Its kind of funny that on the same day we posted a piece on the pros and cons of American space weapons, the Chinese flew its first survey satellite of the moon into lunar orbit.
A Chinese satellite successfully entered lunar orbit Monday, a month after rival Japan put its own probe into orbit around the moon, but Chinese officials denied there was any competition between the two nations.
Chinese space officials said the Chang’e 1 satellite, part of the country’s ambitious space exploration plans, entered lunar orbit after completing a planned braking operation.
China plans to keep the Chang’e 1 named after a mythical Chinese goddess who flew to the moon there for one year, about the same length of time as Japan’s probe. China launched its satellite late last month, while Japan put its into space in September.
The timing of the launches raises the prospect of a space rivalry between the two Asian nations, with India possibly joining in if it carries through on a plan to send its own lunar probe into space in April.
But Long Jiang, deputy commander of spacecraft systems of China’s lunar exploration program, said Beijing wanted to use its space program to work with other countries.
It also was perfectly timed to coincide with a visit by U.S. defense chief Robert Gates, who was forced to be conciliatory in his remarks on the development. According to the AP he congratulated Chinas achievement, saying its a clear credit to Chinese industry and innovation (as long as theyre not using lead paint).
More AP:
“We are willing to cooperate with the rest of the world to the benefit of humankind, but as to what kind of cooperation, it depends on specific circumstances,” Long told a news conference.
The Chang’e 1 blasted off on top of a Long March 3A rocket on Oct. 24 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province in southwestern China.
“All of the subsystems of the Chang’e 1 are in normal operation so far,” said Pei Zhaoyu, spokesman for the China National Space Administration.
The Chang’e 1 has survived the most critical part of its journey, Pei said. It had to enter the moon’s orbit at the right time and speed, otherwise it could have hit the moon or flown by it.
He said the satellite’s success was a sign of China’s advanced engineering. “The project is a comprehensive demonstration of China’s economic, scientific and technological power.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is on a two-day visit to China, commended China’s Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan over the lunar mission.
“I congratulate him and the people of China on this achievement. It’s clearly a credit to Chinese industry and innovation,” Gates said.
The lunar mission adds depth to a Chinese space program that has sent astronauts orbiting the Earth twice in the past four years.
Chang’e 1 is the first step of a three-stage moon mission. In about 2012 China plans an unmanned lunar landing with a rover. In the third phase, about five years later, another rover is to land on the moon and be returned to Earth with lunar soil and stone samples.
China plans a new generation of more powerful Long March 5 rockets able to lift more weight to the moon and possibly a manned mission but Pei told the news conference these wouldn’t be used until after 2012, missing the second phase.
According to Japanese news reports last week, Japan plans to send an unmanned probe to land on the moon by 2015.
It would cost about $437 million and consist of an unmanned lander, a rover to study the lunar surface and a small satellite to transfer data, according to the Asahi and Mainichi newspapers.
Chang’e 1’s goal is to analyze the chemical and mineral composition of the lunar surface. It will use stereo cameras and X-ray spectrometers to map three-dimensional images of the surface and study the moon’s dust.
The 5,070-pound satellite is expected to transmit its first photo back to China late this month.
China sent its first satellite into Earth orbit in the 1970s but the space program only seriously took off in the 1980s, growing apace with the country’s booming economy.
In 2003, China became only the third country in the world after the United States and Russia to put its own astronauts into space.
But China also alarmed the international community in January when it destroyed an old satellite with a land-based anti-satellite missile.
I tend to think its kind of cute that the Chinese are just now getting into lunar exploration. Ive been watching the Discovery Channel special on the upcoming mission to Mars, and the challenges are so far beyond what the Chinese are now attempting, its staggering.
And the specter of some Chinese military moon base, bristling with laser weapons and nukes pointed at New York is at best far fetched.
Americas space race and launch to the moon was an amazingly maturing phenomenon for the country, maybe it can do the same for China … and India.
hahah what the Chinese really mean by cooperation is that they will steal all your tech then sell it to your enemies or use it against you.
I know, they’re such fags!
Id say it is safe to bet that if there even thinking of the next 20 years, the crew wont make it back to earth in one piece. Heck China cant even build a jet engine that is reliable right now, they have a long way to go.
we have to accept the fact that China is a rising power — sucks but that’s the fact
What is even more impressive is the Chinese buildup of its navy, more so its Submarine Force which is using the latest technology and firepower. It already has the world’s largest military. Remember the Space Age is what put the US ahead of everyone, and our economy today has been cutting the defence budget to barrely surviving. Look out United States we are in another cold war with China and the economics between the two countries could lead to a major confrontation and WW3 if diplomacy fails. Not to mention we are not liked by many European and third world countries for our present diplomacy.
Its extremely important to keep in mind that China still has the biggest military in the world & they’re also building their submarine fleet to become the worlds leading naval power wether they do it by legal or means or stealing the technology & putting it to use mostly against the USA & western ideals.
So I think a very slow guarded approach to their space program is what America has to follow.
One would think that they’d have realized by now that communist doctrines never worked & they only have made it this far after they started trading with the west, & that maybe with some reservations of some in the west we’re not so bad after all. We only want their business, thats all.!!!
Its extremely important to keep in mind that China still has the biggest military in the world & they’re also building their submarine fleet to become the worlds leading naval power wether they do it by legal or means or stealing the technology & putting it to use mostly against the USA & western ideals.
So I think a very slow guarded approach to their space program is what America has to follow.
One would think that they’d have realized by now that communist doctrines never worked & they only have made it this far after they started trading with the west, & that maybe with some reservations of some in the west we’re not so bad after all. We only want their business, thats all.!!!
22lr, do you really believe that China is not capable of technological feats? Many people did not imagine the USSR could launch rockets into space until Sputnik started orbiting above. Given the sheer number of Chinese engineers graduating from American universities each year — some of whom return to China afterwards, I think it would be naive to imagine they don’t have the technological know-how. They just demonstrated a first step towards landing men on the Moon. They have successfully put men in Earth orbit. I don’t think that should be ignored.
This has been done.….. about 30 years ago.…..China, Japan, and others are up to no good. Glad we have an “watchful eye”!!
Designing, and sending a rocket into space is one thing. Building it in a country that is having a hard time making anything of good quality, is another. They might be able to do it but I would doubte it for a least another 20 years. Also if they did it, how much is anyone willing to bet they will use American planes which they stole.
Russia» Iran»> Islamics == “P-USSR“
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\ »»CHINA
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China»India & Korea»>Mid East==China
China has been setting this up for many years!
Chinese Planners know the Bible, esp. “Revelations”…what othe country can muster a 200,000,000 man military…?
Research the actions of China’s ” USA-infiltrations” within the Clinton-era !!
I think it was back in the early to mid 60’s that most of our servicemen were all unanomous that there’s no way they could get any of them to blow up some damn moon base built by an unfriendly communist nation. China can’t be trusted to be a rising power. We’ve got to do something to stop them, like maybe give Japan back their military so they can wreak choas and havoc into China’s military network with their own hackers that they’d train. Or maybe we could coax them into occuping Iran for us when the time for military action by us becomes needed.
Either way, it’d be cool if we could boycott China since they’ve yet to awnser for all the shit they did to us in both the Korean and Vietnam wars.
What
That’s O.K. If we buy enough toys from them they will have enough money to build an Erector Set on the moon. From there they can paint it in cheese yellow lead paint.
You bunch of American loosers !
Who do you think invented gun powder and rockets ? The Chinese that’s who.
So while you’ve been happily ‘copying’ Chienese inventions you object to them returning you the favour.
After WW2 the US stole thousands of German patents, which helped it in it’s arms and space race, you think guided missiles and stealth aircraft are American inventions ? They’re German actually.
It’s all fair in love and war, all empires come to an end. It’s amazing that Americans think that they’d last forever. Haven’t you learnt the lesson of Rome ? It was ten times greater than the US but it still perished!
Get over it!!
The only looser here is you bob, comparing the US to Rome, its as far rom Rome as you can possibly get.
Sound like a typical European whiner.
I agree with bill this is the time to take action towards china before its too late because it we dont it could lead to war.by even getting near the moon should be a act of war it has our flag so IT BELONGS TO THE USA under stand two countrys cant share a moon,and they plan to put a flag oh man KILL THEM NOW.plus china is alredy f****** up our economy by the cheap s*** there selling us
LETS TAKE ACTION
China will never be a threat. I am sure because I am in China.