China

[ComradeRobertRiley]

This is from Euro news: Euro News

China prepares to send man into space

The final countdown is on for a mission set to make history, with China aiming to become only the third country after the former Soviet Union and the United States to put a man into orbit. Beijing has had a space programme for years. But success on the first manned flight, which could happen as early as Wednesday, would greatly boost China's efforts to emerge as a leading player on the world stage.

These efforts are already marked by more active diplomacy, a winning bid to host the 2008 Olympics and a booming economy that is the envy of the rest of the world. With a number of so-called "taikonauts" trained up to go where no Chinese national has gone before, the authorities remain tight-lipped over just which one will be making the solo flight.

[Exploited Class]

I can't believe that finally in my lifetime I will see another country send a human into space.

[ComradeRobertRiley]

yeah, I think its great news especially as its a socialist country and not say for example the UK or France etc

[Mahdavikia]

China is a poor country... I think they must keep money for their inhabitants :angry:

[ComradeRobertRiley]

Mahdavikia you must have high western standards

[ComradeRobertRiley]

Mahdavikia besides this could help them get the go ahead for the 2008 olympics, that would boost the economy, and the people would benefit

[Mahdavikia]

I don't know how the economy can be boost when they send all their money in the space... I hope to be wrong...

[Mahdavikia]

Originally posted by ComradeRobertRiley@Oct 14 2003, 12:59 PM
Mahdavikia you must have high western standards

I just don't understand space conquest...

[Dhul Fiqar]

One key argument they make is that the entire project has been researched and manufactured at home - tens if not hundreds of thousands of Chinese work directly and indirectly for the space program - and in a country with unemployment problems that is a big bonus.

However - there is of course a shitload of money being spent on this that could be put into healthcare, etc., but it's not a black and white issue - there are substantial benefits likely to arise from this launch.

One major factor is that China is preparing to start launching satellites. There is a lot of demand for launching satellites (growing exponentially since satellite tv and mobile phone networks started using the space-based technology) - and really there are only three options you have if you want to shoot something into space: U.S.A. (expensive) - Russia (less reliable and poorly funded program) or the E.U. (French spacerockets, eh?).

China will present itself as a fourth option, a low-cost yet highly reliable option at that. Of course I have my doubts about their future reliability and success rate - but considering that the people responsible for this launch will no doubt be shot if anything goes wrong - at least I know they are highly motivated

--- G.

[ComradeRobertRiley]

they will not be shot for failure dumb figar

[Mahdavikia]

Originally posted by Dhul Fiqar@Oct 14 2003, 01:17 PM
One key argument they make is that the entire project has been researched and manufactured at home - tens if not hundreds of thousands of Chinese work directly and indirectly for the space program - and in a country with unemployment problems that is a big bonus.

However - there is of course a shitload of money being spent on this that could be put into healthcare, etc., but it's not a black and white issue - there are substantial benefits likely to arise from this launch.

One major factor is that China is preparing to start launching satellites. There is a lot of demand for launching satellites (growing exponentially since satellite tv and mobile phone networks started using the space-based technology) - and really there are only three options you have if you want to shoot something into space: U.S.A. (expensive) - Russia (less reliable and poorly funded program) or the E.U. (French spacerockets, eh?).

China will present itself as a fourth option, a low-cost yet highly reliable option at that. Of course I have my doubts about their future reliability and success rate - but considering that the people responsible for this launch will no doubt be shot if anything goes wrong - at least I know they are highly motivated

--- G.

Thanks for these explanations

[Fidelbrand]

bit late but still a great thing~

As for why people like to conquest the space.... i guess the reason is that when human beings fucked this planet like a virus , then they would move to another place to settle... Space plans are operations for the security of human beings in the future (?)

[ComradeRobertRiley]

planey earth will be naturally destroyed in however many millions of years so it is important for the existance of the human race to colonise other planets

[Dhul Fiqar]

Originally posted by ComradeRobertRiley@Oct 14 2003, 09:20 PM
they will not be shot for failure dumb figar

You sure about that?

The air traffick controlers in China were forced onto planes on New Years eve '99/00 to make sure they were "properly motivated" to make sure no 2kY bugs would crash commercial jets. They were, I believe, the only planes in the air at that moment because airlines around the world wanted to see their computers still working before they put any planes full of humans up there.

The theory is that if your life depends on your work - incompetence is less likely

--- G.

[Dhul Fiqar]

BTW - colonization outside our solarsystem will not happen unless we find a way to break the physical laws of the universe (what with the speed of particle beams being finite and the distances between solarsystem so immensely insane that even at the highest speed possible in the physical universe it would take a few dozen lifetimes to reach another solarsystem). Not saying it is impossible - but it would be a first for humanity to violate the rules of physics - and frankly it is not going to involve anything even remotely similar to the road the space programs of today are going down.

If getting out of the solarsystem is the idea - we should be pumping all that money into universities working on things like black holes and the physical underpinnings of reality. No form of propulsion will ever do the trick.

Terraforming more local planets is another matter, though.

--- G.

[ComradeRobertRiley]

fair enough Dhul

[Dhul Fiqar]

I fucking love space travel though - so in principle I support space programs it if only because I think it is about the most worthwhile ambition the human race has gotten in a looooong time. I just wish they would put less emphasis on making what is essentially a big car in space (internal combustion most likely being a dead end in this field). But I suppose that is about all they can do at this point

--- G.

p.s. what do you guys think about nuclear propulsion? People tend to freak out when they hear the word "nuclear" - but NASA already have drawn up plans for a probe powered by nuclear energy that can travel quite fast and almost forever - just untill something breaks. If they manage to put a beefy enough transmitter on it - that thing could conceivably get to the edge of our solarsystem in our lifetimes! While going further than that will mean essentially floating through empty space forever and ever - just imagine getting readings of what it looks like outside a solarsystem - even if it just the total absence of everything it would be quite a landmark event!

[ComradeRobertRiley]

yeah Dhul is a great idea, btw are you aware or the SETI screen saver project?

www.setiathome.com I beleive

you download a screen saver and it looks for extraterrestrials and when it finishes each unit it connects to the internet and sends the results off and you get given a new unit to search.

[Exploited Class]

Originally posted by ComradeRobertRiley@Oct 14 2003, 08:27 AM
yeah Dhul is a great idea, btw are you aware or the SETI screen saver project?

www.setiathome.com I beleive

you download a screen saver and it looks for extraterrestrials and when it finishes each unit it connects to the internet and sends the results off and you get given a new unit to search.

If I can brag a little here.

My Seti Stats

My Team's stats

[Dhul Fiqar]

You have completed more work units than 99.024% of our users

Holy crap! If we get obliterated by Aliens I am blaming you!

--- G.