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China To Launch Second Manned Mission
the_central_kingdom wrote to mention a Xinhuanet article discussing a second upcoming Chinese spacecraft launch in October. From the article: "Although Sun did not provide details about the new mission, space officials earlier said China has been preparing for the second manned venture into outer space since the first mission, piloted by Yang Liwei, almost two years ago. Sun Laiyan, chief of the China National Space Administration, earlier told China Daily that Shenzhou VI will carry two men into orbit for five or six days. "
They did one launch with one guy, kind of like our Mercury program. Now they've already moved on to two people which is like our Gemini program. Make the next launch will be to the moon.
Don't know how good this source is, but:
Here is something from Global Security about the origin of the tech.
Supposedly the tech is not just a copy of Russian stuff, and the Chinese are talking about what they are doing because they want to make money off of space services. You have to talk about it to sell it.
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
Honestly, Chinese censorship doesn't work that way.
Imagine what would happen if an American astronaut made an obscene comment about Bush, how it would be treated.
Chances are he'd be let go and censored.
The thing you have to remember is that while China theoretically has a legal system, things like status and respect, the position of your family, whether you're native to the local area, etc. carry far more weight there than they do in the US. This is especially true regarding the power of your family. You can be arrested simply for looking grungy and hanging around a train station (as one of my Chinese friends was.) Similarly, you can get away with murder if you have the right connections. You'll still be tried and sentanced to death, but they give you, say, a year so that you can work your connections and quietly be declared not guilty.
___
It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
I mean, the lunar missions all used what, 1960's technology? And now that the X-Prize MIGHT result in commercial orbitals, how much harder is it to go the moon once you are up there?
Seriously, I'm asking how much harder. I'm no rocket scientist.
Seems some rogue millionaire could have someone construct his a ship with all that extra cash using at least 1980's technology.
I have a feeling we are coming up to the next great Space Race sometime later this decade/ next Space Race. It seems to me that every country should have the right to be able to end people into space. With Japan starting to launch its own rockets, and India not too far behind, I wonder if Asia will have its own Space Race. It seems to me that the US will probably just sit there with the Shuttle and ISS until someone (maybe China) decides to go further out into interplanetary space, and then we might see some serious action on behalf of the US to ramp up its space initiative.
China's GDP as of 2004 is $7,262,000,000,000 (7.26 trillion) while the GDP of the USA as of 2004 is $11,750,000,000,000 (11.75 trillion). Growing a nations GDP by 1 trillion is a few years let alone more than 4 trillion is just impossible. China has _at least_ 1 billion people. Divide their GDP by their population and you get about $7,262 per person. The USA has about 300 million people. Divide our GDP per person and you get about $39,166.66 per person. A _huge_ difference, more than five time the amount _per person_! The whole time China is trying to grow to "catch up", the USA will be growing too. In fact, if you look at the CIA World Factbook, there is not one other single nation that even comes close to the GDP of the USA. The #2 rank is the European Union which is like 25 seperate nations. If you take the average GDP of the whole EU it is only like $466,000,000,000 (466 billion) per nation per year. The USA does more than twice that per month!
Maybe it is time to stop all this "China is catching up" paranoia.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
is there any particular reason for America's tendency to send many, many more unmanned than manned missions into space?
You answered your own question. Because it's cheaper. Hell, much cheaper.
The fact that, if you were to put an astronaut on board an unmanned rocket, you'd kill the bastard by exploding his guts internally plus squishing via high Gs during the launch. So to make it safe for manned mission, each rocket has to be designed with more safe proof structure for human bodies.
None of that would be required for an unmanned rocket, which makes it cheaper to launch. Expendable missions are that cheap and cost-efficient today. In future with further development of reuseable vehicles, it could be a day when manned vehicles would be far more efficient and norm someday. (Or one can only dream...)
And where the hell is NASA? The Chinese are putting men in space and we cower in our launch craft waiting for the safty teams to tell us it is only "damn dangerous". I will put my life where my mouth is - put me in space, and damn the hazards - let the cowards fly for NorthWest - I want to be on space!!!!
Sera
Slashdot, where armchair scientists get shouted down and armchair theologians get modded up.
The Chinese seem to be copying the old US space program fairly closely.
Why? National pride? To make money? Because its there?
The real reason the Chinese want to go into space is the same reason the US went there. It's the military application. If any country in the world wants to go toe to toe against the US in anything except a world destroying nuclear match up then they have to take the GPS and satellite spying monopoly from the USA.
It works even better if they find out a way take out US satellites without affecting their own. Blowing them up might cause large debris fields that are a danger to their own satellites. Maned missions could be sent up do attach de-orbiting rockets or more simply, spray paint the lenses and break off the antennae.
A US military without satellites has limited recognisance, communications, and command and control abilities. Some soldiers won't even know where they are.
I think the frightening thing for the US is that they won the cold war by simply outspending the USSR. With China's incredible growth it not many years before the opposite situation could occur.
GDP per capita is a usefull comparison when you are trying to measure quality of life but not when you try to measure scientific progress. Granted at current levels Chines might not be able to afford SUVs in every driveway but they can afford to spend on centrally funded programs. As you said there are 4 times many Chinese thus if you want to spend 100 million on a mission every Chines just needs to afford 10 cents but every american needs to afford 40 cents. Larger population is generally an advantage given similar levels of education. Moreover while the Chinese GDP might be 7 trillion on paper everyone knows the Chinese currency is artificially lower by 20% so in real terms it is already larger than the US GDP. Things like space exploration are a kind of national luxury and they are affordable based on the whole GDP and not GDP percapita. After all their is only 1 NASA and 1 CNSA. Even not considering the exchange rates your argument about US remaining ahead falls apart as China is growing faster 9% compared to 4% . According to WB and IMF projections Chinese GDP will overtake US GDP by 2015 and by 2050 GDP per capita too will overtake US GDP. This is assuming no major wars. Given that the US is currently stuck in an expensive war which may drag down growth these points may be reached earlier. Its already becoming obvious that the US is no longer as attractive as before. Just look at the number of foreign students who stay on in the US. Earlier most foreign students would never go back to their countries as the US had the leading industry and the best opportunities but nowadays more and more Chinese and Korean students go back as opportunities at home are equal or better than in the US. So their really is no place for complacency
**Life is too short to be serious**