Soo.. China..

[fatal291]

I was just wondering if NASA and the rest of our country see China as a threat or challange of any kind right now. Not as in homicidal threat but more of a pride thing. With them at first shooting down a low-orbit satellite with a rocket and now the probe on the moon what are people thinking? Are we in the age that we just look over and see what China is doing and simply say "meh" or will this eventually turn into another space age technological show down eventually? <br /><br />I for one hope it does get to the point of a show down because we have not done nearly as much as we could have as a country. I could get into it but its another topic. I am just wondering what will China have to do space wise to get us going again, assuming they have the technology to do anything more.

 

[alokmohan]

China is the third country to send man in space.They are technologically no less than US.US had their day .China is the leader now.Salute the red China to lead us.

 

[docm]

China is where the US and Russia were in the mid '70's, not superior. That said if the US and Russia don't get off their collective duffs that could change in a decade. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[michaelmozina]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>China is the third country to send man in space.They are technologically no less than US.US had their day .China is the leader now.Salute the red China to lead us.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />When I see them launch something more powerful than Hinode or Solar B or the Hubble Space Telescope, then China can claim to be the leader in space. The US has already been to the moon. If they want to be a "leader" in space exploration, lets see them land a man on Mars. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> It seems to be a natural consequence of our points of view to assume that the whole of space is filled with electrons and flying electric ions of all kinds. - Kristian Birkeland </div>

 

[lukman]

I dont think China has any intention to go into sky race. No country shall dominate the sky, now and future, all space exploration will be done together with many countries involved. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[ashish27]

China is doing great in every field. IMO China is going to be the greatest nation in the world very soon. Very soon, i mean it will happen within our lifetimes.<br />Some egoists in the US administration do see China as a threat, or more correctly are jealous of China, but I think the science community has no problem with China's progress. It is a nation of 1.5 billion people and it means more contribution to science & technology.<br />So kudos to China for the great job they are doing

 

[alokmohan]

We are longing for news space race.US should have rival.

 

[shadow735]

Personally I hope that Chinas advancement in the space industry makes the USA go "OMG we are such newbs now we need to get or stuff together" and kick start the US off its lazy butt to get to mars.<br /><br />Look at what advancments we had in the cold war race with Russia, since the US is getting complacent and wanting to invade other countrys on false intell rather then spending that money on space advancement for the betterment of humanity as a whole.<br /> We need another country to put us to shame to re-ignight the spark under our govts butts.<br />Anyhow thats my opinion, space has taken the back seat, we need to kick it to the front again. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[l3p3r]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>China is where the US and Russia were in the mid '70's, not superior. That said if the US and Russia don't get off their collective duffs that could change in a decade.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote> USA and Russia are pretty much where they were in the mid 70s too <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

We had USSR then.It makes a lot of difference.Now no rival for US.We need China.

 

[alokmohan]

I hope you appreciate that China sent man in space and is likely too send man on the moon not very later.Hail to the new asian leader,my neighbour.US is involved on other things,they will exhaust all money on war.

 

[alokmohan]

Bulls eye?Whats special?

 

[alokmohan]

What is the meaning of bulls eye?How is it appplicable here?

 

[ashish27]

3 cheers for China China

 

[h2ouniverse]

In reply to<br />---------------<br />It is a nation of 1.5 billion people and it means more contribution to science & technology.<br />-------------<br /><br />It is more than time that one-fifth of mankind (China) and another fifth (India) take (back!) their part. [China was world's largest economy up to the second half of 19th century, India was not that far either]<br />If this competition is peaceful, this will further accelerate the pace of things for mankind.<br /><br />For now China is a minor contributor to science and space science, as most of their energy has to be used to catch up. As Japan in the 60s and 70s. But soon their contribution will be more and more visible. As Japan's in 80s and 90s. All the best. For knowledge sums up.<br /><br />China is world's 4th economy. But to run a space program, you depend heavily on domestic resources, so in that case (and this is a rare exception, along with living standards) the PPP values have to be taken into account, which gives more weight in practice than the current 2.5 trillion dollars of China's economy.<br /><br />Best regards.

 

[h2ouniverse]

Btw, China's public spending is not that big.<br /><br />When considering that Germany and France represent EACH about 10% of world's public spending, and that the ESA's members states altogether represent more than 40%...<br />this leaves for an European like me a big frustration when comparing 1. ESA's budget to NASA's budget, and 2. ESA's ambitions to what China is undertaking.<br />

 

[fatal291]

Well who comes after America then?

 

[h2ouniverse]

I don't think America will be left behind.<br />Equalled may be, but not outplayed.

 

[qso1]

Fatal291:<br />I was just wondering if NASA and the rest of our country see China as a threat or challange of any kind right now.<br /><br />Me:<br />IIRC, Michael Griffin, NASA chief...mentioned the possibility of a race with China which indicates NASA (And the Federal gov) is well aware of China's potential as a space rival. One of those things we might be able to exploit on the pride angle. However, most folks seem to favor some kind or race with China without realizing that it was the last space race...and moon race that left us and Russia stuck where we are today.<br /><br />IMO, the only race that could prove to be of value will be the private sector race to provide low cost access to orbit. A race that a decade from now will result in the Chinese, or whoever, buying American SS-2s or whatever private sector vehicle can get us to orbit economically.<br /><br />The moon...been there, done that. No real race with China there. As MichaelMozina pointed out, it'll be a race when China can demonstrate the ability to put a human on mars. Of course, they will have won that race if they get there first. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[mooware]

<b>The moon...been there, done that. No real race with China there</b><br /><br />I don't necesarrily agree with the "been there done that" notion about the moon. It isn't like we have any bases or an infrastructure there. So, when the Chinese set up shop there, are we still going to laud the "been there done that" to appease ourselves that the U.S. is the leader in space?<br /><br />

 

[vandivx]

I doubt Chinese want to setup shop anywhere, with them it will be all about prestigeous undertakings to show off and beat themselves on chest in front of their own people and the world, I wouldn't expect any effort purely for science's sake and space exploration and as such I don't care much about all this race, look where Russian American race got us in the past<br /><br />what is wanted is scientific drive, not one upmanship drive, that said if we can't have the former then the latter is better than nothing<br /><br />and that talk about many people makes me laugh, china has had that many people for ages what do they have to show for it? and India was touted as new space leader not long ago and where are they? they got tons of pple too don't they? <br /><br />many people might mean something if you gonna skin them and use the wealth on space endeavours, Americans may have fewer people but they can be skinned for lots more than Chinese ever could and where are they? well they'd rather have their social programs than some science (war in Irak is really mostly social program, it was only war for the first few weeks)<br /><br />vanDivX <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[qso1]

True, we have not established bases there. As for will we still have a "Been there done that" attitude? IMO, as long as a large percentage of the American people believe the money spent on human spaceflight is better spent on earthly problems...we will have the "Been there done that" attitude because it won't matter to them that China has a base on the moon...assuming China gets that far.<br /><br />It should be noted China has made these types of claims before. In 1980, the CIA actually seemed to think China was well on its way to building a shuttle, then it didn't happen.<br /><br />The ideal situation to me is that our private sector reduces the cost of access to LEO which in turn makes going to the moon more palatable. The private sector builds a base (Assuming for some reason NASA has not been able to) and the world buys our low cost to LEO vehicles for their spacelines the way they would now buy a 747 from Boeing for their airlines.<br /><br />It's hard to believe anyone would be in favor of a race with China when one considers what the last race did to our human spaceflight program. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

Without spirit of competition no science ever happened.With competitive China,all other countries including India can improve.

 

[qso1]

Thats definetily true. The spirit of competition drove the moon race which was a good thing considering the arms race was our other competition with the Soviet Union. The arms race turned out good as well as far as both nations reigning in their destructive powers. But the arms race was a far more dangerous undertaking than the moon race.<br /><br />Private enterprise competition among nations should turn out to be a good thing as you mentioned. Thats why I'm hoping to see the private sector efforts succeed here, success usually breeds success. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[danhezee]

I don't have a "been there done that attitude" and most people i know don't have that attitude because my generation has never witness anything like landing on the moon. so going back is a great thing. this time around, a permanent base is in the works and there is the private sector attempting to take over LEO. maybe this time access to the moon might become routine giving everyone the chance to go. whereas, mars has no economic value and sending men there is a dangerous undertaking just for oneupmanship; i dont buy the science argument for going to mars, coz there is so much science to be done on the moon and NEO's. i would rather see nasa spend money on developing technologies for that than boring and expensive ole mars. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>