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China 'could reach Moon by 2020'



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 15th 08, 08:58 PM posted to sci.astro,alt.sci.physics,alt.astronomy,sci.space.policy
Agent Smith
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Posts: 203
Default China 'could reach Moon by 2020'


China 'could reach Moon by 2020'
By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7506715.stm

Dr Griffin says the US and Chinese space agencies are co-operating
China is capable of sending a manned mission to the Moon within the next
decade, if it so wishes, Nasa administrator Michael Griffin has said.

The US space agency plans to return people to the lunar surface by 2020
using its new Orion spacecraft.

But it is just possible the first people on the Moon since the Apollo 17
mission in 1972 could be planting a flag with five stars, not 50.

In 2003, China became only the third country to launch a person into
orbit.

Speaking to the BBC News website during a visit to London, Dr Griffin
said: "Certainly it is possible that if China wants to put people on the
Moon, and if it wishes to do so before the United States, it certainly
can. As a matter of technical capability, it absolutely can."

Chinese officials say there is no plan and no timetable for a Moon
landing, and have expressed doubt that one could be made by 2020.

Ambitious programmes

But Sun Laiyan, chief of the China National Space Administration (CNSA),
told journalists last year that an eventual lunar excursion was
inevitable.

On whether it mattered who reached the Moon next, Dr Griffin replied:
"I'm not a psychologist, so I can't say if it matters or not. That would
just be an opinion and I don't want to air an opinion in an area that
I'm not qualified to discuss."

We do have some early co-operative initiatives that we are trying to
put in place with China, mostly centred around scientific enterprises

Dr Michael Griffin
Nasa Administrator

But there is a perception among some in the space industry that
America's long-held dominance in space exploration is slipping as other
nations enter the fray.

A recent report by the US consultancy firm, Futron, found other
countries were expanding their space capabilities at an astonishing
rate, "threatening US space leadership".

China has sent two manned missions into space over the last five years.
The first, in 2003, carried "yuhangyuan" (astronaut) Yang Liwei into
orbit for 21 hours aboard the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft.

On the second, two spacemen flew aboard the Shenzhou 6 craft, spending
nearly five days in orbit. Another manned mission is set to go ahead in
October, just after the Beijing Olympic Games.

Dr Griffin said the US and China were now making the first tentative
steps towards collaborating with each other on space exploration.

"We do have some early co-operative initiatives that we are trying to
put in place with China, mostly centred around scientific enterprises. I
think that's a great place to start," he said.

Five-year gap

"I think we're always better off if we can find areas where we can
collaborate rather than quarrel. I would remind your [audience] that the
first US-Soviet human co-operation took place in 1975, virtually at the
height of the Cold War."

"And it led, 18 years later, to discussions about an International Space
Station (ISS) programme in which we're now involved."

India's space programme is smaller than China's, but is making great
strides. The South Asian country will launch its Chandrayaan unmanned
Moon probe later this year. It has also announced ambitious plans for a
manned programme.

Since joining Nasa as its administrator in 2005, Dr Griffin has overseen
the implementation of President George W Bush's Vision for Space
Exploration, which aims to return Americans to the Moon by 2020, and
send them on, at some undetermined date, to Mars.

He has presided over Nasa's efforts to complete construction of the ISS
in time for a retirement of the space shuttle in 2010. However, its
replacements, the Orion spacecraft and Ares rockets, will not be ready
until March 2015.

This leaves a five-year gap during which the US will have no spacecraft
capable of reaching the space station.

Last year, Dr Griffin told the US Congress that this gap could be
shortened to 2013 with the injection of $2bn extra in funds. The request
was ultimately turned down.

He now says: "Even if a new president and a new Congress decided they
wanted to shorten the gap between shuttle retirement and Ares and Orion
deployment, at this point with water over the dam, even if they were
substantially increasing our funding, we would be talking about 2014 as
the earliest."

Nasa has given seed money to commercial ventures in order to spur
development of a manned craft capable of re-supplying the ISS. But also
has the option of buying some of the European Space Agency's ATV
(Automated Transfer Vehicle) resupply craft.




  #2  
Old July 15th 08, 09:32 PM posted to sci.astro,sci.physics,sci.space.policy
kT
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,032
Default China 'could reach Moon by 2020'

Agent Smith wrote:

China 'could reach Moon by 2020'
By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7506715.stm


[snip delusions of a madman]

Michael Griffin is a delusional liar who will say or do anything to
salvage his legacy, which is now beyond salvaging, but he doesn't
realize that. This guy is almost an exact clone of George W. Bush.
  #3  
Old July 16th 08, 02:34 AM posted to sci.astro,sci.physics,sci.space.policy
calvin
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2
Default China 'could reach Moon by 2020'

On Jul 15, 4:32*pm, kT wrote:
Agent Smith wrote:
China 'could reach Moon by 2020' *
By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News *


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7506715.stm


[snip delusions of a madman]

Michael Griffin is a delusional liar who will say or do anything to
salvage his legacy, which is now beyond salvaging, but he doesn't
realize that. This guy is almost an exact clone of George W. Bush.


Bush is not a liar, whatever this Michael Griffin is.
  #4  
Old July 16th 08, 02:57 AM posted to alt.astronomy,sci.astro,alt.sci.physics
BradGuth
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 21,544
Default China 'could reach Moon by 2020'

Why not China taking the Google X prize, and thumb their nose at us.

How much extra is Google/NOVA willing to pay if there's no sign of
anything except Apollo impact debris or simply a few hard-landing
deployed artifacts?

- Brad Guth Brad_Guth Brad.Guth BradGuth



Agent Smith wrote:
China 'could reach Moon by 2020'
By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7506715.stm

Dr Griffin says the US and Chinese space agencies are co-operating
China is capable of sending a manned mission to the Moon within the next
decade, if it so wishes, Nasa administrator Michael Griffin has said.

The US space agency plans to return people to the lunar surface by 2020
using its new Orion spacecraft.

But it is just possible the first people on the Moon since the Apollo 17
mission in 1972 could be planting a flag with five stars, not 50.

In 2003, China became only the third country to launch a person into
orbit.

Speaking to the BBC News website during a visit to London, Dr Griffin
said: "Certainly it is possible that if China wants to put people on the
Moon, and if it wishes to do so before the United States, it certainly
can. As a matter of technical capability, it absolutely can."

Chinese officials say there is no plan and no timetable for a Moon
landing, and have expressed doubt that one could be made by 2020.

Ambitious programmes

But Sun Laiyan, chief of the China National Space Administration (CNSA),
told journalists last year that an eventual lunar excursion was
inevitable.

On whether it mattered who reached the Moon next, Dr Griffin replied:
"I'm not a psychologist, so I can't say if it matters or not. That would
just be an opinion and I don't want to air an opinion in an area that
I'm not qualified to discuss."

We do have some early co-operative initiatives that we are trying to
put in place with China, mostly centred around scientific enterprises

Dr Michael Griffin
Nasa Administrator

But there is a perception among some in the space industry that
America's long-held dominance in space exploration is slipping as other
nations enter the fray.

A recent report by the US consultancy firm, Futron, found other
countries were expanding their space capabilities at an astonishing
rate, "threatening US space leadership".

China has sent two manned missions into space over the last five years.
The first, in 2003, carried "yuhangyuan" (astronaut) Yang Liwei into
orbit for 21 hours aboard the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft.

On the second, two spacemen flew aboard the Shenzhou 6 craft, spending
nearly five days in orbit. Another manned mission is set to go ahead in
October, just after the Beijing Olympic Games.

Dr Griffin said the US and China were now making the first tentative
steps towards collaborating with each other on space exploration.

"We do have some early co-operative initiatives that we are trying to
put in place with China, mostly centred around scientific enterprises. I
think that's a great place to start," he said.

Five-year gap

"I think we're always better off if we can find areas where we can
collaborate rather than quarrel. I would remind your [audience] that the
first US-Soviet human co-operation took place in 1975, virtually at the
height of the Cold War."

"And it led, 18 years later, to discussions about an International Space
Station (ISS) programme in which we're now involved."

India's space programme is smaller than China's, but is making great
strides. The South Asian country will launch its Chandrayaan unmanned
Moon probe later this year. It has also announced ambitious plans for a
manned programme.

Since joining Nasa as its administrator in 2005, Dr Griffin has overseen
the implementation of President George W Bush's Vision for Space
Exploration, which aims to return Americans to the Moon by 2020, and
send them on, at some undetermined date, to Mars.

He has presided over Nasa's efforts to complete construction of the ISS
in time for a retirement of the space shuttle in 2010. However, its
replacements, the Orion spacecraft and Ares rockets, will not be ready
until March 2015.

This leaves a five-year gap during which the US will have no spacecraft
capable of reaching the space station.

Last year, Dr Griffin told the US Congress that this gap could be
shortened to 2013 with the injection of $2bn extra in funds. The request
was ultimately turned down.

He now says: "Even if a new president and a new Congress decided they
wanted to shorten the gap between shuttle retirement and Ares and Orion
deployment, at this point with water over the dam, even if they were
substantially increasing our funding, we would be talking about 2014 as
the earliest."

Nasa has given seed money to commercial ventures in order to spur
development of a manned craft capable of re-supplying the ISS. But also
has the option of buying some of the European Space Agency's ATV
(Automated Transfer Vehicle) resupply craft.


  #5  
Old July 16th 08, 04:05 AM posted to sci.astro,alt.sci.physics
Quadibloc
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 7,018
Default China 'could reach Moon by 2020'

Lots of countries could put a man on the Moon before 2020 if they felt
it was worthwhile to make a big effort to do so. Including the United
States - they have the microfilmed blueprints, they have actual F-1
engines to reverse-engineer - if we absolutely *had* to get someone on
the Moon within five years, the United States certainly could do the
job.

There are the landing sites of Apollo 18, 19, and 20 from which
further useful geological information about the Moon could be
obtained. However, with today's computer technology, why not simply do
an automated sample-return mission - since *that* will shortly be done
for Mars, it certainly could be done for the Moon on a much quicker
basis.

The only question is whether it is worth doing for the cost and given
other things the time, effort, and money could be spent on. As this is
a question that weighs strongly on the *entire* space program, though,
I'm not surprised the focus is on the most important projects - such
as Mars, which could conceivably have life, which could perhaps be
used for permanent human settlement, which has not yet been visited by
astronauts - to the exclusion of any additional things that might also
be useful to do.

John Savard
  #6  
Old July 16th 08, 06:23 AM posted to sci.astro,alt.sci.physics
Alan Erskine[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,316
Default China 'could reach Moon by 2020'

"Agent Smith" wrote in message
. 33.102...

China 'could reach Moon by 2020'
By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News


I wonder if the rocket will look like a Saturn V and the spacecraft will be
uncannilly like the Apollo CSM and LM. Those Chinese communist scum can't
do anything original.

This political statement was free of charge. We now return you to abnormal
programming.


  #7  
Old July 16th 08, 07:25 AM posted to sci.astro,alt.sci.physics
Androcles[_8_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,135
Default China 'could reach Moon by 2020'


"Quadibloc" wrote in message
...
| Lots of countries could put a man on the Moon before 2020 if they felt
| it was worthwhile to make a big effort to do so. Including the United
| States - they have the microfilmed blueprints, they have actual F-1
| engines to reverse-engineer - if we absolutely *had* to get someone on
| the Moon within five years, the United States certainly could do the
| job.
|
| There are the landing sites of Apollo 18, 19, and 20 from which
| further useful geological information about the Moon could be
| obtained. However, with today's computer technology, why not simply do
| an automated sample-return mission - since *that* will shortly be done
| for Mars, it certainly could be done for the Moon on a much quicker
| basis.
|
| The only question is whether it is worth doing for the cost and given
| other things the time, effort, and money could be spent on. As this is
| a question that weighs strongly on the *entire* space program, though,
| I'm not surprised the focus is on the most important projects - such
| as Mars, which could conceivably have life, which could perhaps be
| used for permanent human settlement, which has not yet been visited by
| astronauts - to the exclusion of any additional things that might also
| be useful to do.
|
| John Savard

Yeah, and Baron Victor von Frankenstein could "conceivably" have
assembled body parts to "perhaps" make a man live again - although
his castle has not yet been visited by astro-noughts - to the exclusion
of any additional things that might also be useful to do.
Why not terraform Antarctica? Perfect gravity, perfect atmosphere,
water in abundance, 24/7 sunshine six months a year... just warm it
up a bit and start farming. Mars is too cold to be an important project.
Beats me why we have to go hunting on other planets when all we do
is kill any life we find here for sport. What's wrong with hunting whales
on Mars anyway, you want to find ****in' life there?
Hunting minerals I can understand, but Antarctica is the cheaper option.




  #8  
Old July 16th 08, 10:05 AM posted to sci.astro,alt.sci.physics
Dale Harris
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 22
Default China 'could reach Moon by 2020'


"Agent Smith" wrote in message
. 33.102...

China 'could reach Moon by 2020'
By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7506715.stm

Dr Griffin says the US and Chinese space agencies are co-operating
China is capable of sending a manned mission to the Moon within the next
decade, if it so wishes, Nasa administrator Michael Griffin has said.

The US space agency plans to return people to the lunar surface by 2020
using its new Orion spacecraft.

But it is just possible the first people on the Moon since the Apollo 17
mission in 1972 could be planting a flag with five stars, not 50.

In 2003, China became only the third country to launch a person into
orbit.

Speaking to the BBC News website during a visit to London, Dr Griffin
said: "Certainly it is possible that if China wants to put people on the
Moon, and if it wishes to do so before the United States, it certainly
can. As a matter of technical capability, it absolutely can."

Chinese officials say there is no plan and no timetable for a Moon
landing, and have expressed doubt that one could be made by 2020.

Ambitious programmes

But Sun Laiyan, chief of the China National Space Administration (CNSA),
told journalists last year that an eventual lunar excursion was
inevitable.

On whether it mattered who reached the Moon next, Dr Griffin replied:
"I'm not a psychologist, so I can't say if it matters or not. That would
just be an opinion and I don't want to air an opinion in an area that
I'm not qualified to discuss."

We do have some early co-operative initiatives that we are trying to
put in place with China, mostly centred around scientific enterprises


I would say that it's nigh impossible for the Chinese to reach the moon
before the U.S. does.


** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **
  #9  
Old July 17th 08, 03:07 PM posted to sci.astro,sci.physics,sci.space.policy
Ian Parker
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,554
Default China 'could reach Moon by 2020'

On 16 Jul, 02:34, calvin wrote:

Michael Griffin is a delusional liar who will say or do anything to
salvage his legacy, which is now beyond salvaging, but he doesn't
realize that. This guy is almost an exact clone of George W. Bush.


Bush is not a liar, whatever this Michael Griffin is.


Oh, so there was WMD in Iraq.


- Ian Parker
  #10  
Old July 17th 08, 05:10 PM posted to sci.astro,sci.physics,sci.space.policy
Fred J. McCall
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,736
Default China 'could reach Moon by 2020'

Ian Parker wrote:

:On 16 Jul, 02:34, calvin wrote:
:
: Michael Griffin is a delusional liar who will say or do anything to
: salvage his legacy, which is now beyond salvaging, but he doesn't
: realize that. This guy is almost an exact clone of George W. Bush.
:
: Bush is not a liar, whatever this Michael Griffin is.
:
:Oh, so there was WMD in Iraq.
:

There is a difference between being wrong and being a liar.

Of course, you are both, so perhaps you cannot differentiate...

--
"You take the lies out of him, and he'll shrink to the size of
your hat; you take the malice out of him, and he'll disappear."
-- Mark Twain
 




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