China Plans Moonbase

jfruhlinger writes: "According to this BBC news article, the Chinese government plans to put a human on the moon by 2010, with the long-term goal of 'set[ting] up a base on the moon and min[ing] its riches for the benefit of humanity.' The article seems to think that the program is more for the benefit of China's defense and aerospace industry. D'ya think they can pull it off?"

Comments

But will it be

[gazbo]

Moon unit alpha, or moon unit zappa?

Green Cheese Market

[TheNecromancer]

Our long-term goal is to set up a base on the Moon and mine its riches for the benefit of humanity.

I guess the Chinese will have all the market share for selling green cheese to the world.

Re:I Hope they

[BCoates]

Land at the apolo sites and prove once and for all wether the americans managed to land there first?
I've see the pictures and they look a bit dodgy to me

So in 2011 we can look forward to people claiming that the Chinese Moon mission pictures are fake, then?

"Of course the Marco Polo trip was fake. You expect me to believe humans could cross the Gobi Desert? This whole "China" thing sounds a bit dodgy to me..." -- 13th century conspiracy theorist

--
Benjamin Coates

Re:hope

[nick-less]

I hope so. Perhaps this is the start of the second space race?

reminds me of an old joke: "Hey Mr. President, the chinese have painted the moon red!" "No Problem, send some of our guys up to write 'Coke' on it"

No Kidding?!

[Neck_of_the_Woods]

You mean they fell for that backlot footage of us landing on the moon?

How space will be used (was: Re:I wonder...)

[e-gold]

I don't think the moon's resources will justify the proposed Chinese effort, but it's a symptom of the failures of central planning (as if we needed another) that they're trying to dictate what the market will be, rather than letting it happen naturally.

IOW, the US government should "stand by" and do nothing (whether they will resist the urge to waste taxe$ in space is another question). Let's look at how space-commerce (the voluntary, non-government-supported kind) is going in the real world, right now:

So far, it's ALL rich people, and all "tourism." 100%! No exceptions!!

This was to be expected, but think ten years (and maybe 100 orders of magnitude cheaper) down the road...Space-tourism is going to evolve toward one thing, and it's a thing that governments (of any sort) don't seem to want to consider:

SEX tourism. Couples are going to want to have intercourse without gravity (and without annoying swimming pools, scuba gear, etc.). Many honeymooners will want to, uh...start out with a bang (sorry! Couldn't resist).

This will happen naturally, I'm sure of it. Ultimately, all this sex will be the main thing supporting science up there, but no central planning bureaucrat (Chinese or US) will anticipate this, it'll just happen. I only wish that I could find some way to make money off my prediction when it comes to pass...
JMR

(My own opinions, nobody else seems to want them.)