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

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.

Comments

Re:China and US spending priorities

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

OK

[koan]

"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".

Re:OK

[benjfowler]

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.

Re:OK

[khallow]

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?

Re:OK

[ShanghaiBill]

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.

Re:OK

[ShanghaiBill]

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.

Re:A bit player

[Wycliffe]

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.

Re:China and US spending priorities

[The Real Dr John]

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.

Re:China and US spending priorities

[CanadianMacFan]

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.

Re:A bit player

[CanadianMacFan]

Really, can the US put a person into space?

Re:China and US spending priorities

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Let's all hope...

[Applehu Akbar]

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.

Re:China and US spending priorities

[The Real Dr John]

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.