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China Looks To Deep Space Missions, Including More Lunar Landings and Robot Ants (xinhuanet.com)

Posted by timothy on from the good-kind-of-lunacy dept.

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.

65 comments

  1. Let's all hope... by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 0, Troll

    ...That China will pick up in science, space and otherwise, where we left off.

    1. Re:Let's all hope... by ZecretZquirrel · · Score: 1

      ..and also that they don't trash the place like they've done to China.

    2. Re:Let's all hope... by tomhath · · Score: 1

      Where did the US leave off? It has missions to the Kuiper Belt, several planets, and many in Earth orbit today. The decision to reduce or eliminate manned spaceflight makes perfect sense now that semi-autonomous satellites and landers are available.

    3. Re:Let's all hope... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL, what a melodramatic view. What science can possibly come from repeating things we did half a century ago?

      That's called a "cargo cult", son.

    4. Re:Let's all hope... by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 1

      Whoops. Too late.

      At least it appears they've seen the errors of their ways... now that their own missions are in danger of being hit by it, of course.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    5. Re:Let's all hope... by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 2

      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.

    6. Re:Let's all hope... by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      LOL.
      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 ).
      We are about to have multiple companies that deliver humans to space, and currently have 3 separate companies that deliver goods to space.
      With the next SpaceX launch to ISS, they will get a Bigelow unit, which is a further testing of the transhab/BA space modules for a new space station.
      All in all, other than CONgress fucking with things, NASA is doing just fine.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    7. Re:Let's all hope... by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      science is the exploration of new edges and changes in them. Putting up these missions is NOT about science, but about advancing their engineering and manufacturing. And it is not much different than America's push on having multiple private space companies doing the same thing.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    8. Re:Let's all hope... by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      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 effort was their first move against scientific research itself. In their TMT effort, they have used social media to add weight to their campaign, and we're letting them get away with it without putting up much of a fight. Astronomers are the kind of people who have spent their lives responding to bullies by hiding out in study hall until the school bell rings, so they're not going to defend themselves in any meaningful way.

      Look forward another decade: while California fights a full-blown polio epidemic as it vainly tries to prevent its remaining desalination plants from being blown up by suicide bombers, will anyone notice the decaying ISS fall out of orbit? Will anyone notice that JPL's deep space mission pipeline has quietly dried up over the intervening years?

      But the US is not the world. Consider that China is one of the partners in TMT, and has a strong interest in seeing it built. If we could relocate the build to the Qinghai Plateau, where the seeing is equally good and the Greens have no power to infiltrate, the construction could proceed as soon as new local contractors were signed.

  2. China and US spending priorities by The+Real+Dr+John · · Score: 1, 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).

    --
    A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
    1. Re:China and US spending priorities by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      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.

    2. Re:China and US spending priorities by amightywind · · Score: 0

      What do you call the artificial islands they are building in the SCS?

      --
      an ill wind that blows no good
    3. Re:China and US spending priorities by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    4. Re:China and US spending priorities by The+Real+Dr+John · · Score: 2

      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.

      --
      A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
    5. Re:China and US spending priorities by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 4, 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.

    6. Re:China and US spending priorities by thrich81 · · Score: 1

      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 they could when the opportunity arose so they must know something.

    7. Re:China and US spending priorities by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      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.

    8. Re:China and US spending priorities by dk20 · · Score: 1

      Interesting read on this topic (using bases to expand the empire) : http://www.amazon.com/Base-Nat...

    9. Re:China and US spending priorities by drolli · · Score: 1

      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.

    10. Re:China and US spending priorities by Mr.CRC · · Score: 1

      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.

    11. Re:China and US spending priorities by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The US military bases in Japan, SK, and Germany serve as a trip wire to guarantee US military involvement if these countries come under attack. In essence the men and women of the military who serve at these bases are basically sacrificial. The personnel and equipment at these bases is not enough to repel a determined attack.The Philippines closed their US military base years ago but have now changed their minds and are trying to get the Americans to return. Every US military base in the world has permission from the host government to be there. All of the US military bases around the world are remnants of the after math of WW2. The US was the only country (The USSR naval assets were miniscule compared to the US) who had the military resources needed to provide a level of security needed to keep the war from flaring up again as countries began rebuild and help all those were refuges.

      Who promised Russia anything related to NATO? Was it in writing or did you use a statement out of context and add some embellishment?. And fuck Russia. The countries along Russia's border are not going to launch an attack on Russia. Today's weapon delivery platforms are not dependent on being close to Russia's border.

    12. Re:China and US spending priorities by The+Real+Dr+John · · Score: 2

      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 then turn around and fight the rebels we just armed. So please stop with the US is defending everyone nonsense.

      --
      A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
    13. Re:China and US spending priorities by The+Real+Dr+John · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
    14. Re:China and US spending priorities by drolli · · Score: 1

      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 along with China they live in their own reality (Disclainer: i lived in Jp for 4 years and am married to a chinese wife)....

    15. Re:China and US spending priorities by lucien86 · · Score: 1

      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...

      --
      Below the speed of light Special Relativity is one of the most accurate theories in physics - above the speed of light..
    16. Re:China and US spending priorities by lucien86 · · Score: 1

      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...

      --
      Below the speed of light Special Relativity is one of the most accurate theories in physics - above the speed of light..
    17. Re:China and US spending priorities by The+Real+Dr+John · · Score: 1

      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 administration said that the oil was a critical reason for the Iraq war, on top of the fact that Bush and Cheney were obsessed with invading Iraq long before 9/11. Clearly it was not about Iraq posing an imminent threat to the US. We were an imminent threat to them, and they are still paying the price.

      --
      A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
    18. Re:China and US spending priorities by lucien86 · · Score: 1

      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 the very same contractor/s creamed money during the Vietnam war)

      As for US bases they were created long before the rise of the new right in a time when people still believed in the moral of defending the world against Soviet communism... They are still very useful for projecting military power over the world. The Philippines gave up their bases and now want them back because of the perceived growing threat from China..

      --
      Below the speed of light Special Relativity is one of the most accurate theories in physics - above the speed of light..
    19. Re:China and US spending priorities by The+Real+Dr+John · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
    20. Re:China and US spending priorities by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      LOL.
      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 the Nicaraguan canal is with the 2000+ chinese troops there?
      Sixth, China has multiple nations in Africa where they have military troops on the ground. They are no calling these bases, but when you have 2000-5000 ppl there, it is actually a base.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    21. Re:China and US spending priorities by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      Really? What Internet censorship or violent suppression of social dissatisfaction do you see from America ?

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    22. Re:China and US spending priorities by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Myamar, somalia, and Zimbabwe come very quickly to mind as nations that have bases there, or are in close control of these nation's gov.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    23. Re:China and US spending priorities by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      In addition, we have tried multiple times to pull our troops out of these nations, and the local govs. scream bloody murder. They WANT us there.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    24. Re:China and US spending priorities by The+Real+Dr+John · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
    25. Re:China and US spending priorities by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      LOL.
      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.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    26. Re:China and US spending priorities by The+Real+Dr+John · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
  3. Robot ants are for cows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Moooooooo.....

  4. deep space by znrt · · Score: 0

    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!

  5. Chinese spacewalks are done in swimming pools! by Thing+1 · · Score: 1

    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.)

    --
    I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
    1. Re:Chinese spacewalks are done in swimming pools! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (And yes, I know that guy outed himself a few weeks back.)

      I missed a memo. Link?

    2. Re:Chinese spacewalks are done in swimming pools! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why do you assume it is one guy?

    3. Re:Chinese spacewalks are done in swimming pools! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      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... :)

  6. OK by koan · · 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".

    --
    "If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
    1. Re:OK by benjfowler · · Score: 2

      China deserves at least a little credit; after all, they've lifted 100+ million people out of poverty -- the greatest poverty-relief effort that anybody's ever done in the history of the world.

      Say what you will about the famously glass-jawed Chinese government and CCP; they **ARE** effective, and in this world, people care about results. If they can repeat the same trick in Africa, they'll be doing the world a massive favour.

    2. Re:OK by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      "... 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...

    3. Re:OK by hackwrench · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure about the extent of China's population density situation, but I keep hearing bits about India's population density being a problem.

    4. Re:OK by koan · · Score: 1

      Yes India is another region desperately in need of population controls.

      --
      "If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
    5. Re:OK by khallow · · Score: 2

      India has done a comparable effort with a government that is notorious for its incompetence and corruption. Maybe the government shouldn't be getting all this credit for merely sufficiently standing out of the way?

    6. Re:OK by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      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.

    7. Re:OK by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, 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.

    8. Re:OK by lucien86 · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      Below the speed of light Special Relativity is one of the most accurate theories in physics - above the speed of light..
  7. Robot ants? by hackwrench · · Score: 1

    I guess Derick Zoolander was onto something when he talked about a school for ants.

    https://www.bing.com/search?q=...

  8. Red armada by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There was a joke once about Soviets painting the moon red for the glory of the motherland. Respond from the U.S. was painting Coca-Cola sign over it.

    Nowadays the joke goes about the Chinese painting it red for the glory of the motherland and Coca-cola sign being put on it by them too.

  9. Re:A bit player by Wycliffe · · Score: 2

    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.

  10. more probes on the moon, including the lunar farsi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Have they made a peace treaty with the Nazi's and did our alien overlords agree to it?

  11. Re:more probes on the moon, including the lunar fa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Have they made a peace treaty with the Nazi's and did our alien overlords agree to it?

    You posted to the wrong thread. You wanted the Windows 10 thread.

  12. Re:A bit player by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "We've barely scratched the surface of mars"

    We've barely scratched the surface of Earth. So what?

  13. Re:A bit player by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 3, Informative

    Really, can the US put a person into space?

  14. Of course China's looking at deep space missions.. by Chas · · Score: 1

    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.

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  15. I say we promote this by blindseer · · Score: 1

    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 they are fooling themselves on the viability of fusion power. Whatever happens to be true us here in the USA can only gain from this. If they fail then we know what doesn't work, if they succeed then we know what does.

    --
    I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
  16. Good luck without a DSN China by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They'll have to get reliable communications that far out before they do anything, and it's not like you just grow thirty-meter radio telescopes on conveniently globally-distributed trees.

  17. (Robot) ants in space! by antdude · · Score: 1

    As Chairboy used to say.

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  18. JADE RABBIT PROBE LANDED ON THE MOON by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It landed at 19.5 degrees relative to the Lunar north pole. See the Richard Hoagland Video to Find out why. They know things our government doesnt tell us about, and CHINA is hungry for that data.