China's Space Program News Thread

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Colonel
no_name said:
You can view the original pic by clicking on the small blue icon with the downwards arrow beside the small orange RSS icon near the left bottom of the description text for the images.
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Thanks for the info. Apparently one can save the files from there.
 
C

chuck731

Banned Idiot
AssassinsMace said:
NASA's LRO satellite catches Chang'e 3 on the ground and Yutu looks like it's touching the bottom of the red circle.


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Looks like chang'e came fairly close to falling into one of the several craters in the area. It would be interesting to know whether corrections were made during the final hover to avoid them.
 
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Colonel
chuck731 said:
Looks like chang'e came fairly close to falling into one of the several craters in the area. It would be interesting to know whether corrections were made during the final hover to avoid them.
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Yes...one of the videos did show the CE3 lander automatically avoiding obstacles. I think, in one of the videos, a Chinese official was commenting that the lander successfully avoided obstacles using its on-board computer.
 
Jeff Head

Jeff Head

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Pigsy said:
Yah, but most "serious" hoaxers believe in the surrogate astronaut theory. Basically this theory says that the Van Allen radiation belt and the high levels of radiation on the moon as well as risk of solar flare while on the lunar surface means that it was not possible to get a man safely to and back from the moon...

Conspiracy theory yes, but stranger things have happened.
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Pigsy, we do not need such unproven conspiracy theories interjected into a thread that is based on the reality of what the Chinese lander and rover are doing.

The fact is, shielding against radiation is not only possible, but has been accomplished, and the US Astronauts went to the moon and returned...several times... just as was documented.

So leave off with such conspiracy theories. Do not post any more arguments regarding such theories here. They will simply be deleted as we continue discussing what is actually happening.

Thanks.
 
escobar

escobar

Brigadier
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China has achieved another breakthrough in its space program with the development of the Yuegong-1, a lab that simulates the cultivation of plants and micro-organisms on the moon, reports the Hong Kong-based newspaper Wen Wei Po.

The Yuegong - which means "Moon Palace" in Chinese - is one of the world's most advanced Bioregenerative Life Support Systems, also known as Controlled Ecological Life Support Systems. Fittings were completed in late October at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

The moon's high radiation and low gravity environment is extremely difficult to simulate on Earth, says professor Liu Hong, who heads the Yuegong lab, which has already commenced experiments to grow food, fruits and vegetables to sustain astronauts in space.

The aim is for humans to be self-sufficient in space for months or years at a time allowing them to manage and regenerate limited resources such as food, water and oxygen. If successful, it would save governments billions of dollars as it is said to cost the United States government anywhere between US$10,000 to US$100,000 to send each kilogram of food supplies into space.

The task is more difficult than it appears as temperatures on the moon range from minus-175 degrees Celsius to 120 degrees Celsius, not to mention its low gravity and that parts of it can be covered in darkness for more than 10 days at a time. Any plants or micro-organisms produced to provide food and oxygen and the degradation of waste also need to be stable, fast-growing and provide high-volume produce.

While NASA is reportedly attempting to launch a mission to grow plants on the moon by 2015, China is said to have already completed a regenerative sustainable growth system that has successfully grown of more than a dozen types of foods such as wheat, rice, soybean, peanuts, peppers, carrots, tomatoes and coriander in a simulated space environment.

Last year, scientists from the China Astronaut Research and Training Center completed a 30-day experiment where two test subjects survived on the oxygen and food provided by a 36-square meter greenhouse filled with four types of edible plants. The Yuegong-1 is aiming to further this research in the hope of one day sending people to live on the moon.

Liu said more details of the Yuegong-1 will be unveiled around Chinese New Year, which falls on January 31, 2014.
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chuck731

Banned Idiot
Equation said:
Can you say lunar base by 2030 or 2040?;)
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No, I can't say that. It seems far more likely to me that by 2040 there should be either a constellation of coordinated LEO man tended facilities with commercial production capability, or very few large (by Tiangong, Mir or ISS standard) manned low earth orbital space station. Exactly which one would one mostly depending on whether practicality or politics would motivate space programs. I think this would apply to the Chinese as well as any other mature space programs driven by results rather than by visions sold losely through fiction euphemistically descibed as "science".
 
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