China Looks To Deep Space Missions, Including More Lunar Landings and Robot Ants (xinhuanet.com) 65
MarkWhittington writes: China has already landed a rover on the moon and has launched numerous crewed space missions in low-Earth orbit. It is looking ahead to building a space station and landing more probes on the moon, including the lunar farside. According to a story in Xinhua, the Chinese are already looking beyond to deep space missions to destinations including the moon, Mars, and asteroids. The idea is that China will not be a respected space power until it starts accomplishing things in space that no other country has done before.
Let's all hope... (Score:1, Troll)
...That China will pick up in science, space and otherwise, where we left off.
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Whoops. [wikipedia.org] Too late. [space.com]
At least it appears they've seen the errors of their ways... [marketwatch.com] now that their own missions are in danger of being hit by it, of course.
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Sure, we started these missions off a decade or more ago, and they're finally coming to fruition. But meanwhile we're struggling to get the next generation of kids vaccinated - basic technology that's two hundred years old. And we might dream of sending up the Webb Telescope, but now we can't even build a terrestrial instrument in Hawaii.
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The Hawaii scope is blocked by locals. Considering that it is THEIR land, we have to work with them, not just beat them over the head.
Webb scope is on-track, except for the fact that the GOP had us in a recession. Now, that is over and the webb is again on track.
But, to equate these is a joke. Hell, NASA has OCO2 up in the sky plotting out the CO2 that is produced on this planet (with some MAJOR surprises due around Xmas; here is a preview of what is to come [nasa.gov] ).
We are about to have multiple compa
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The TMT is not being blocked by "locals" acting alone but by out-of-state Green organizations who have flocked in to fluff up long-standing local bad feeling over "colonialism" in the state's founding. The mainland puppet masters running the protest "movement" are using a script they tested unsuccessfully in Arizona during the Nineties (http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-94-010-0049-9_6#page-1). Though Greens have long opposed engineering applications like nuclear power and GMOs, the Arizona eff
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China and US spending priorities (Score:2, Interesting)
China has zero military bases outside of their country, they are spending their money more wisely (well, except maybe those ghost cities they built).
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China's spending on "weiwen" (lit. "maintaining stability"), i.e. domestic surveillance, Internet censorship, targeted extrajudicial arrest, character assassination, and violent suppression of social dissatisfaction, far outweighs its military spending.
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domestic surveillance, Internet censorship, targeted extrajudicial arrest, character assassination, and violent suppression of social dissatisfaction
Dude, I'm not even trolling, but for a fraction of a second I thought you were going to be an America basher.
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China doesn't NEED any bases outside its own country. It doesn't have any allies, so it doesn't need to defend others.
The whole 'ghost city' phenomenon is a false creation of idiotic Western journalists. People move in, it just takes a few years.
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China is one of our biggest trading partners, so it is quite funny that you say they have no allies. We don't defend anyone, except maybe Kuwait in 1991, but we were just defending the oil there. We spread the American Empire and you know it. Who are we defending in Syria? In Iraq? In Afghanistan? In Yemen? In Somalia? What are tens of thousands of troops doing in Germany, defending them? In Japan, defending them? Come on, don't be silly.
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The US troops in Japan, Germany, and S. Korea (which you didn't mention) are there to provide the reassurance to those allies that they can depend on the USA for common defense and don't have to develop and deploy nuclear weapons of their own to deter their nearby not allies which do have nukes. If the US pulled out of Japan and S. Korea, both those nations would deploy nuclear weapons within a couple of years. Don't know what Germany would do, but Poland and the Baltic nations got into NATO as quick as t
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Funny.
If US pulled out of Japan and S. Korea, exactly nothing would happen. besides everybody there recognizing that thet have to get along somehow.
That the NATO let the Baltic Nations join was a mistake of historic proportions. They should have established a neutral zone.
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I thought Japan was already changing its constitution to allow having a regular military, implying that they aren't fully confident that the US has their backs?
As for NATO, you are entirely correct. In fact, we promised Russia to not do what we have actually done. The situation we should have carefully sought to avoid is that of a cornered bear. In doing just the opposite, our stupidity is extinction worthy.
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Yep the Philippines removing their US military bases does look like a bit of an open invitation to China to invade.. Something the people there are now worried about...
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I think Japan realizes that
a) The US owes them exactly nothing
b) on the long term a strong hegemonial power center around China will be much better for the US than supporting their vasalle states an polarizing the region - China has not sent any troups to any regions not directly bordering China in the last 100 years, and these wars were usually provoked by external forces (indeed it took Europe and the US significanly smaller things to invade countries at the other end of the world)
Instead of trying to get
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You know it is about money and geopolitical control and force projection, not about defending anyone. No one is going to attack Japan, and no one is going to attack Germany. As you must have noticed by now, virtually all the major attacking in the world is done by the US of A. We start most of the larger scale wars, including the one now being fought by ISIS. That fight was made in the USA. The US is in the dual business of destabilization followed by monetization of the conflict. We love to arm rebels and
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I am on the left wing liberal socialist side but this stuff is just garbage. You need to take an anti-indoctrination course and calm yourself down...
BTW the war in Iraq was not about oil, that is just a stupid crude lazy misinterpretation. We don't know the real reason for the war. I'm a scientist and in science not having a glib ready answer is a valid response, and in this case the correct one...
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Not at all sure why you have to make sarcastic comments about taking anti-indoctrination courses. I guess somehow I hit a nerve, but I didn't insult you. Are you actually suggesting that having military bases all over the world is about something other than making money for corporations that build and service those bases, and to intimidate with force projection? The bases are often highly resented by the local populace (e.g., Okinawa) so how are they making the US safer?
Several people in the Bush administra
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I'm a semi-expert on propaganda and mental manipulation.. The idea that oil was the cause for Iraq has a lot of the hallmarks of being a lie or at least a half lie. My own analysis at the time was that the real (primary) reason for the war was to sow division between the Sunnis and Shiites, and look at what has happened since. ISIS is the epitome of that division.. And yes the Iraq war was also done to make money, but mainly through defence contractors creaming money not through oil. (exactly the same way
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The US is already an international threat to many nations (Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and many others), so anything China does is following our lead, and playing catch up.
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Interesting read on this topic (using bases to expand the empire) : http://www.amazon.com/Base-Nat... [amazon.com]
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I just bought Base Nation last week and was reading it. Good book. It is why I brought the subject up. Also re-reading James Risen's Pay Any Price. Everyone should read it.
Re:China and US spending priorities (Score:5, Informative)
It doesn't have many allies in the sense like Canada and the US or NATO but it does have many allies. It has strong ties with North Korea. Then there are the trading alliances. It's a big trading partner with the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the EU, and many other countries. It is allied with Russia on some things and has a big natural gas contract. China has been buying large areas of farmland in Australia, South America, and Africa in order to guarantee food supplies. It has also been financing the building of many projects in less developed countries.
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First off, their space station IS military base. As such, that is a lie.
Secondly, they are busy building loads of new military bases in the south Chinese seas in areas that are claimed by other nations.
Third, they are trying to claim space in Antartica for themselves to build out a new military base.
Fourth, they DO have bases elsewhere. For example, Venezuela now has Russian and Chinese ships docked there with both nations having military gear on their ground.
Fifth, what exactly do you think that
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We are in all of those places and many more right now. Our military is globally deployed, and we spend huge sums of money destabilizing countries we don't like with covert actions and drone strikes. What if China was doing that instead of us? How would that make you feel?
The US is going to reap what it sows. Blowback is a bitch. Maybe diplomacy would be better? I'm sure you will have all sorts of nonsensical reasons why we need to be very afraid.
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You really have no clue of how America's policies work anymore. Do you? We are NOT working to destabilize these nations. But, china has. They are busy playing games all over the world supporting dictators and totalitarian govs.
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So again, please tell me how it is that we are the ones attacking countries from Somalia to Pakistan with drones, have troops on the ground in dozens of countries, and how we have our military and intelligence agencies interfering in countries from Africa to the Middle East and into Asia, but it is China that is somehow doing these things instead?
OK, your just F'ing with me, I get it. You just like to screw with people and you aren't even trying to make a point.
deep space (Score:1)
deep space missions to destinations including the moon, Mars, and asteroids
someone tell them they won't find mars or the moon in deep space, quick!
Chinese spacewalks are done in swimming pools! (Score:2)
You can see bubbles rising from their helmets. It is difficult to remove all the trapped air in their suits' crevices when they go on "spacewalks" (dives), so sometimes the air escapes and they have nothing to say about the discrepancy.
I think I'm beginning to understand the "Moooo" comments, at least, if they're only on NASA threads. (And yes, I know that guy outed himself a few weeks back.)
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Does the PP mean SexConker forgetting to click "Post Anonymously"?
The spam kept coming after that, so either SecConker was trying to throw us off the scent, or the meme took on a life of its own, who knows.
I'm pretty convinced that 99% of the spam on here is from bored teenagers in school. I know that's when I did the bulk of my own shit trawling on the net. Personally I find it amusing and would hate for it to go away entirely... :)
OK (Score:2, Insightful)
"The idea is that China will not be a respected space power until it starts accomplishing things in space that no other country has done before."
Just remove "in space" and then control and eliminate your pollution and reduce your population and you will have all the respect the World could ever give you.
What happens in space... not too many people really care, but down here on Earth, taking care of the massive pollution and population you've created is the real challenge.
Not "ants on the moon".
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India has done a comparable effort
No they haven't. In 1980, India was doing better than China. Today, per capita income in China is four times higher.
Maybe the government shouldn't be getting all this credit for merely sufficiently standing out of the way?
The Indian government does not "stand out of the way". They stifle enterprise in every possible way.
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"... down here on Earth, taking care of the massive pollution and population you've created is the real challenge."
Here is how China is responding:
http://www.world-nuclear.org/i... [world-nuclear.org]
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Yes India is another region desperately in need of population controls.
Re:OK (Score:5, Informative)
control and eliminate your pollution and reduce your population and you will have all the respect the World could ever give you.
On a per capita basis, China produces less pollution that either America or Europe. China's population growth is near zero, and will soon begin to decline. If current trends continue, India's population will exceed China's by 2028.
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China is one of the few nations that has really tried to do something about population. It might have the biggest population in the world but its population density is less than half that in India.
Robot ants? (Score:1)
https://www.bing.com/search?q=... [bing.com]
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I think you just proved China's point. They don't want to just follow in America's footsteps. That being said, yes, America has done a few things in space but America is laughable too. We've barely scratched the surface of mars but compared to the other planets and moons, mars is well covered. China has plenty of places where they can be first. How about a Venus rover, or a Europa rover or any of the other interesting planets and moons out there that we've barely explored.
Re:A bit player (Score:4, Informative)
Really, can the US put a person into space?
Of course China's looking at deep space missions.. (Score:2)
They have all that excess manpower.
Take a few hundred "undesirables" at a time, stick them in shoddily built rockets and fire them on an outbound trajectory.
Food? Oxygen reserves? Sealed containers so the air stays in and the vacuum stays out?
Who has time for that? And a budget! Nonono!
Problem solved.
I say we promote this (Score:2)
As an American I support China going to the moon. This would hopefully bring about another "space race" like we saw decades ago, and bring with it a boost to our economy.
I also think that the Chinese space agency is only slightly ahead of that of North Korea, another Communist country with a habit of lying to the public over their technical capability. I recall China wanting to mine the moon for helium-3, to use it as fuel in fusion reactors. Either they know something about fusion power that we don't or
(Robot) ants in space! (Score:2)
As Chairboy [slashdot.org] used to say.