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China and NASA Shared Data About Historic Moon Landing (nypost.com)

hackingbear writes: "China exchanged data with NASA on its recent mission to land a Chinese spacecraft on the far side of the moon, the Chinese space agency said Monday, in what was reportedly the first such collaboration since a Cold-War-era-like American law banned joint space projects with China that do not have prior congressional approval," reports New York Post. "The Chinese space agency's deputy director, Wu Yanhua, said NASA shared information about its lunar orbiter satellite in hopes of monitoring the landing of the Chang'e 4 spacecraft. China, in turn, shared the time and coordinates of Chang'e 4s scheduled landing. He added that while NASA's satellite did not catch the precise moment of landing, it took photographs of the area afterward."

In response to the question about why would China allow this exchange given that the U.S. has put technological obstacles to China's lunar exploration program and refused to issue visas to Chinese experts, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, "China could have chosen not to offer the relevant information to the U.S., but as a major country, we should act with the posture and bearing of a major country. I believe what Mr. Wu said has shown the confidence, openness, and broadmindedness of Chinese aerospace engineers as well as scientists and researchers and China's confident and open posture as a major country."

29 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. Scientists should set a higher example by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Especially in space, countries should share everything they can and set an example for the rest of humanity of how we can all work together - a great reason for all nations to continue exploring space BTW.

    I realize there are very valid military reasons why some things like rocket technology maybe cannot be shared between countries that are at odds. However there's no reason at all we cannot all share data about what we find out there...

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Scientists should set a higher example by suutar · · Score: 1

      they figure that since a new environment requires new behaviors, it's a good time to fix some old behaviors that the environment doesn't really force change on.

  2. There are reasons for the US prohibitions, and... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    good reasons for the recent data exchange.

    Reasons for the recent data exchange:
    1. It serves the interests of all nations operating spacecraft within an area to exchange basic telemetry so they can, for example, avoid collisions.
    2. In this case, it would serve the interests of China to have the US publicly admit and even photograph (if possible) one of their space successes - giving obviously solid proof of a far away event to a wold mostly unable to verify it for themselves, much as the Soviet confirmation of the American moon landings in the '60s and '70s did.

    Reasons for the prohibitions:
    1. The Chinese science and military space programs are one-and-the-same; they're completely unified - so there's no way any sympathetic politician in the west can offer political cover when encouraging supposedly peaceful cooperation.
    2. The Chinese military has a long track record of thresatening to nuke the USA.
    3. In the 1990s, several American companies (Loral, Hughes...) wanted their satellite customers to be able to use cheap Chinese launch vehicles (which were failing at an alarming rate) in place of American and European launch vehicles, so they illegally transferred a bunch of launch vehicle tech to China. This had two major effects: [a] it enabled the Chinese aerospace industry to damage the American and European launch vehicle industries, and [b] suddenly Chinese ICBMs became far more reliable and accurate.

    An orbital launch vehicle is just a more capable ICBM. As anybody with an aerospace background knows, if you can accurately place a large payload into orbit, you can more easily place a nuclear warhead on a sub-orbital launcher and hit any city on Earth. What that transfer of tech did (in addition to making some executives and share holders of a couple of companies a bit richer) was to enable the Chinese military to more effectively threaten to kill all the American taxpayers who paid to develop the technology. As a military vet, I personally resent the fact that the executives involved were not tried for treason and executed by firing squad. The Chinese military, yet again, threatened to nuke the USA just within the past week - THANKS, Loral and Hughes!.

    The Unites States and Russia do not, to this day, exchange complete information with each other. They cooperate with the tech data needed to make systems interoperable (like docking systems, atmosphere standards, and such) and if the cooperation with China could be limited to that then there'd be nothing big to worry about, however too many American scientists and businessmen have spent 20 years proving they will not self-limit their tech transfers to China (see: Apple, Google, IBM, Motorola, etc) Nearly every major American company has sold-out to China, as have most American universities.

    All the "peaceful cooperation in space" drivel that is so often spread by idiots usually ignores the existence of nuclear warheads (which in the case of China are not constrained at all by ANY arms reduction or limitation treaties).

  3. The Chinese can do this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    They already have a wall.

  4. Who are the adults in the room? by nicolaiplum · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The summary you need:

    "Why did you cooperate with the Americans in space when they are being so rude in other ways?"

    "Because we are sensible adults".

    --
    "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled"
    1. Re:Who are the adults in the room? by Zocalo · · Score: 1

      It's absolutely the Chinese trying to send a not-so-subtle message about the way US politics and international affairs are at the moment. "We can be grown-ups", "We can co-operate with others", "We don't let petty things like trade wars get in the way of stuff that matters(tm)"; there are any number of such digs they can make. Who can blame them for taking the opportunity though? They've been treated as pariahs in space exploration for decades by the US because "reasons" while other nations who also steal tech, etc. (although they don't use it to compete commercially quite so well) get to work with NASA just fine. Trump's nationalism and other antics in the Whitehouse are really just the cherry on what is now a very large cake that has provided the perfect opportunity to make the point.

      Really, I think this is just one small part of China taking one of their proverbs to heart that's been going on for a while now. With much of the Western world seeing the paralysis in US government (and others in the EU) as a crisis; they're seeing it as an opportunity that might just gain them allies/trading partners and help revamp the world order in their favour. Perhaps not enough to knock the US of their perch, but maybe enough to secure the South China Sea, tighten the screws on Taiwan, increase their presence elsewhere around the globe (e.g. building transport links into Pakistan for a possible military presence within range of Africa and the Middle East) while everyone is distracted with other things. Even if they're only partly successful, that's still a pretty good foundation on which to continue trying to upset the status quo even further.

      --
      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
    2. Re:Who are the adults in the room? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      It's absolutely the Chinese trying to send a not-so-subtle message about the way US politics and international affairs are at the moment.

      FREE TIBET with every purchase of a Hong Kong!

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:Who are the adults in the room? by dryeo · · Score: 1

      They're planning on executing a Canadian to make a point, they've put out a traffic advisory to not travel to Canada, all because Canada has a treaty with the USA that Canada is honouring even while the USA is accusing Canada of being a national security threat and actually behind the arrest of the Chinese VIP and threatening to put her in jail for life when the usual response to selling stuff to Iran is large corporate fines.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    4. Re: Who are the adults in the room? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They are planning to execute a drug trafficker. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. I'm from Canada and I wish we would do the same thing here.

    5. Re:Who are the adults in the room? by hackingbear · · Score: 1

      Canada has a treaty with the USA that Canada is honouring

      More likely that Canada is a puppet of USA and was threaten during its own trade negotiation to obey orders from the US intelligent and military agencies to launch joint attacks against China.

      Canada always has the option to evade such order skillfully otherwise. For example, when the US demanded Hong Kong to hand over Edward Snowden, Hong Kong authority skillfully bounced the request for more "clarification" and let Snowden, whom was formally charged (whereas Meng hasn't been yet,) fret over to Russia.

    6. Re:Who are the adults in the room? by Zocalo · · Score: 1

      Abhorent and medieval as I think the death penalty is, China is at least being consistent here. They have the death penalty and use it heavily, especially for drug smuggling where they have executed foreign nationals for smuggling "just" a few kilos previously (for context, anything over 50 *grams* makes a someone eligable for the death penalty in China). Schellenberg was convicted of trying to smuggle more than 222kg of hard drugs to Australia, apparently has prior convictions for drug crimes in Canada resulting in jail sentences, and the claimed evidence against him seems to be extremely damning. Sure, the timing is suspiciously coincidental and China's reputation for fair and open trials is far from exemplary, but within the terms of the Chinese penal code the original sentence of 15 years *is* far too light and a death penalty was the way to go. He also has the right of appeal which, given he is a foreign national, will almost certainly be heard and given due consideration. Realistically though, and barring some kind of diplomatic deal, he's probably going to die in a Chinese prison - it's now mostly a matter of when and how.

      --
      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
    7. Re:Who are the adults in the room? by dryeo · · Score: 1

      The timing and the publicity (opening up the court to the press) were quite the coincidence.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    8. Re: Who are the adults in the room? by dryeo · · Score: 1

      Yes, starting with the heads of the pharmaceutical companies and ending with the coffee pushers, all drug dealers should be executed.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
  5. Re:Can NASA work with China? by Bengie · · Score: 1

    Depends on how "work with" is defined.

  6. Re:Bing bong, derp derp. by Joce640k · · Score: 2

    Scientists unite the world, Politicians divide it up.

    (and guess what the human race is electing to run it)

    --
    No sig today...
  7. I'm actually hopeful by rickb928 · · Score: 1

    ...That China watched the movie 'The Martian.

    And took some international law advice from it. /s

    --
    deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
  8. Re:There are reasons for the US prohibitions, and. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

    I'm told that Mutually Assured Destruction is good for peace. In that case, shouldn't the US have simply given the Chinese their space tech? Just to keep everyone even, and dissuade anyone from launching.

    Seriously though, China got most of it's early space technology from Russia by simply buying it. Then they put vast resources into building their own talent and technology up too. Basically the same as the US after WW2, starting out with Nazi tech and expertise and then developing their own off the back of it.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  9. Re:There are reasons for the US prohibitions, and. by DigiShaman · · Score: 2

    ...so they illegally transferred a bunch of launch vehicle tech to China

    FYI, the Clinton administration approved the transfer in 99.

    https://www.nytimes.com/1999/0...

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
  10. Re: Bing bong, derp derp. by AlwinBarni · · Score: 2

    And this information is from ... ?

    US collected moon rocks were sent all over the world for research and as gifts - so far no country complained, including USSR (former Russia), which was at the time in cold war with US, which was able to monitor all the communication - yes, EM waves from the Moon can be received by anybody, and in 1970s there was no digital communication - all analog.

    Not to mention that there are photos of the landings.

    There is no discrepancies between USSR and US moon rocks - you're lying (in case you want to prove otherwise, please keep in mind that here everybody knows how much efforts it take to create any website with any lie, so any reference would had to be legitimate).

    Some technical knowledge would let someone check, that Saturn V was capable of sending payload to the Moon, considering it's size and burning times.

    There are instruments left on the Moon, and the laser reflector is used till this day to measure the distance, with proper equipment might be done by an amateur.

    conspiracy theories debunked

  11. Re:There are reasons for the US prohibitions, and. by AlwinBarni · · Score: 1

    I'm told that Mutually Assured Destruction is good for peace. In that case, shouldn't the US have simply given the Chinese their space tech? Just to keep everyone even, and dissuade anyone from launching.

    There's a saying "speech is silver, but silence is gold", in other words, it's better to know what to say, than say what you know:
    - list of nuclear close calls
    - Stanislav Petrov, a man, who saved the world from WWIII

  12. China is positioning itself ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    ... to take the lead over the US and America is helping by doing nothing of significance.

    We've read of other countries deferring to China and making remarks that America no longer in the apex position.

    Nationalism, isolationism, anti-immigration, climate denial, science denial, poor educational systems, deregulation of air pollution, coal mine support and "drill baby drill," all demote the US as a world leader and more toward third-world status.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  13. "but as a major country ..." by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    China is expanding but as a major country it is generous but as a major country to let America to peek at it but as a major country doing what the second place country could have done, but NO, because but as a major country China is replacing the US, not as anti-globalism but as a major country .

    So, scientists and professors, abandon the anti-science former major country and embrace the new but as a major country .

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  14. Re: Bing bong, derp derp. by smooth+wombat · · Score: 2

    There are instruments left on the Moon, and the laser reflector is used till this day to measure the distance, with proper equipment might be done by an amateur.

    There was a short blurb about some folks doing this very thing.

    --
    We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
  15. Re:There are reasons for the US prohibitions, and. by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

    I'm told that Mutually Assured Destruction is good for peace. In that case, shouldn't the US have simply given the Chinese their space tech? Just to keep everyone even, and dissuade anyone from launching.

    No, because (on an earthly, relative scale, of course) China's government is in fact bad and we are in fact good.

    I know that gives some folks the vapors, but oh well.

  16. What am I missing here. by wolfheart111 · · Score: 1

    Its not like any random dude couldnt do that. half a billion would do it... Governments are left the dust nowadays when it comes to space.... its not their place anymore. lol

    --
    [($)]
  17. Re:There are reasons for the US prohibitions, and. by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

    China has no first use policy. However, many in the PLA have publicly stated of hitting US Navel assets to keep it away from Taiwan. If they did take out a carrier, the fur will fly sort of speak. Not sure it's worth taking out a few hundred or billion people in the process however.... But, human beings are irrational creatures.

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
  18. Re:There are reasons for the US prohibitions, and. by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    Communist China showed the world its thinking about the USA during the Korea and Vietnam wars.
    China got its early space technology from the Soviet Union and the USA.
    ie it put vast resources into spying for technology.
    Expecting the Soviet Union just to give away all its space tech.
    The problem with spying for tech or using anther nations engineers is the nation doing the spying never learns very much.
    Spying never gets the needed generational educational methods needed. A copy is often a few failed generations behind and then all the unexpected problems have to be worked on.
    The copy of the advanced tech then drifts further behind advanced nations as all efforts go into perfecting a failed copy.
    A generation later all the engineers know is to what to do with the next results of spying.

    Smart nations educate their students in freedom and with merit.
    Communist nations demand spying is used to get results. People get really good at taking tech and making a perfect copy.
    Until the spies get the wrong plans or do not get all the plans.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  19. Re:There are reasons for the US prohibitions, and. by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

    “If anyone wants to separate Taiwan from China, the Chinese military will safeguard the national unity at all costs so as to protect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” -General Li Zuocheng

    "At all costs". You can interpolate that any way you want. But taken to the nth degree, one could postulate the CCP/PLA would be willing to die in nuclear fire over it. Or, we could just take it for what it is, meaningless rhetoric.

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
  20. Re:There are reasons for the US prohibitions, and. by DerekLyons · · Score: 1

    An orbital launch vehicle is just a more capable ICBM. As anybody with an aerospace background knows, if you can accurately place a large payload into orbit, you can more easily place a nuclear warhead on a sub-orbital launcher and hit any city on Earth.

    That's what people with an aerospace background with Dunning-Kruger and no actual knowledge "knows". In reality, launch vehicles and ICBM's are very different beasts - launch vehicles can't be readied on a moment's notice and when they are ready, can't stand ready indefinitely. Both of these things are critical for an ICBM.