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U.S. Snubs China's Offer for Space Cooperation
Devar writes "According to this space.com article The US has turned down China's offer for cooperation in space because their 'technology was not mature.' "Anticipating future space cooperation with the U.S., China fitted the Shenzhou craft with a docking ring capable of linking up with the International Space Station (ISS) and has at least one launch site, Jiuquan, located at near the same latitude as NASA's Cape Canaveral, which would allow similar launch profiles." This action has prompted China to turn to the ESA."
When someone who may not necessarily be as (adept,technically cool,well-dressed) as you offers to incorporate your designs on (code,hardware) into their systems you don't dismiss them. You look at the situation as a moment upon which to build standards and some kind of relationship. WTF? Is NASA some kind of High-School cheerleader that's afraid to be seen with the Chinese kid?
If I was running anything at NASA I'd welcome them, offer specs, and request an inspection of any hardware prior to send-off for docking in order to ensure compliance. The only other requirement I'd stipulate would be a technician to assist the Taikonaut's CAPCOM with any issues that may arise during a docking. It would rock to have a Chinese visit to the "INTERNATIONAL" freakin' space station.
They can't believe that NASA would snub them.
Everyone with a brain should be wondering too.
Did someone at NASA blink and have a phantasm about helplessly watching the Chinese storm the ISS? Good Grief!
Where's the change in the "Culutre" of NASA which would allow them to remove their collective heads from their collective arse?
I know "existence preceeds essense", why can't NASA understand?
Because the right heads haven't been lopped off...the NASAhole brigade is still firmly in place, and I imagine Bush Jr. probably laughed when he heard this, hell, he was probably listening on the other line and laughing. Bush Sr. will probably sucker-punch his boy sometime in the near future for this.
Every new form of media has it's own Requirimento
China already has missle technology capable of launching various payloads* from the mainland to Taiwan: so what missles are you referring to exactly that they are "developing" of which they don't yet have? It says on that page that China can also launch missiles that can hit mainland United States.
Another link that may be of interest to you:
http://www.rense.com/general38/cong.htm
Disclaimer: I work for NASA.
A lot of the comments on this thread are being critical of NASA for not allowing Chinese participation in ISS.
This is not NASA's decision. Hell, many of us would be thrilled to work with the Chinese (despite what you may see on the news, working with the Russians is very fun, challenging, and exciting to us grunt engineers). NASA takes its marching orders directly from the executive branch, and whether or not to include China in NASA's manned program is decided by the White House, and technical merit is at the very bottom of the evaluation criteria on whether to include them or not.
At the top are probably two considerations...
Political - this is a huge carrot to wave in front of the Chinese, and I don't think the White House is ready to cash in on it yet. I can imagine it coming into play if we wanted something from China with respect to either the North Korean or Taiwan issues.
Technology Transfer - like it or not, the same basic technology that is used to put people in space is also used to defend the United States. Any time you work with an international partner who is "behind" you technically, some of the technology bleeds over (no matter how hard you try to stop it) and the technology gap closes. You need to be very careful about that when you are talking about working with a potential adversary. Is the risk worth the benefit? Right now, I think the answer the national leadership has decided is "no".
Worst...sig...ever!
Wait, didn't all the harpies crow about China copying Russian tech? Is Russian tech so immature that NASA can't allow Russian participation? :)
NASA tech is essentially the same as it was in 1980, when the shuttles were finalized. Meanwhile, Russia has a new generation of Soyuz, and computers aboard the Shenzhou are much more advanced than those on shuttle firstflight.
Ofcourse the Chinese rocket programs have been around for over 1000 years... so it's easy to see why it's immature, afterall US rocket programs have been around for 60 years. (230 on the outside)
Then again, the Europeans have yet to launch man rated platforms, as well the Japanese, and Canadians. The Russians crashed a cargo ship into Mir as well...
So, the Chinese program is less mature than either the European programs or the Japanese program. (Hence the launch failures of Ariane 5 designed for the Hermes spaceplane, and the H2A based on the H2 designed for the Hope spaceplane)
NASA will ofcourse be using these "mature" programs to attach modules (without intervening airlocks) to the ISS...
Have the Japanese or European programs demonstrated docking in space yet?
The ESA cargoship is supposed to supply the ISS afterall...
Not really. Like someone who's already replied to this post, China already has missile technology easily capable of hitting Taiwan. Taiwan and China are right next to each other. Back in the day, when they were still fighting each other with weapons, artillery fire was able to reach the smaller islands that are part of Taiwan from the coast of China. Yes, it's that close. Oh, and can the US really make it in time to save Taiwan? Maybe, maybe not. The article provides an interesting insight as to how China could quickly take over the island. Remember, it's not like the US Navy sits in the Taiwan strait all day. They actually have to deploy out from Japan/S. Korea/Guam/etc.