old Russian Soyuz workhorses. The capsules are equipped with the latest sensors and flat panel displays.

    Go to Boeing Aircraft, its engineering division is dominated by Asian Americans, many of them of ethnic Chinese origin. It's just a matter of time that China will dominate the science and technology of the world. Even your prejudices can't hide that.

  • UncleCheese

    That's right, you fool. My only point was that the CLEP(tomaniac) space program relies on stolen IP.

    If you want an expansive debate, talk to someone else, moron.

  • UncleCheese

    BBC1, at least fight battles you can win. So much IP has been pilfered by China, it's difficult to tell where in the supply chain one can draw the line and say whether or not some stolen technology was applied to the space program. But yes, they steal, stole, and have stolen great volumes of technology from the US, Russia, and EU.

    Just one quick Google search yields items such as,

    http://sonoranweeklyreview.com/?p=2619

    Now, walk down the street and tell me how long it takes you to find stolen IP in China. Not long. And if relatively low-tech items like dvds, clothing, car parts, watches, software, alcohol, luxury goods, fashion accessories, architectural plans, maglev technology, power generation etc. are all stolen and reproduced, why do you somehow doubt that the space program is not also the beneficiary of stolen technology?

  • BBC1

    Also, the US got a head start in space due to the efforts of the brilliant German scientists who worked in Germany's world war 2 programs, such as Wernher Von Braun. It didn't bothered the Americans a bit that some of these guys were card carrying members of the Nazi Party.

  • UncleCheese

    Counter-accusations is the best you can do? Ha ha! You dumb ass!

    Case closed!

  • BBC1

    So is case closed your answer? LOL!!! I reckon you like to use the perfect description of yourself on others when you feel the urge to run away. ;))

  • BBC1

    How do you know I will lose to you? LOL! Have you ever heard of Qian Xue Shen? He was one of the most brilliant rocket scientists of the 2oth century. He was working in the US at the time with with Goddard. He was jailed in the US because he expressed his desire to return to China due to the false allegations against him at the time and the hysteria of McCarthyism. He was the guy that got the Chinese missilery and rocket programs on track. China did get help from Russia with regards to space capsules etc and even an American Company (I think Hughes?) helped China to correct some flaws after a launch went haywire in Xichang, Sichuan. Also , the space suit was based on a Russian design. All legal. How is this stolen? You folks always assume that any technical achievement of the Chinese are automatically stolen. Everyone copies from each other in 1 way or other, but this is not stolen. When a Chinese car remotely looks like another, the common accusation from you folks is that it is a copy. Yet no one complains when a Citroeon C5 looks just like a BMW. You folks need to get rid of your prejudices. I remembered when Wen Ho Lee was falsely accused of espionage (which is ludicrous since Wen is native Taiwanese), they considered getting rid of all ethnic Chinese from Los Alamos, but then realised they couldn't operate without them.

    I also remembered the Cox report from the US that stated China stole many weapon designs. Of course, all these so called stolen weaponry info were readily downloadable from the web.

    I am not saying there is no espionage, but the USA is equally guilty as well of spying. USA spying on Russian space program is well known too. I'd fire the head of the CIA if he does not have a folder on Chinese space activities, and the CIA runs the largest payroll of hackers. But the fact is, China's achievements in space is mostly homegrown. Get use to it.

  • nanheyangrouchuan

    Like the technology and materials for space suits, which China stole from both Russia and the US? Or the capsule fabrication technology they are trying to steal?

    Bad, thieving little China.

  • rushour

    Ya ya ya..But how can you forget the "high-speed railway technology" GE is trying to buy, well, "to buy back" is what I really mean.

  • nanheyangrouchuan

    GE has a license for some of Siemens' high speed rail technology but won't get the rest as Siemens wants in on the US high speed rail networks. China just flat out stole Thyssen's maglev tech and managed to screw it up.

    At least TGV and the Japanese aren't letting their high speed rail tech into thieving little China.

  • BBC1

    Can you elaborate how they "stole" the technology?

  • UncleCheese

    Is it called "CLEP" in honor of all the stolen technology they've incorporated?

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