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China and Russia to Launch Joint Mars Mission
Posted by
Zonk
on Fri Aug 25, 2006 10:00 AM
from the we-might-get-there-someday dept.
from the we-might-get-there-someday dept.
The Interfacer writes "China and Russia are planning a joint mission to Mars that will bring back samples to earth and land on one of the red planet's tiny moons, state media quoted a Chinese scientist as saying Wednesday." From the article: "Russia will launch the spacecraft, while China will provide the survey equipment to carry out the unmanned exploration, Ye Peijian, a senior scientist at the Chinese Academy of Space Technology, told a meeting in Beijing, according to the official Xinhua news agency."
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First Details of Manned Mars Mission From NASA 329 comments
OriginalArlen writes "The BBC has a first look at NASA's initial concepts for a manned Mars mission, currently penciled in for 2031. The main vehicle would be assembled on orbit over three or four launches of the planned Ares V heavy lift rocket. New abilities to repair, replace, and even produce replacement parts will be needed to provide enough self-sufficiency for a 30 months mission, including 16 months on the surface. The presentation was apparently delivered at a meeting of the Lunar Exploration Management Group, although there's nothing on their site yet."
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Oh dear. (Score:5, Funny)
Joking aside, this is interesting politically (Score:5, Insightful)
These days, you'd be hard pressed to call either country Communist. I think of both as sort of Wild-West capitalist societies. Now they seem to be forming an economic alliance against the other growing political powers - mostly Europe and the US. It's been interesting watching how similar their replies are in the current Iran negotiations.
I think they're both interested in developing their high tech sectors, and see it as a natural partnership. Russia has lots of experience, while China has a very well-developed industrial base.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Thank you for stero typing. I'm a christian, probably not a fundamentalist, but a Bible belivin Christian. I have a college education in software engineering. Also, 3 of the Math professors, 2 engineering professors and a physics professor at my college were all christians. I would s
Re:Politically interesting in the US, too. (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.asi.org/images/2003/NASA-budget-as-per
Lyndon B. Johnson (D): Huge increase, then a moderate decrease.
Richard Nixon (R): Large decrease
Jimmy Carter (D): Small decrease
Ronald Reagan (R): Small decrease
George Bush Sr. (R): Small increase
Bill Clinton (D): tiny decrease
George Bush Jr. (R): tiny decrease
Now, factor in the fact that Republicans are "all about" cutting government income and spending as a whole (whether or not they succeed), and you get that democrats are bigger supporters of NASA than Republicans. However, even with that, it's clearly not a very partisan issue.
Parent
Like it or not.... (Score:3, Informative)
For your enjoyment:
NASA budgets since fiscal year 1992:
# 1993 $14.309 billion, existing NASA budget when Clinton took office;
# 1994 $14.568 billion, $259 million increase, first Clinton budget;
# 1995 $13.853 billion, $715 million decrease;
# 1996 $13.885 billion, $32 million increase;
# 1997 $13.709 billion, $176 million decrease;
# 1998 $13.648 billion, $61 million decrease;
# 1999 $13.654 billion, $6 million increase;
# 2000 $13.601 billion, $53 million decrease;
# 2001
Get your facts straight (Score:3, Informative)
or is it civ4? (Score:5, Insightful)
Any space program is good news in my mind.
Why it makes me mad. (Score:3, Interesting)
China and Russia can be friends [heritage.org] or the "NATO of the East" or whatever you want to call it. But, to surpass your role in the ISS and instead strike up another work
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Why would they land on the moon?!?! (Score:3, Insightful)
I know maybe it has larger risks but COME ON, it's not like you go to Mars every week.
Re:Why would they land on the moon?!?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Getting on and off of a moon with a very low level of gravity is easier and cheaper than landing on something where you need to land and launch,while fighting the planets gravitational pull.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
> I know maybe it has larger risks but COME ON, it's not like you go to Mars every week.
Russian scientists have been obsessed with Phobos for decades. There is a lot of science and discovery on that tiny moon, including samples of Mars (blown into space and swept onto Phobos) and other solar system bodies. Landing on Phobos is worlds easier than Mars itself, and there is an amount of preservation available
Capricorn 2 (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I'm so tired of you liberals (Score:5, Informative)
Er, not exactly... http://www.factcheck.org/article148.html [factcheck.org]
/No, my scarcasm filter isn't broken, I just wanted to set the record straight on this particular issue.
Parent
am I the only one.... (Score:4, Interesting)
US mothballed half its space missions (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:US mothballed half its space missions (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Why no intercontinental cooperation? (Score:5, Interesting)
If it's feasable that the US alone could go to mars, and that Russia and China together can go to mars - then could not all three work together to achieve this goal better?
Or is it neccessary to have the "us" and "them" philosophy when it comes to these kinds of projects?
Must there always be an adversary?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Ths US has a massive deficit, and little actual interest in spaceflight. I have no doubt that NASA could get to Mars and back again, if they had both the budget and the full support of congress and the general public. But in the absence of either, there is little room for new spaceflight programs in their agenda. An
Me too! (Score:4, Funny)
I'm planning a mission to Mars to be launched from my backyard in 2012.
*Anyone* can *plan* a mission.
real win for Russia, if it happens (Score:5, Interesting)
Russia really benefits, if this goes through. This sort of thing has the potential to guarantee substantial launch volume for them. Always a nice thing to have. And given China's economy, I suspect that China sooner or later will be paying most of the bills.
I find it interesting that China apparently is forgoing the launch vehicles. I think this is a big shift in the focus of their space program. Maybe from a strategic angle, they think that they can build up their launch systems later or maybe buy/steal the necessary technology from Russia.
Details on Russian Space Plans (Score:3, Informative)
Well, at least they'll have somewhere to stay (Score:4, Funny)
Visiting Mars? Find Deals & Read Hotel Reviews!
Re:Why Mars? (Score:5, Informative)
Venus has an extremely thick atmosphere, which consists mainly of carbon dioxide and a small amount of nitrogen. The pressure at the planet's surface is about 90 times that at Earth's surface--a pressure equivalent to that at a depth of 1 kilometer under Earth's oceans. The enormously CO2-rich atmosphere generates a strong greenhouse effect that raises the surface temperature to over 400 C." cite [wikipedia.org].
The next closest planets are Mercury and Jupiter, you wouldn't want to visit them either. Mercury is basically a semi-molten ball of rock, Jupiter is no treat with its high gravity, high winds, and very little (if any) crust. The planets don't get any better the further you get away from the sun. Basically, Mars is the only planet close enough and similiar enough to Earth to have any hope of visiting (and staying) for any useful amount of time.
Parent