China's Space Program News Thread

[AssassinsMace]

Re: When will China go to the moon?

One step at a time.

While international rivals make it look that China is in some sort of space race, China should be commended at working at a pragmatic pace.

China should stop complaining about not being included in the International Space Station and just concentrate first on their own. A Chinese space station will make it easier for missions beyond Earth's orbit.

 

[swimmerXC]

Re: When will China go to the moon?

Space is the future, and there is no better way to get there faster than through competition.

Why explore space when hardly no country has the technology to send a man to the deepest part of the ocean, we barely know anything about the oceans those scienctist just strached the surface :coffee:

 

[Finn McCool]

Re: When will China go to the moon?

Because as I said, space is the future, not the bottom of the ocean.

 

[PiSigma]

Re: When will China go to the moon?

the bottom of the ocean could be the future if they find a cheap energy source to power the world. and produce lots of other resources we want.. then u'll start seeing people investing in researching tech to build cities under the ocean. it's not about what's the future, it's about where resources could be found. we know that the moon have He-3, which is one of the reasons why people want to go there, because it's a good energy source. and outer space offer more living space. if ocean floor can offer that same, people would spend a lot more money on the R&D of it too.

 

[Cygnus X-1]

Re: When will China go to the moon?

The first phase of China's lunar program is to send unmanned craft to the moon. This is an achieveable goal because the technology has been around for 40 years and the physics have been around for centuries. Besides, it is much safer and economical to send unmanned craft to the moon. This phase could be done as soon as 2010!

If your talking about sending a man to the moon (which I suspect you are) then that will take longer because the next phase would be to send 'robots' probably similar to the Mars exploration rovers. This could be done around 2012-2015

The final phase would then be to send a 'Taikonaut' - how long that will take is anybody's guess really. I hope it will be before 2020 :china:

 

[adeptitus]

Re: When will China go to the moon?

China's space program is very conservative, expect to see several unmanned test flights before an actual manned mission is sent up. Depending on your point of view, you could say they value human life over $, or that they want to make sure the manned flight would be successful for good PR (public relations).

As for space vs. the ocean, 71% of our planet's surface is covered by the sea. It's generally much cheaper to expand into the sea than to space. It's possible to build sea colonies powered by OTEC (ocean thermal energy conversion), which also supplies fresh water for hydroponics, plus aquaculture at sea. However the cost is too high at present time. Space colonization would be even more costly. $_$

It's more "cost effective" to expand into low-density desert areas on land right now. Personally, I'm betting the bank on cheap desert land for my retirement. Cross my fingers that urban sprawl would go there and make the land valuable in 10-20 years!

 

[Tassadar]

Re: When will China go to the moon?

Because as I said, space is the future, not the bottom of the ocean.

Hey, I really like the saying, makes you sound like a prophet :rofl:

Jokes aside, I agree that the future of mankind is in space. However, I do want to make a point that the problem of energy seems to be the choke point for many problems right now. I guess, if we could somehow master the technology of fusion, the exploration of moon and future space exploration will be justified(more practically) and propelled.

 

[DarkEminence]

Re: When will China go to the moon?

Hmm...:coffee:

What is more militarily feasible? I have always thought objects in space were much more practical in military terms (it's hard to shoot down an object that can revolve around the earth in 90 minutes...too fast)? And an underwater base can only move as fast as 1 foot a year (and that is pushing it).

 

[DPRKPTboat]

Re: When will China go to the moon?

If they achieve this, I say good for them. What's interesting is China's next step. Aren't they looking on putting a docking vehicle up to practice rendevouz and docking?

The next manned mission due to be launched is Shenzhou 7, which will fly solo in 2008. Word on the internet isd that it will carry three taikonauts and a spacewalk will be carried out. Shenzhou 8 is the docking vehicle you mentioned, with the ability to have two Shenzhous docked to it either side. It could be expanded to a space station. Here are my sources:

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And here is something about how Shenzhou 8 could be expanded to a space station. I had my own thread for that, but people seem to have forgotten it now:

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But Chenghe 1 is going ot be China's first moon mission, and will be launched next year. But i've read a BBC article which says that all Chinese craft sent to the moon will be designated as Chenghe, and that the Chinese lunar programme is getting assistance from British scientists. Heres the article:

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And heres one on that moon mission:

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[tphuang]

Re: When will China go to the moon?

If they achieve this, I say good for them. What's interesting is China's next step. Aren't they looking on putting a docking vehicle up to practice rendevouz and docking?

they have a long list of goes. I think if you google up china moon, you might find the articles that listed them. Your original estimate of 2030 is probably right had they just went alone. I'm guessing they are getting a lot of help from the Russians and that really does speed up the process. In many way, since the Russians themselves never landed on the move, we can look at the first China landing as the first "Eastern bloc" landing in a way.