quote: Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist of China's Moon exploration programme, told BBC News Online last year that the aim was a space station not later than 2005, and that there could be manned Chinese outposts on the Moon by 2020 or 2030. "The Moon could serve as a new and tremendous supplier of energy and resources for human beings," he said. "This is crucial to sustainable development of human beings on Earth."
BUT
quote: There are specific military purposes, in the view of Li Cheng.
"No one would be so na�ve as to think this only has civilian implications. China is very concerned about the US missile defence system. [China's] space programme is commissioned and mainly controlled by the military," he said.
-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
Registered: Feb 2002
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
"How about the US; will this spur a new space race?"
Hardly.
When the Russians first put Gagarin up there, the US reacted feverishly because, you know, the communists were taking over space and were going to set us (sic) up the Bomb from orbit! That whole Cold War deal had everyone wrapped REAL tight, and so there was genuine Concern and Motivation to counter the Red Threat (I make a rhime every time). But now that the climate has warmed and Things are Cosy again, the general response to China's (barely-concealed military) endeavours is:
"Who cares?"
-------------------- ".mirrorS arE morE fuN thaN televisioN" - TEH PNIK FLAMIGNO
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
Hey, about the logo: it isn't the only connection between China's history of space flight and Star Trek.
Did anyone read the CNN article carefully?
quote:
Wan's pioneering spacecraft was built around a sturdy chair, two kites and 47 of the largest gunpowder-filled rockets he could lay his hands on.
Come the launch day, Wan dressed himself in his imperial finery, strapped himself in the chair and called upon his 47 servants, each armed with a flaming torch, to light the 47 fuses.
Is it just me or does that number ring a familiar bell?
-------------------- Lister: Don't give me the "Star Trek" crap! It's too early in the morning. - Red Dwarf "The Last Day"
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
Yeah, sounds like a Holodeck misadventure episode of Voyager.
-------------------- The philosopher's stone. Those who possess it are no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange in alchemy. They gain without sacrifice and create without equal exchange. We searched for it, and we found it.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Da_bang80
A few sectors short of an Empire
Member # 528
posted
Manned moon bases by 2020? Neat.
If China's space Program is controlled by the military, You think they'd put WMD's on the moon? Wouldn't be easy, but then again, there'd be no UN Inspectors, or polititians (I think I spelled that wrong) to keep tabs on them.
-------------------- Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I cannot accept. And the wisdom to hide the bodies of all the people I had to kill today because they pissed me off.
posted
Let's put all WMD's on the moon...and leave them there. Would be a good idea.
And as a bonus it might help humankind in the future, when the Enterprise E comes to stop the Borg in First Contact and finds some surplus hydrogen bombs etc. on the moon to throw at them Swedish bastards... Would make for another nice "Assimilate THIS" line...
-------------------- Lister: Don't give me the "Star Trek" crap! It's too early in the morning. - Red Dwarf "The Last Day"
Registered: Nov 1999
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
"Let's put all WMD's on the moon...and leave them there."
Yeah... locked away in a vault inside Pico Mountain.
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
I always was a fan of a trip to the sun for them....
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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Otherwise Dr. Evil might find them on the moon when he takes his next trip round his "Moon Base"...
-------------------- Lister: Don't give me the "Star Trek" crap! It's too early in the morning. - Red Dwarf "The Last Day"
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
The whole point of the space race in 1960, as others have mentioned, was that if either side could put a man into space, then they could also launch ICBM's with a pan-global range.
The fact is that today, there's no arms race to fuel a new space race. No arms race yet, that is. I don't think it's unlikely at all that there will be a massive shift in global politics as more of the current "developing nations" reach strong(er) industrial capacities and can field more advanced tech of their own. Right now, the US practically monopolizes the "high ground" of outer space with the GPS system and other various communications stuff. How soon before Russia, China, or India or someone else decides that they should have the ability to knock those satellites offline in order to disrupt US military advances? (It'd be presented as a "defensive" technology, of course... *sigh*)
Today's US military relies to an unbelievable extent on precision location and communication techniques made possible by the GPS system. Though I seriously doubt that it would be a war-loser all on its own, it would definitely cause serious difficulties for the US troops, wherever they're fighting at the time. Less accurate bombs means more missions flown, larger bomb payloads -- basically a return to Vietnam-era carpet bombing, most likely. Infantry and tank tactics would be disrupted as they have difficulty communicating with each other. Not to mention that the Central Command won't be having real-time updates from every part of the front.
But worst of all, attacking the GPS system would mean that the embedded reporters on the front lines wouldn't be able to send in their features for sensationalism and ratings-building. And that, my friends, represents a threat to the American way of life that will never be tolerated. 8)
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
My carpet needs to be bombed, nephews damn dog anyway....
No, it'll regress to Bush War I with video guided munitions and some dumb, er, drop bombs, GPS has been around for a few years, but semi-precision weapons around for a bit longer....
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
Any nation defending against American attack (a la Iraq) would have to consider knocking out GPS very carefully. Our bombs are currently designed to strike only their military targets, and despite foul-ups, this works.
Sure, disabling the satellites would present tactical advantages as the American command and control was disrupted, but unless you had your own GPS to use you'd only be making the playing field a little more level. Our tech advantages range across the board.
The most basic effect would be that by destroying GPS, you risk Dresden for your people, since the US couldn't be so accurate anymore.
-------------------- . . . ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
posted
Ever compare the time it takes to fuel, launch, boost, cruise, and re-enter a ballistic missile to the time it takes for a "meteor" to fall?
Put a targeting camera and a boost engine on a VW-sized chuck of rock, and You've got something with the impact power of an atomic bomb, but with no radiation and a much smaller window of opportunity to intercept.
Registered: Mar 1999
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