plawolf
Lieutenant General
COVID in space!
China's Space Program News Thread
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Maybe space nuclear technology. that’s something the soviet union had a lot of experience, and china none. A permanently manned base on the moon may have to be nuclear powered.
Russia also indisputably have far more experience with long duration human stay in space and under zero G. this would also be a major requirement if the base is to orbit the moon rather than be on the moon.
besides that, I don’t see russia has any skill advantage. she certainly has no money advantage.
Russia also indisputably have far more experience with long duration human stay in space and under zero G. this would also be a major requirement if the base is to orbit the moon rather than be on the moon.
besides that, I don’t see russia has any skill advantage. she certainly has no money advantage.
The Russians? A second access to space in case something goes wrong? Until China builds a second capsule set, it might be worth it?
The rest of the world China is inviting into the program? It gives China some soft power brownie points, first and foremost. China being seen as a leader of a multinational space program and moon base would look really good in the press. it also offers an alternative to the US.
There might be areas china could benefit from collaboration on - ESA is pretty damned good with their instrumentation, frex - and it might help pay for a more extensive base than China wants the full bill by themselves. Those are probably secondary at best.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
I think the most valuable input the Russians can provide is detailed information on what long term zero or low G living does to the human body and ways to try to counter and/or mitigate that.
That is knowledge gained from decades of operations and at great cost to the early cosmonauts. If China can get the fruits of all that experience without needing to learn it all themselves the hard way, then that would be a worthwhile contribution by the Russians.
That is knowledge gained from decades of operations and at great cost to the early cosmonauts. If China can get the fruits of all that experience without needing to learn it all themselves the hard way, then that would be a worthwhile contribution by the Russians.
I believe most of that is written up in published scientific literature at this point, tbh.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
A lot of it sure, but never all of it. The most significant and useful findings always tend to have a way of being classified and banned from being just put out there for the whole world to see.
The effects of prolonged zero and low G environments on the human body is fair well published and understood, but that information is of very limited use. I would be amazed if the Soviets and Russians didn’t try all sorts of drugs, treatments and technologies to try to counter of mitigate those ill effects beyond mere exercise. That’s the most useful and significant bits of information, the solutions they came up with to those problem. Even information on failures would be useful to help China avoid repeating those mistakes and/or wasting time and resources on dead-end approaches.
Agree with your point of long duration experiences in space gained by the Russian Cosmonauts. I think in other areas, eg automously docking of the cargo ship Shengzhou 2 has demonstrated that China is well advanced and ahead of the US and Russia,
I doubt russia would have any serious Intent to really contribute. for Russia, the main value of this putative collaboration with China would be as leverage in negotiating with the US. Russia realizes
The financial and technical resource that China could bring to bear dwarfs what Russia could contribute in the long run. Therefore china would marginalize Russia long before are any success is actually achieved. So they don’t really stand to gain a great deal if china succeeds in building some sort of a lunar colony.
Russia is leveraging the fact that the collaboration SEEM to make sense to get more concession out of the US if the US were to wish to completely isolate the chinese space program.
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There won't be a need for Russia to negotiate with the US. Russia and America are parting ways in space.
When the ISS ends, I suspect most collaborations between the two will also do so. Originally, the Gateway Station was going to have a Russian module. Russia wanted equal say in the program, much like they do with the ISS. The US rejected this: lessons learned from ISS, you might say. Russia pulled out of the program.
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