China plots 2017 mission to plan MOON COLONY
Can't say when it will land, can say what needs to be done
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China will fire a lucky bunch of taikonauts at the Moon after 2017 as a precursor to establishing a base there, although it admitted that there is no timetable as yet for a manned lunar landing.
Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist for China’s lunar orbiter project, told a conference of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World in the northern city of Tianjin that his team needs to find out more about the Moon’s surface before drawing up further plans, according to Xinhua.
"Putting a man on the moon involves a very complicated systematic program with many technical challenges to solve, including those related to conducting space walks, docking, staying on the Moon and returning,” he said.
“China won't carry out a manned Moon landing until it masters all of these crucial technologies.”
The People’s Republic has already hurled two probes at the Moon; the Chang’e-1 orbiter in 2007 and Chang’e-2 in 2010, which came back with detailed scientific data and comprehensive mapping info, the report said.
The third mission will be the most important yet, however, involving the landing of a 100kg lunar rover vehicle which will be tasked with collecting and analysing samples of the Moon’s surface.
Once the probe is retrieved in 2017 then the planning for the manned expedition can apparently begin.
Even further in the future, although how much further is not yet clear, will be the construction of a base on the Moon, according to Ouyang.
China may have some competition in this respect, however, with Japan and India having both signalled their interest in building lunar facilities.
Russian deputy prime minister, Dmitry Rogozin, also jumped on the astro-bandwagon last week by declaring his country’s space program should set itself the “super goal” of building an extensive base on the Moon. ®
COMMENTS
@frank ly
"Or is it just nationalist dick waving along with military capability development?"
When was it NOT about nationalistic dick waving? Even in the time of Apollo it was only ever about beating the Russians to the Moon. If the Russians hadn't had their space program going and beaten the US into space in the first place, the moon program would never have happened, no matter how many scientists might have wanted it.
Otherwise, if the astronauts really did "come in peace for all mankind", why did they only plant the Stars and Stripes and not the collected flags of humanity, or the laurels-and-globe of the UN? To stick it up the arses of the Russians, that's why. Came in peace, indeed!
Notice how nobody else bothered to go to the moon after America did? That's because there ain't no penis prize for second place, folks. Even though there was still plenty of science to be done...
Now we have the rivalry between China, Japan and India driving the new space race. Fuck the science, it's all about planting that glorious flag on global TV for your rivals and their citizens to see what a big dick your country has. And if China gets there first, you can bet they'll be rubbing Japan's and India's (and the USA's if they're still around) noses in it just as the USA did with the Russians 43 years ago. And as was the case back then, once they get there and achieve the Awesome Golden Dildo award the cost will become too high to continue, and their plans for a moonbase will evaporate just like America's did. Peen flashed, we don't need to go there any more.
If anyone thinks the primary motive in going to the moon was, or is, scientific research, they're living in some idealistic la-la land. The science is a great side benefit, in fact it makes for great PR (which is worth more to politicians than any amount of actual science), but it's not the reason any government funds it.
Throwing rocks...
As long as they don't start threatening to chuck rocks at folks that don't like them, good luck to them.
The moon can be a harsh mistress, indeed.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson was right...
The American scientist Neil DeGrasse Tyson has said many times, and most recently on the Daily Show on Febuary 27th, that, 'Once the Soviet Union made it clear they weren't going to the Moon, the US stopped going too.'
Now the Chinese are going to do what the Americans are planning to do in 2019 (SLS-2 - colossal waste of money IMHO) and they're going to do it 2017. I happily predict (if I'm wrong, come see me in 2018 & I'll give you a dollar) that this will, finally, fire up the American Private Sector (possibly NASA too) to get serious about getting us into space & on the road to being a two-planet species.
Oh, and...
GO CHINA! From 1st Chinese man in orbit in 2003 to Apollo 8 in 2017? That's going to be a hell of an acheivement & they should be proud.
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