SPACE: CHINA GETS IT
Yesterday I blogged concerning Russia's announced intentions to resume manned Moon Missions, its goal of placing a permanent manned base on the Moon by 2030, and its intentions to go to Mars by 2040. In that context, Russia has made it clear that it sees the technological and economic benefits to be gained by the commercialization of space.
Don't think for a moment that these lessons are lost on China; they aren't. There is an interesting White Paper on the official website of The China National Space Administration:
China\'s Space Activities (White Paper)
There are a number of very interesting paragraphs in this paper that clearly point out that the Chinese understand the technical and commercial benefits of a vigorous space program, but consider only these two:
"China carries out its space activities in accordance with the following principles:
"- Adhering to the principle of long-term, stable and sustainable development and making the development of space activities cater to and serve the state's comprehensive development strategy. The Chinese government attaches great importance to the significant role of space activities in implementing the strategy of revitalizing the country with science and education and that of sustainable development, as well as in economic construction, national security, science and technology development and social progress. The development of space activities is encouraged and supported by the government as an integral part of the state's comprehensive development strategy.
"- Upholding the principle of independence, self-reliance and self-renovation and actively promoting international exchanges and cooperation. China shall rely on its own strength to tackle key problems and make breakthroughs in space technology. Meanwhile, due attention shall be given to international cooperation and exchanges in the field of space technology, and self-renovation in space technology shall be combined organically with technology import on the principles of mutual benefit and reciprocity."
In other words, China gets it: space exploration pays big economic, technological, and educational benefits, as our own country discovered in the heyday of NASA from the late 1950s to the end of the Apollo era. Notably, China views the role of its space program in terms of being able to accomplish things "on its own strength" and thus "on its own strength" to "make breakthroughs in space technology." Again, reading further in the document, China, like Russia, senses the long term strategic economic benefit to be gained from its space program, as evidenced by the following statement:
"To achieve industrialization and marketization of space technology and space applications. The exploration and utilization of space resources shall meet a wide range of demands of economic construction, state security, science and technology development and social progress, and contribute to the strengthening of the comprehensive national strength..."
All of this, China sees being mandated under the needs of its national security and "comprehensive national strength"; read that second paragraph quoted above, again:
"The aims of China's space activities are: to explore outer space, and learn more about the cosmos and the Earth; to utilize outer space for peaceful purposes, promote mankind's civilization and social progress, and benefit the whole of mankind; and to meet the growing demands of economic construction, national security, science and technology development and social progress, protect China's national interests and build up the comprehensive national strength."
This is clear, and we should learn the lessons (again) and make them part of our own national debate, as we are witnessing the deadlock of both political parties and their lack of vision, as we are witnessing the "rustification" of American manufacturing and technology. We learned the lesson once; we had to. Now, Russia and China both are calling us to learn it again. Space is the high ground, technologically, economically, and in terms of the "comprehensive national strength." The era of the shuttle detour is over. We need vision in NASA.
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Just saw this one today:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2024954/Hypersonic-aircraft-goes-MISSING-officials-lose-contact-minutes-launch.html
Cool hypersonic aircraft go boom…go back to your previously scheduled slowpoke lives.
I still can’t help feeling that all of these reports about ‘this-or-that’ nation planing going to the moon or wherever (or a nation’s cancellation thereof- can we all say USA?) is nothing more than smoke and mirrors-
if there was an advanced Nazi technology in the ’40s going way past people’s wildest dreams back then, then I think 70 yrs. later there’s probably an even more advanced technology going even farther past our wildest dreams-
did Gary McKinnon lie?- maybe- maybe not-
Larry in Germany
Since the american have been at the moon, they know there are nothing of value there. No oil, that’s why america is in the middle east.
The russian and chinese still hope to find something up in space but it is empty. You can’t fill up your car with space debris, it is oil that count’s.
The american is smart enough to learned that.
The earth is surrounded by junk and old satellites so why put up more,
The americans is only sending up satellites for observation and to transmit TV, no risky astronut travel. Play it safe.
America have grown up, no adventures space shows.
The new tech is virtual, like Microsoft, Apple and drones, all from USA.
😉
But I like to see pictures taken today of the moon buggy left by the Apollo 15 at the Moon in 1971. (LRV-Lunar Roving Vehicle).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Lunar_Roving_Vehicle
Thanks Dan.
I forgot to mention wasted USA trillions of dollars on idiotic wars in my , “The USA has cut it’s own throat harangue.”
I have to mention also that I was born and live in the USA., which may explain my excessive bile on these issues.
I have criticisms of the Apollo Moon Program itself. We should have followed Von Brauns plan for colonizing the Moon, He wanted to get to the Moon in stages so that we would stay there permanently, whereas with Apollo we just leap-frogged there.
It is sickening that Von Braun was a Nazi. We had our own Von Braun in Robert Goddard years earlier but Goddard was treated like shit by his fellow Americans concerning his vision of space travel.
Space travel was comic book stuff then.
If the USA had continued full steam with the Apollo Program or Von Braun’s Program then by now I am sure we would have consumer “room temperature super-conductors” everywhere, we would have had flat-screens in the 1980s, as well as very fast home computers in the early 1990s, some kind of artificial gravity plates and new extraordinary alloys from space manufacturing and maybe even the cure for cancer from the Human Factors division of space travel.
What you see in the 1968 film, “2001: A Space Odyssey”, was considered by Kubrick and Clarke to be a CONSERVATIVE view of what we would really have by 2001.
We missed the mark so appallingly that I for one am just stunned by the stupid bungling waste.
What other nation has risen so high and then chosen to leap down into the muck, the filth, the slime of corruption, lies, treachery, deceit, and war-mongering and then call it good..
When I watch the American science fiction films of the 1950s and 1960s with their grand glorious visions of American and International manned space travel I feel very sad.
We could have done it, but we didn’t and it is too late now.
We lost our chance forever.
We once had a “window of opportunity” but that window was slammed shut and bricked in and now we Americans sit in a dark room waiting for the Homeland Security Gestapo to knock on our doors, “Papers please.”
“the opposition by the
Breakaway Civilization
to our being in space?”
—Jon Morris
I wonder if all that junk-DNA in our human genome—is keeping us in the Prison Planet paradigm mode for now? Russia & China challenging that edict now? Surely something’s gotta give…gene-wise, giant-wise, monster-wise…
The U.S. is too busy financing “kinetic military actions” to “liberate” people in six or seven (I lose count) different nations and hundreds of military bases all over the world in almost every sovereign nation…and sending “billions and billions” in foreign aid to prop up various dictators.
John R. Ignorantamerican drinks beer and cheers the explosions shown on TV (“By golly we’ll show those Mooslims a thing or two!”), which often are prefaced by cynical and cowardly catchy witticisms from American soldiers.
Say, I just heard that the space station, THE space station that cost decades of construction and billions of dollars (to basically only hoist the American flag into space) is going to be purposely taken out of orbit in 2020. Is this true?
I guess we need that money to kill bin Laden “agian…agian. Father forgive us for what we must do. You forgive us and we’ll forgive you. We’ll forgive each other ’till we both turn blue. Then we’ll whistle and go fishin’ in the morning.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KiBtB_qTE8
CORRECTION:
“Then we’ll whistle and go fishin’ in the HEAVENS.”
The Chinese space technologists are not doubt studying G.Harry Stine’s books and the many other books written in the USA, in the last several decades, describing in detail how to develop space manufacturing, space colonies, bases, etc.
These books were written by some of the USA’s best visionaries, but they were ignored for the most part as social projects.
I am sorry if this bothers people here, but I would suggest giving up on any hope that the USA government and the USA business community will suddenly wake in any signicant way and begin reversing the course of the USA into the abyss. Forget it.
Historians of the future will shake their heads in disbelief at how the USA, with all it’s enormous potential promise, chose to cut it’s own throat by greed, short sightedness, and by it’s infatuation with trivia, junk culture, and idiotic political correctness aka marshmellow marxism.
Captain Kirk will be a Chinaman.
So the race is on huh. Well it doesn’t matter which country you talk about going into space, the one thing it does take is bucket loads of cash.
Look at the amount of money they have thrown at the ISS, I know my life hasn’t benifited from anything they are doing up there.
Oh, btw, WHAT ARE THEY DOING UP THERE?????
Possibly the good Dr may have the answer.
PS: I’m half way through “Genes, Giants Monsters and Men”…love it!!!
This bring to mind a couple of things.
First, with all the sudden renewed interest in space, I wonder if the balance of power has indeed shifted significantly in the opposition by the Breakaway Civilization to our being in space? Perhaps we mundane earthlings have finally developed enough technological power to challenge that edict….and with the U.S. too heavily tied to that civilization, it is other major powers who are now able to move on that front, as the U.S. is depleted, drained, and left for dead by our old Nazi enemies, just like a big concentration camp. If they are responsible for much of our health and food problems (which I believe they are), it would seem like the kind of revenge they would want.
Also, perhaps Joss Whedon should have made Russian and Chinese the dominant languages in the future world of Firefly, as it begins to look like English (or American, for UK types) is falling by the wayside in the space picture.
Just re-read Stevens’ first 2 books (in anticipation of his new one), and was reminded again just how much of our supposed scientific advancement in this country is a historical fraud, including things like the sound barrier record.
By the way, the recent Red Ice interview with Hoagland was very good, and he was extremely complementary to you, JPF. Made remarks about the high quality of your research and your prolific “book a week” (we all wish!) abilities.
Also, he seemed to on quite the same tack as you regarding the whole Elenin thing, as well as the importance of keeping a positive and hopeful attitude toward future developments, and had some very interesting things to say about its importance in the coming months. Well worth a listen.
“as the U.S. is depleted, drained, and left for dead by our old Nazi enemies”
My take was that the Nazis used America (and other places) in the post-WW2 period to simply continue their exploits in a covert fashion. I don’t think their goal was to destroy anyplace in particular (post-war), but to further their goals and research unimpeded. Post-war rubble and detritus would mean years of delays. The best base would be one that others can’t recognize. Heck, even finance has lots of German domination, viz NYSE is really owned by German Euronext and the EU runs off the powerhouse of Germany.
In order to make the quantum leap that we all sense is here, we have to utterly destory all this old crap that is standing in the way. On the other side of the bump, we’re gonna all be blown the frick away!
Clop!