Quickie
Colonel
Lol, no one is trying shroud anything in some kind of mystery. My contention was any kind of technology can be used for military purposes if they find use for it in certain situation.
China's Space Program News Thread
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Lol, no one is trying shroud anything in some kind of mystery. My contention was any kind of technology can be used for military purposes if they find use for it in certain situation.
I NEVER did, because I know I don't know enough about American Mars program to have an informed opinion. Just like you don't have enough information to have an informed opinion about Chinese space program as well, but judging from your post, ignorance will never prevent you from blabbering out accusation.
---------- Post added at 11:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:15 AM ----------
So I guess, you have no problem being a hypocrite, accuse others of doing something while yourselves have no problems with it doing yourself. And yes, you have absolutely no problem with this, because I guess, maybe in your mind one nation is just suppose to be superior than everyone else, kinda like the manifest destiny. This mindset will not serve your will in the 21 century.
escobar, an excellent member in good standing in this forum, was making very informative post in this thread when suddenly some newer members started posting in this thread making some flammable statements. You know who you are. This is not mp.net. I will not tolerate that sort of nonsense. Period.
the rules clearly state..
http://www.sinodefenceforum.com/ann...-before-posting-important-please-read-20.html
Knock off the personal attacks/insults & country bashing remarks. Discuss the Chinese space program in a civil manner.
DO NOT quote or respond to this post. If you do you will be banned for 3 months.
bd popeye super moderator
broadsword
Brigadier
It's your prerogative whether you want to shroud or not in secrecy. Heat tile is not something the Chinese are alien to after all
they have been making ceramic for eons. It would be a matter of updating it for space re-entry.
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Maybe they can do automatic docking between tg1 and tg2.
---------- Post added at 10:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:00 AM ----------
Maybe they can do automatic docking between tg1 and tg2.
Since tg1 is relatively empty on purpose, and since the astronauts have demonstrated staying and living on board for days, maybe it can serve as a ready-made accommodation section for future missions.
AssassinsMace
Lieutenant General
During the CCTV 9 live Shenzhou 9 launch broadcast, it was mentioned that Tiangong-1's systems would expire before China starts building a space station. It wasn't designed to last that long and would become useless.
Can you say "sour grapes"? LOL If there was a comedy thread i would've posted this there.....
Is China’s Space Push Worth It?
It made a lovely photo: three Chinese space explorers sitting on lawn chairs in the Inner Mongolian desert with their scorched Shenzhou-9 space capsule behind them. All three held bouquets of flowers for a job well done.
What wasn’t obvious is the reason that the three astronauts were sitting. After 13 days in space, they surely couldn’t walk. Living in weightless conditions, even for that short period of time, takes so much out of you that you can’t stroll upon landing.
Although the U.S. rarely admits it, the U.S. has learned from its more than 60 years in space that humans are the weak link in space exploration. Space radiation kills us; weightlessness weakens us; isolation makes us melancholy. Our puny life expectancy makes it nearly impossible to explore even the outer reaches of our solar system, even if we had the technology to do so.
It will take the Voyager unmanned spacecraft, launched in 1977, another year or so to reach the edge of the solar system—roughly 37 years in all — the National Aeronautics and Space Administration says. Reaching another solar system would take many thousands of years. Astronauts would want a return trip.
This fact alone should give China pause in its plans to expand its manned space program and eventually send astronauts to the moon. What would it get for all the expense?
When U.S. President John Kennedy made a moon landing a U.S. priority in 1962, it was a daring vision. The U.S. was competing with the Soviet Union for global leadership and the space race became a metaphor for the comparative strength of the two systems. When Neil Armstrong touched down on the moon in 1969 and planted an American flag, the symbolism was obvious. Soft power, as the Chinese like to say.
If China goes on to repeat the mission 60 or so years after the original, it would prove what? To my mind, it would represent a poverty of imagination, not riches. It would be one of a long line of Chinese efforts to “catch up” with the West. While it makes sense to try to catch up to the best in auto or airplane manufacturing, merely trying to repeat the glories of the American success program would be a step backward.
The U.S. Apollo moon program ended early because of the cost and because of a lack of purpose. Americans hit golf balls on the moon and drove around in lunar jalopies – cars and golf being two American obsessions. What would Chinese astronauts do differently? Play ping pong?
Since then the U.S. manned program has been stuck in low orbit. The U.S. built a space shuttle to fly astronauts to a space station that was decades late in being built. NASA engineers dreamed of manned missions to Mars, but Congress never came close to approving a program. The costs were too large and humans too weak. Much of a Mars mission would go to shielding astronauts from cosmic rays and creating some form of gravity during the flight so the explorers would be strong enough after a year-long flight to walk on Mars rather than sit on lawn chairs.
A better use of U.S. money has been to bankroll unmanned missions to Mars, including one that is close to trying to land an unmanned rover to explore whether the planet ever was home to life.
China would be better off setting a novel technological goal for itself different from the one President Kennedy set, one that would be admired universally and seen as a boon to mankind. Space may not be the right place to search. Planet Earth could be a better venue. How about an Apollo-project like effort to clean up China’s air so that parents don’t have to worry about their babies developing lung problems? That could mean making solar energy affordable or replacing coal or making nuclear energy safe, or refining a new technology barely understood now. But a path to a world free of pollution, courtesy of China, would be as dazzling as a vision as U.S. astronauts heading to the moon was in its day.
Bob Davis is a senior editor of The Wall Street Journal in Beijing who formerly covered the U.S. space program.
Is China’s Space Push Worth It?
It made a lovely photo: three Chinese space explorers sitting on lawn chairs in the Inner Mongolian desert with their scorched Shenzhou-9 space capsule behind them. All three held bouquets of flowers for a job well done.
What wasn’t obvious is the reason that the three astronauts were sitting. After 13 days in space, they surely couldn’t walk. Living in weightless conditions, even for that short period of time, takes so much out of you that you can’t stroll upon landing.
Although the U.S. rarely admits it, the U.S. has learned from its more than 60 years in space that humans are the weak link in space exploration. Space radiation kills us; weightlessness weakens us; isolation makes us melancholy. Our puny life expectancy makes it nearly impossible to explore even the outer reaches of our solar system, even if we had the technology to do so.
It will take the Voyager unmanned spacecraft, launched in 1977, another year or so to reach the edge of the solar system—roughly 37 years in all — the National Aeronautics and Space Administration says. Reaching another solar system would take many thousands of years. Astronauts would want a return trip.
This fact alone should give China pause in its plans to expand its manned space program and eventually send astronauts to the moon. What would it get for all the expense?
When U.S. President John Kennedy made a moon landing a U.S. priority in 1962, it was a daring vision. The U.S. was competing with the Soviet Union for global leadership and the space race became a metaphor for the comparative strength of the two systems. When Neil Armstrong touched down on the moon in 1969 and planted an American flag, the symbolism was obvious. Soft power, as the Chinese like to say.
If China goes on to repeat the mission 60 or so years after the original, it would prove what? To my mind, it would represent a poverty of imagination, not riches. It would be one of a long line of Chinese efforts to “catch up” with the West. While it makes sense to try to catch up to the best in auto or airplane manufacturing, merely trying to repeat the glories of the American success program would be a step backward.
The U.S. Apollo moon program ended early because of the cost and because of a lack of purpose. Americans hit golf balls on the moon and drove around in lunar jalopies – cars and golf being two American obsessions. What would Chinese astronauts do differently? Play ping pong?
Since then the U.S. manned program has been stuck in low orbit. The U.S. built a space shuttle to fly astronauts to a space station that was decades late in being built. NASA engineers dreamed of manned missions to Mars, but Congress never came close to approving a program. The costs were too large and humans too weak. Much of a Mars mission would go to shielding astronauts from cosmic rays and creating some form of gravity during the flight so the explorers would be strong enough after a year-long flight to walk on Mars rather than sit on lawn chairs.
A better use of U.S. money has been to bankroll unmanned missions to Mars, including one that is close to trying to land an unmanned rover to explore whether the planet ever was home to life.
China would be better off setting a novel technological goal for itself different from the one President Kennedy set, one that would be admired universally and seen as a boon to mankind. Space may not be the right place to search. Planet Earth could be a better venue. How about an Apollo-project like effort to clean up China’s air so that parents don’t have to worry about their babies developing lung problems? That could mean making solar energy affordable or replacing coal or making nuclear energy safe, or refining a new technology barely understood now. But a path to a world free of pollution, courtesy of China, would be as dazzling as a vision as U.S. astronauts heading to the moon was in its day.
Bob Davis is a senior editor of The Wall Street Journal in Beijing who formerly covered the U.S. space program.
Not a surprising article, however I am very surprised by all the comments for this article. It seems for once China is doing praise worthy by the Western people. And no amount of "free media" spin can actually change people's opinion on this.
This is a good way for China to reinvent it self in the world, from technology and science.
This is a good way for China to reinvent it self in the world, from technology and science.
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