Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Space Science

China Accelerates Mars Program 365

Posted by simoniker from the vatican-city-mission-to-venus-rsn dept.
securitas writes "You read it correctly - Mars. China has announced it intends to accelerate its Mars program, using experience and expertise from its fledgling lunar program. Following China's proposed Moon missions, the first phase would send a Mars orbiter to examine and survey the Red Planet; the second phase will involve wheeled robotic probes like China's Mars Explorer roving vehicle prototype, used to collect and analyze rock samples; and the third phase will involve returning spacecraft from the planet and establishing a permanent automated base on Mars. This puts the China-India space race and the China-USA space race in a very different light and clearly indicates that China plans to play with the big boys of Mars exploration."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

China Accelerates Mars Program More

China Accelerates Mars Program

Comments Filter:

  • About time... (Score:2, Flamebait)

    by MoThugz ( 560556 )
    Asia has it's representative in space exploration.

    Go China!

  • How long? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by buro9 ( 633210 ) <david&buro9,com> on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:16AM (#6357077) Homepage
    Before NASA's budget sees a major increase?

    • Re:How long? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by PhillC ( 84728 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @08:04AM (#6357251) Homepage Journal
      An increase in the NASA budget would be a very good thing for the future of Government lead space exploration.

      However, the caveat I would add is that as long as this increased spending did not come from social welfare budgets, health, education etc.

      The best place for an increased NASA budget to come from is military spending. If the amount of effort and money that is spent on creating items of destruction was put into space exploration I'd say we'd be in for some exciting times.

      • Re:How long? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by sql*kitten ( 1359 ) * on Thursday July 03, 2003 @08:30AM (#6357373)
        However, the caveat I would add is that as long as this increased spending did not come from social welfare budgets, health, education etc.

        It is not as simple as that. For example, if diverting money from social programmes to industry boosts employment, then the welfare budget can shrink with no ill-effect because fewer people need it. If diverting money from education to space research means that grants for physics postdocs are approved by a different committee than before, then the net result is likely to be little different. If money is diverted from healthcare to orbital laboratories, which then come up with new drugs, then that's actually better for the nation's health.

        The best place for an increased NASA budget to come from is military spending. If the amount of effort and money that is spent on creating items of destruction was put into space exploration I'd say we'd be in for some exciting times.

        A lot of space activity is funded from military spending. The USAF are prolific satellite enthusiasts, for example. That brings down the cost of launching for everyone and funds development of sensors and signal processing technology that can be used by scientists.

        What I would really like to see is some military spending diverted to fusion research. That would be win-win - a scalable power source, both for use on Earth and to power spacecraft on long missions, and it would also meet the military's goal of increasing national security by reducing reliance on the Middle East. Frankly I am surprised that alternative sources of power aren't receiving more interest at present.

        • Re:How long? (Score:3, Insightful)

          by bwalling ( 195998 )
          Frankly I am surprised that alternative sources of power aren't receiving more interest at present.

          Really? Oil is big money. Big money gets things done in this country.

          • Re:How long? (Score:3, Insightful)

            by sql*kitten ( 1359 ) *
            Really? Oil is big money. Big money gets things done in this country.

            But there is no such thing as Big Oil, really - there is only Big Energy. People don't want oil, it's nasty stuff, they want to be able to move people and goods from A to B, heat homes, power electrical devices and so on. Energy companies should be racing to see who gets to fusion first, because whoever does will make a fortune.

    • Re:How long? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Paulrothrock ( 685079 )
      Well, considering an increase of 7% in NASA's budget would bring it up to the same level of spending as during the Apollo era, and that that increase could put a man on mars in 10 years, this couldn't be a bad thing.

    • Re:How long? (Score:5, Funny)

      by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @10:45AM (#6358415) Homepage Journal
      Just wait for some old Congressmen to realize that China is only after Mars because it's the Red planet.

  • Interesting, but check the source... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TrueWest175 ( 606770 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:16AM (#6357080) Homepage
    The People's Daily is a state-run paper that is usually full of articles about how much students and peasants love the government and how Falun Gong is a dangerous cult. Interesting if they are accelerating the program, but the source is pretty sketchy.

    • Re:Interesting, but check the source... (Score:5, Informative)

      by popeyethesailor ( 325796 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:40AM (#6357156)
      Well did you read the article? The article quotes academicians, and they are pretty candid in admitting that they are not ready yet.

      Even the headline says "Space Scientists Say China's Mars Probe 'Years Away'".

      It definitely doesnt sound like propaganda.
      • Its "academics". But don't worry, I don't personally find it a big deal, but a lot of immature slashdotters do.

        still, academics can be candid, but then what they say can be censored and/or altered afterwards by state-run media...or corporate media for that matter. though in our corporate media what scientists say is usually hacked up by non-experts trying to pre-digest it for the general populace.

      • I trust it this time, but the parent poster does have a point. They could be printing only the positive quotes and leaving out the negative. Kind of like how in the US, every movie, no matter how crappy, has some reviewers supporting it and quoted on the box. China's got 4x the population of the US...I'm sure they can always find *someone* who has the opinion they're looking for.

        Cynical, yes, but I'm only holding China to the same standards of cynicism as I do to the rest of the world :)
  • ..whay can't they all work together?

  • This is great (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sukottoX ( 601412 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:17AM (#6357084)
    I think this is the best thing for the future of space exploration. Competition will lead to innovation, and hopefully to added funding. I think when the American population sees China making great progress towards exploring Mars, there will be more of a demand for American exploration.
  • but going by China's record on safety, I expect there's going to be some pretty fireworks.

  • Finally (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Eric(b0mb)Dennis ( 629047 ) * on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:18AM (#6357086)
    First the moon, and now mars..

    Could China possibly be trying to hype up its space program to scare other countries? I mean, it just seems kind of odd that all of the sudden, all of these stories about China and space are surfacing..

    I'd like to see a mission before I believe any of it.. seems like China is just preparing for a cold war

    But who knows

    • Re:Finally (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ralphclark ( 11346 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:22AM (#6357101) Journal
      Yep, chances are they are just saying this to wind up the US. I'll bet this sort of thing is actually quite a long way down on their list of priorities. Even if they mean it, the cash could easily dry up before it gets that far. The world isn't exactly in a boom economy right now.
      • Tax at $1 a head on 1.5GP netts you a lot more spendable than $1 a head on 300MP.

        • Re:OTOH 1.5 gigapeople is a lot (Score:5, Informative)

          by alannon ( 54117 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @08:07AM (#6357270)
          Tax at $1 a head on 1.5GP netts you a lot more spendable than $1 a head on 300MP.
          GDP Per Capita in US: purchasing power parity - $36,300 (2001 est.)
          GDP Per Capita in China: purchasing power parity - $4,600 (2002 est.)

          Source is CIA World Factbook [cia.gov]
          Do the math.
          • Our GDP is $10e12, theirs is $6e12, i.e. they make 60%. But wait a minute, scientists and engineers dont make six figures in China, do they? Figuring rougly $100K for scientists and engineers of the required calibre in the US, China can afford the same number at $60K, or twice as many at $30K. Considering US graduate schools are full of Chinese students, their talent is or will soon be at least as good as ours.
      • The world isn't exactly in a boom economy right now.

        don't you mean - " The US isn't exactly in a boom economy right now."

        I am not a macro economist, but from my count, it is apparent that the only ones falling on hard times are the Iraqis, and the Americans....(okay, I may have left a few others off the list, purely for focus)

        Up here in Canada, we have had steady growth and progress, even as a slight decline is 'predicted'in the near future. This goes without saying that many other nations are also in t
      • The world isn't exactly in a boom economy right now.

        I think you are confusing the USA with the world.

        I believe that the Chinese economy is currently growing at a rate of a couple of hundred percent a year. I think that counts as a boom economy, no?

        • Lucky you. Europe has been hurting for a while now. And the newly installed government of the Bank of England has just said it's now the UK's turn.

    • Re:Finally (Score:5, Insightful)

      by mickwd ( 196449 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:51AM (#6357191)
      Perhaps it's because the US is scaring them. [eetimes.com]

      I ask you, what could the US possibly do to make the Chinese (and the rest of the world) even more interested in accelerating their space programs than attempting to pull crap like this ?

      • Re:Finally (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Eric(b0mb)Dennis ( 629047 ) * on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:56AM (#6357219)
        That was a great article, and I suggest you mod that post up, if anyone with mod points read this.

        If the US did successfully take control of space in such a way, it could be really damaging to the human race in general... if we want to survive, we will (someday) have to get off this rock, and if the human race as a WHOLE doesn't work together on this goal, we are all doomed.

      • Re:Finally (Score:5, Informative)

        by SpinyNorman ( 33776 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @08:36AM (#6357396)
        Yep. Not just "negation", but also other countries have seen the advantage that GPS guided weapons gives to the US, and are no doubt paying keen attention to the US's recently announced global reach weapons plans:

        US to Develop High-speed Drone with Global Reach [peopledaily.com.cn]

        What with the European Space Agency now in collaboration with the Russian's and China's newfound interest, it looks like the next space (weapons) race may be on.

      • Re:Finally (Score:3, Funny)

        by mark2003 ( 632879 )
        Why am I not suprised by this article?

        Obviously the US military needs this to stop terrorists - I mean I can see Al Queda buildng some evil doomsday device on the moon. Who do they think Bin Laden is? Dr Evil?

      • USA too big for its boots? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by pubjames ( 468013 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @09:30AM (#6357773)
        The phrase "too big for its boots" comes to mind.

        The current administration seems to be of the opinion that the USA is supremely powerful. Now, only a fool would deny that the USA is in a powerful position at the moment, but it is not supremely powerful.

        It is a dangerous state of affairs when the administration thinks that it no longer needs allies. They need to wake up to the fact that the USA is in the position it is in at the moment partly because its allies allowed it to get there, even helped it.

        If the USA really does try to pull stunts like denying other countries access to space, then it might just find out what a difference friends can make. Believe me - Europe, China, India, Russia, Japan - they will react if the USA starts to act stupidly like this. We are already seeming some of the effect of this with collaboration between India and China, for instance.

        I think the administration thinks that the rest of the world can't survive without it. They need to travel a bit more. They will that that, for instance, Europe isn't as different as the USA in terms of size and economy as they seem to think. They will also find that India and China aren't as backwards as they might imagine (for christsakes, many Slashdotters have lots jobs to people from these countries, and not just manual jobs but sophisticated white collar jobs).

        The more the USA talks like this, the more its former allies are going to group together and start collaborating. The USA seems to like to impose sanctions and economic "punishments" on countries that don't collaborate with it at the moment. I wonder how the USA economy would take it if the national governments of places like Europe, Russia, Japan and China start selling their dollar reserves, or imposing import tarrifs on American goods. The USA may find that actually, it does need friends.

    • Re:Finally (Score:5, Interesting)

      by 2Bits ( 167227 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @08:25AM (#6357351)
      I'd like to see a mission before I believe any of it.. seems like China is just preparing for a cold war

      Conspiracy theory put aside, I think this is a little bit exagerated.

      The Chinese government (most high level officials who can make major governmental decisions, at least) are mostly practical. You can't really find anyone who is ultra-conservative and xenophobic right now, not those who are in the position to make decisions.

      The major concerns right now to push the economic development as fast as we can (I say we, as I'm Chinese and living in Shanghai), unless there's concern about uncontrollable inflation.

      Most officials now just try to play nice, especially with the US (remember the plan crash incident? Bush was amazingly arrogant at the time, but China kinda backed down not to get the sino-us relation into bad water). A lot of people think the government is spineless. But I think the government made a lot of decisions that are right, given the current situations here (economic, political, scientific, ...etc). China still depends a lot on other countries, and the officials understand that.

      And this is a good thing.

      Sure, China tries to develop other areas of expertise too, so what? What does that have to do with Cold War? Why do we have to think that all scientific research must have anything to do with military conspiracy, especially when it is done in China, India, or Russia?

      Do you think only people in the US love peace? We all do too. Just give us a chance and I believe we can contribute a lot to the progress of humanity too, just we have done in the past.

      • I wasn't meaning to bash China, as I really hope they do go forward and SUCCEED with these missions. It just seems weird though.. Maybe China really plans on doing these things, i certainly don't know. I just have a gut feeling this is another political merry-go-round

  • If this is accurate... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by GearheadX ( 414240 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:19AM (#6357095)
    This is the best news we've heard for NASA in a couple of decades. There's nothing like a little compeition with one of the 'evil empires' of the world to get our Congressmen in a spending mood.

    We went to the Moon so that the USSR couldn't get there first, ne?

    • Re:If this is accurate... (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      No, it was because the USSR had already beaten the US into space and already sent a probe to the moon. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to troll here or anything, but this was easily the single biggest driving force behind the US sending men to the moon.
      • It was still the competition with USSR that was the catalyst for our moon program. If we did not have that competition we probably would have never gone. Now with competition with China, that could help jump-start the program again which IMO is a good thing.

  • The more I read of China (Score:4, Interesting)

    by the_Bionic_lemming ( 446569 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:20AM (#6357096)
    I'm not so sure this is just about getting to Mars and the Moon. I think China is actually attempting to do what we did to the soviet union and trying to get us to escalate in spending in order to quicken an economic collapse. I don't think we're ready for another "cold war" just yet.

    • Re:The more I read of China (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Exactly. Benefits of long-range manned missions are minuscule compared to the costs. It's just a big pissing contest, just like space race during the cold war.
    • That makes no sense for China - there's no way they could run the US into the ground as happened to the Soviet Union, and if they're going to escalate spending, they'd be better off focusing on mass employment programs to keep their rural population from getting more upset about the disparity between rural and urban economic conditions.

      A nice, US-style interstate highway system or something like that would be a more appropriate way of opening the financial floodgates...
    • Its allready a red planet.
    • I think China is actually attempting to do what we did to the soviet union and trying to get us to escalate in spending in order to quicken an economic collapse.

      Wasn't there an Arthur C. Clarke short story about just that? It was only a few pages long, but essentially it ends with the Chinese having economically exhausted both the Russians and the Americans, and getting ready to send ships out of the solar system... Or maybe it was a James P. Hogan story?

  • Space race (Score:5, Interesting)

    by sql*kitten ( 1359 ) * on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:21AM (#6357099)
    This puts the China-India space race and the China-USA space race in a very different light and clearly indicates that China plans to play with the big boys of Mars exploration.

    It's not a race in any meaningful sense right now - China has only said it intends to do something that the US has already done, after all. It will become considerably more interesting if a non-NASA space agency - the Chinese, the Indians, the Europeans - announces that it fully intends to land and recover a manned Mars mission before NASA can. My money's on the Chinese - they're the ones with the most to prove, Europe is too apathetic and India cannot devote the resources to it that China's command economy can. As to whether they beat NASA... well that really boils down to the man in the White House. The US/Soviet Empire space race was all about trying to convince the nonaligned nations which political system was the best... it wasn't about scientists competing purely for prestige, it was a battle of national Will. If the US decides that it is going to be impressive enough to take the lead in getting to Mars, then the Chinese would face some stiff competition. Maybe if Russia had more money it could partner with ESA, make it a 3-way race, maybe Japan could join that consortium.
    • Right... I don't think given the current state of the space program, in light of the Columbia disaster, and some of NASA's previous debacles on Mars (read: mars rover) that NASA is going to even bother trying to beat China. I don't think the average American cares that much, and I doubt Bush cares that much at this point. But then again, we might not have Bush in the White House in a little over year. We'll see how the elections go. :)

      • Re:Space race (Score:3, Interesting)

        by turgid ( 580780 )
        In that case, the USA's days as the leading nation on earth (financially, technologically etc.) are numbered. As they choose to rest on their laurels, they will stagnate and then wither. It's sad to see the vitality disappear from what was once such a great country. Such short-sightedness will end in tears.
      • >> I don't think...NASA is going to even bother trying to beat China.

        Ummm, NASA has already done everything China says it wants to do, at least 30 years ago. The Apollo missions were preceded by several unmanned missions (Surveyor, et al) throughout the 60's; the Viking landings on Mars in the 70's were preceded by Mariner missions. (The Soviets didn't pull off a manned lunar landing, but did land several unmanned mobile explorers on the lunar surface in the 70's.)

        If this is a race, it finished a

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:29AM (#6357122)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • They are not. They have nuclear weapons as well and this is what any exploration of near space is all about for the time being. It is a reminder that "we can loft some sh***" on your head when you least expect it.
      • They have nuclear weapons [...] can loft some sh***" on your head when you least expect it

        Maybe they'll build Bang-Bang?

    • Re:Zealots (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @08:19AM (#6357320) Homepage
      The truth of the matter is, they are soooooooooo far behind, how can you call it a race?

      Very simple...

      They dont have to engineer squat. 99.997% of all the engineering and testing is done for them and freely available.. or available for a price. I am sure the country formerly known as the USSR would gladly sell information on how to get your ass in space, to the moon, to mars, to uranus.. (Ok ok.. bad joke...) all they have to do is build. they have more computing power today than the United states had in 1989.. hell if they use linux and a correct implimentation they can have more computing power than the USA has right now.

      The speed of advancement is very fast as the Chineese only have to traverse a very small part of the learning curve.

      I think they can do it... but I do doubt that they will... China is known for 2 things.. Lots of population and propaganda... their government is really good at the propaganda part.

    • Everest (Score:3, Informative)

      by pommiekiwifruit ( 570416 )
      Well, after China invaded Tibet Mao told some guys "hey, climb mount everest" (in chinese obviously). And in two years time they had done it, even though there was no tradition of mountain climbing before.
    • Ah...but keep this in mind. In WWII Germany was flying around in jets and the US was behind them there. Yet for the most part, the US has held the premier position in modern jet technology (of course the EuroFighter just rocks).

      The USSR was the first with their satelite in space. Again, you could have said "The US is so far behind", yet the US was the first to put someone on the moon. We could list a myriad of examples, from computing, steel-work, gun-powder use, and so forth...

  • in the spirit of science (Score:4, Interesting)

    by rexguo ( 555504 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:30AM (#6357123) Homepage
    I hope China will work with NASA and ESO in a co-operative level instead of with a competitive nature. It will be a shameful waste of Earth's, humans' and economic resources to duplicate what NASA has done (i.e. those that have true scientific value) rather than a I-can-do-it-too. Also, with China's wages problems (mainly those in the agricultural industry) yet seeing results, why is it spending such insane sums of money in an area that will not bring tangible benefits to its people ans standard of living?
    • Going by current experience (ISS) any effort at international cooperation will just bog down progress. Budgets will explode and accomplishments will implode.

      Also, I've no real idea what China is spending on space, but it is a common myth that "insane sums of money" are needed. No nation has ever allocated more than a small fraction of its budget to space. Even if China were to end its space efforts and give all the money to "the people" it wouldn't raise living standards. The last thing a government shoul
    • I hope China will work with NASA and ESO in a co-operative level instead of with a competitive nature.

      It's a historic fact: humans get more done faster when competing against someone or something.

      It's just the way we are. Our minds are hardwired by evolution to be motivated by competitive challenges.

      shameful waste of Earth's, humans' and economic resources to duplicate what NASA has done

      Is it a shameful waste of resources to teach this year's class the same as what last year's class were taught? No,

  • this just in (Score:4, Funny)

    by t_aug ( 649093 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:33AM (#6357130)
    China has scrapped its mars program to sooner attain its goal of putting a human on the solar surface. Sources quoted as saying "take that you capatalist pigs."

  • Where's China..? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Larsing ( 645953 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:33AM (#6357131)

    China is light years away from launching Mars exploration programmes

    I didn't know China was in a different solar system(!).
    Would that be Alpha Centauri or Ursa Minor Beta..?

  • Put the RED back in Red Planet [EOM] (Score:3, Funny)

    by aaronlev ( 685856 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:35AM (#6357140)
    Sorry .. groan. I'm sure some news reporter already got to that one.

  • Ehh (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Eric(b0mb)Dennis ( 629047 ) * on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:38AM (#6357151)
    China: Hey USA, we're going to send stuff to moon! Neeneer

    USA: Uhh, we've already done that

    China: Hey, USA, we're going to send stuff to mars!! neeneer

    USA: Right-o, Mr. Red

    China seems to be all talk and no substance. Personally, it seems as if they are just trying to tell the rest of the world "Look, we can do it too!" but never actually doing it.

    And I don't like how so many people consider a 'space-race' a good thing... the USSR/USA 'space-race' did speed up technological developement in that department, sure.. but the goal was for the totally wrong reason, and it happened wayyy too fast.

    We're going to the moon! ( 10 years later ) We're on the moon, hurray! ( 5 years later ) Uhh, we're on the moon.. I want to go home

    It seems like soon as we beat the USSR and reached our goal, being that there was nothing worthwhile for the government to invest in (winning a space race = instant world respect and nationality rises considerably, i guess) so it just went stagnant.

    The government should have a program that helps and directs corporations getting into space directly, and showing them how a profit could be made... that's where the real ticket is

    10. PROFIT!

    • Re:Ehh (Score:3, Interesting)

      by sql*kitten ( 1359 ) *
      The government should have a program that helps and directs corporations getting into space directly, and showing them how a profit could be made... that's where the real ticket is

      I think you might like Robert Zubrin's books. He's an engineer by profession who advocates colonization of Mars, and as an engineer he has some pretty realistic ideas about how to do it. But one of his other proposals is mining He3 on the moon. We know it's there. A fusion reactor running on He3 would be far more efficient than
  • I wonder if they'll have the same track record as the US with regard to mars missions?

  • My biggest fear: (Score:4, Funny)

    by Jonsey ( 593310 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:41AM (#6357159) Journal
    I only worry they'll go to Europa, against the old mandate, and start drilling. Once the shambling plant-thing comes up and kills them, then the US will be laughing... Yeah.

    Thank you Arthur.

  • But China can save money of safety. (Score:3, Funny)

    by MongooseCN ( 139203 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:47AM (#6357174) Homepage
    Judging from it's history, China doesn't have to spend as much money of safety devices and testing.

    Chinese Official: You! Citizen #32185 have been lucky enough to be chosen to fly to Mars!
    Citizen: Wh.. what?
    CO: Put him in the cannon!
    C: What's Mars?
    CO: FIRE!
    BOOM
    Technician: Looks like this one didn't make it to orbit either.
    CO: More gun powder! You! Citizen #32186 have been lucky...

  • No Race, Just Media Hype (Score:3, Insightful)

    by reallocate ( 142797 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:48AM (#6357179)
    China's "expanding" space program consists primarily of plans and conjecture. Calling this is "space race" is more than a little silly.

    China is using 30-40 year old Soviet technology in their attempt to accomplish things other nations accomplished 30-40 years ago. I'm happy they are trying, but this isn't much of a race.

    • Actually they're using modern technology recently provided by Boeing et. al.

    • Re:No Race, Just Media Hype (Score:3, Insightful)

      by tgd ( 2822 )
      You're wrong. It doesn't matter how old the stuff is, or what they're trying to do. They win if we don't participate. We can't critisize them using 30 year old technology to do what we did 30 years ago, because we're not even using that technology to do it today, much less anything new.
    • Sure it's a race, just not against who you think. If they get to a man in space soon, they'll beat the European Union, India, and Japan. Passing the EU is worth a lot of prestige, given that those nations once ruled most of the world (including chunks of China!). And getting to the moon means they'll have beaten the EU and Russia, tying the current space champions. Lots of prestige there, obviously. Even though it's already been done, it's obviously still a tough problem if no one else has done it in all th
  • This may be finally what makes the US government sit up and take notice. Hopefully they will increase NASA funding so that they can finally send a manned mission to Mars. I'm sure the offshoot technology and the inspiration for such a mission would be well worth the cost. Even so skimming a little off the military funding and putting it into something valid such as space exploration is far better than killing people.

  • Land, Land and more land (Score:5, Funny)

    by engineerdude ( 680288 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @07:52AM (#6357195)
    They're trying to find new homes for the 20 million people displaced by the new dam....

  • More Power To Them (Score:5, Insightful)

    by aerojad ( 594561 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @08:05AM (#6357259) Homepage Journal
    As long as humans get into space, I could care less under what flag or what government it is for, just as long as we get out there... and then resist having a war over it.

  • Pardon my French, but (Score:4, Insightful)

    by michiel.h ( 570138 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @08:23AM (#6357339) Journal
    FUCK the space program.

    China ought to use all that money and invest it in their economy, schools, health system, and anything else _but_ useless look-how-big-my-d1ck-is crap.

    There are hundreds of millions of Chinese living a miserable life and finally their economy is steadily starting to improve. Finally they have a partyleader who actually tries to improve their living conditions, Hu. They should use this money for their country, not try to rival with the US.

    //I lived in China and am currently studying 'Chinese languages and cultures' at Leiden University.
    • with over 2B people in China and India, don't you think they really understand that space exploration/colonization is a smart investment?

      Now I'm not saying we'll be living on mars next year or something, but at the rate we 6B pple are already screwing up the earth, imagine the damage we can do at 12B people!

      Go China!
      Go India!
      Go Banana! :)

    • Re:Pardon my French, but (Score:4, Insightful)

      by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @10:49AM (#6358443) Homepage Journal
      China ought to use all that money and invest it in their economy, schools, health system, and anything else _but_ useless look-how-big-my-d1ck-is crap

      I'll resist the obvious cheap joke and move straight to the possibility that China could become the low cost payload-lift nation in a decade and get a big chunk of that polynomial-shaped satellite-buisness curve.

      If that kind of wealth/economy/job creation is worthwhile, maybe this R&D effort isn't such a bad bet.
  • Well, acceleration might get them there faster, but by accelerating the Chinese run the risk of overshooting Mars and flying off into the outer solar system. If they don't use Mars' gravity to brake properly, it seems kind of risky to play games like this just to get there a few weeks earlier.

    How many km/second^2 are we talking about in acceleration anyways?

    Oh wait, er... nevermind. ;-P

  • Hmmm (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ErikZ ( 55491 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @09:20AM (#6357701)
    Let us compare this to one of China's other big projects...The Three Gorges Dam.

    "The president imposed a moratorium on reporting four aspects of the project: alluvial sediment buildup, the more than 100 cracks that have already appeared in the dam, pollution/environmental damage and the return of those who were displaced from the area by the project. The first three issues are not allowed because with the passage of time, China's science and technology will improve, so they can be solved. The last taboo is forbidden because of the threat that it poses to social unity and stability."

    Ah yes, the damn is starting to have problems. Solution? The media is not allowed to mention these problems, and is 'encouraged' to only mention the good stuff.

    This attitude worked somewhat for the Soviets, I'm not sure if it will work for China.

    • Re:Hmmm (Score:3, Interesting)

      by ErikZ ( 55491 )
      Oops, sorry. Forgot to post the link:

      http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/EF20Ad05.html

    • Re:Hmmm (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Drakonian ( 518722 )
      Ahh yes. Whereas the American media is unbiased and covers any noteworthy event in great detail. That is, unless the government tells them not to.

  • I feel so inadequate (Score:3, Funny)

    by chia_monkey ( 593501 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @09:24AM (#6357729) Journal
    Here I was thinking we were cool with our particle accelerators. Now China comes along with their Mars accelerator program. Damnit.
  • Collaborate for christ sakes... its the human race going to mars... not just the chinese, or the indian.. or the US.. sheesh...

  • USA? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by supabeast! ( 84658 ) on Thursday July 03, 2003 @11:05AM (#6358595)
    "This puts the China-India space race and the China-USA space race in a very different light..."

    There is no China-USA space race. Middle America has made it very clear that they do not care about fluff like expensive space programs when the government can instead provide them miniscule tax breaks and 24/7 war coverage. The horrendous mismanagement of NASA funding has become an embarassment to long-time memebers of the Congress, who would rather just sweep the whole idea under the rug and avoid drawing attention to an aging shuttle fleet that they were promising to replace in the 1980s.

    America is no longer in a space race with anything other than the financial mismanagement that threatens to eventually kill manned flight entirely.

  • China? Bring it on! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by bluethundr ( 562578 ) * on Thursday July 03, 2003 @12:32PM (#6359418) Homepage Journal
    The only major reason for the space program of the 60's that Amercians are rightly proud of was...in one word...Sputnik! One of the great causes of the malaise our manned space program is suffering from is a syndrome I think of as "political culpibility".

    In other words, no Congressman/Congresswoman is going to push an untried ambitious technological experiment. Such an experiment could well cost the taxpayers a shit-ton of money. If the experiment fails, that money is seen as lost into the NASA sinkhole with absolutely no benefit derived (at least from the point of view of politics, not that of the scientific community). Add to that the potential for loss of human life on manned missions, and what you end up with is a politcal hot-potato that no elected official will want to touch. That's why promising technologies like the Solar Sail [slashdot.org] are only now becoming realities with the aid of the European Space Agency.

    Of course every NASA technology, dicey as it is by nature, was untried at some point. It's my opinion that the political wherewithal (vis a vis space) only surfaces when there is an external (read:military) threat. That it's a powerful, and ideologically opposed nation like China should, ideally, be just the ticket to fuel the ambitions of our elected officials. It's really the classic Zero Sum Game [barnesandnoble.com] as originally described by John Von Neuman and later applied to social theory by Robert Wright.

Slashdot Top Deals

I have hardly ever known a mathematician who was capable of reasoning. -- Plato

Close