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New Space Race in not too distant future?

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Fisplen
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21 Dec 2013, 2:08 pm

You may have heard that China have landed the first Lunar rover in almost 40 years since the last Soviet Lunar mission in 1976.

This is the 3rd spacecraft China has launched as part of its Chang'e program, and it includes a Lander and a Rover, the previous two Chang'e missions were simply Lunar orbiters.

Although a long way of sending Mars missions, China is now creeping behind the US in terms of Space programs.

The Chinese plans to send another lander around 2017, that will collect Lunar samples and bring them back to Earth, after that a Manned mission to the Moon is in planning for the mid 2020's.

I know it may be too early to speculate at this point, but if these plans by China come true, we could have a real future Space Race on our hands.



Willard
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21 Dec 2013, 2:23 pm

With nearly 20 Trillion in debt, the Shuttle program mothballed and an economy in the toilet, the US is in no position to engage in a Space Race anytime in the near future. China will have to have their Space Race with Iran.

Maybe together they could put a monkey on the Moon.



Fisplen
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21 Dec 2013, 3:35 pm

Willard wrote:
Maybe together they could put a monkey on the Moon.


Now that would be interesting.



pete1061
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21 Dec 2013, 3:45 pm

Don't forget about Mexico.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh8F-r25TWc[/youtube]


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tic-tac
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21 Dec 2013, 9:03 pm

The US spends as much on war as education. Space exploration budget is pennies in comparison. The US can afford a good space program.



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21 Dec 2013, 10:51 pm

Manned missions to Mars are like the cure for cancer—always 20 years into the future.



pete1061
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22 Dec 2013, 12:13 am

Sadly, a vast majority of the ignorant American public views space exploration as a waste of money.
...but happily supports blowing up wedding parties on the other side of the world. :(


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Fisplen
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22 Dec 2013, 7:51 am

Willard wrote:
With nearly 20 Trillion in debt, the Shuttle program mothballed and an economy in the toilet, the US is in no position to engage in a Space Race anytime in the near future. China will have to have their Space Race with Iran.

Maybe together they could put a monkey on the Moon.


The Space Shuttle program was put to rest because the Shuttle was seen as too expensive, too obsolete and too risky to be still in service ( remember the Columbia and Challenger disasters? )

Anyway SpaceX a private company under contract from Nasa is making a new more powerful successor to the Space Shuttle, the Falcon Heavy which will be a reusable Rocket with its thrust being equivalent to 15 747s, more powerful than the Saturn V.

Its having its first test launch next year.



Kurgan
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22 Dec 2013, 11:13 am

pete1061 wrote:
Sadly, a vast majority of the ignorant American public views space exploration as a waste of money.
...but happily supports blowing up wedding parties on the other side of the world. :(


Actually, with the present day technology (which pretty much follows the same principle as the V2 rockets of WWII), a two way trip to Mars will take more than a year. Noone can handle the space radiation and the weightlessness for that long.



ruveyn
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22 Dec 2013, 1:00 pm

India is also getting into the Space Race. The Indian government has let out a contract on weaving a 245,000 mile long rope. When this is done, placing an Indian vessel on the moon should be a snap.

ruveyn



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22 Dec 2013, 3:21 pm

Fisplen wrote:
You may have heard that China have landed the first Lunar rover in almost 40 years since the last Soviet Lunar mission in 1976.

This is the 3rd spacecraft China has launched as part of its Chang'e program, and it includes a Lander and a Rover, the previous two Chang'e missions were simply Lunar orbiters.

Although a long way of sending Mars missions, China is now creeping behind the US in terms of Space programs.

The Chinese plans to send another lander around 2017, that will collect Lunar samples and bring them back to Earth, after that a Manned mission to the Moon is in planning for the mid 2020's.

I know it may be too early to speculate at this point, but if these plans by China come true, we could have a real future Space Race on our hands.


The world will be seriously low on hydrocarbon fuel in the not-too-distant future (certainly in the next 25 years) so I foresee a global cutback in space exploration. The fuel requirements of maintaining satellites will become the priority and the race will be to have satellites where other countries won't have the fuel to do so.


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Fisplen
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22 Dec 2013, 3:28 pm

ruveyn wrote:
India is also getting into the Space Race. The Indian government has let out a contract on weaving a 245,000 mile long rope. When this is done, placing an Indian vessel on the moon should be a snap.

ruveyn


There certainly getting there, India has launched its first satellite to Mars recently.



pete1061
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22 Dec 2013, 3:54 pm

Kurgan wrote:
pete1061 wrote:
Sadly, a vast majority of the ignorant American public views space exploration as a waste of money.
...but happily supports blowing up wedding parties on the other side of the world. :(


Actually, with the present day technology (which pretty much follows the same principle as the V2 rockets of WWII), a two way trip to Mars will take more than a year. Noone can handle the space radiation and the weightlessness for that long.


I agree, those are major hurdles to deep space travel.
But I think if the kind of determination was put back into the space program as was in the 60's, those problems could be solved.
NASA just needs to gain the support of the public. People who think it's a waste need to understand that so much of the advanced stuff we enjoy today is a result of space exploration. The advances learned from a manned mission to mars would translate to all kinds of self sustaining technologies back here on earth.


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22 Dec 2013, 4:10 pm

pete1061 wrote:
Kurgan wrote:
pete1061 wrote:
Sadly, a vast majority of the ignorant American public views space exploration as a waste of money.
...but happily supports blowing up wedding parties on the other side of the world. :(


Actually, with the present day technology (which pretty much follows the same principle as the V2 rockets of WWII), a two way trip to Mars will take more than a year. Noone can handle the space radiation and the weightlessness for that long.


I agree, those are major hurdles to deep space travel.
But I think if the kind of determination was put back into the space program as was in the 60's, those problems could be solved.
NASA just needs to gain the support of the public. People who think it's a waste need to understand that so much of the advanced stuff we enjoy today is a result of space exploration. The advances learned from a manned mission to mars would translate to all kinds of self sustaining technologies back here on earth.


I think its the energy supply that is the biggest hurdle. The immense amounts of energy it takes to propel things into space is the single biggest concern. The space programmes of the 60s had access to a lot more fuel at a lot less cost than today. With the supplies of fuel and the vastly increased demand on fuel globally, space programmes are increasingly non-starters. The levels of determination would therefore have to be exponentially greater than the determination levels that got the space programmes of the 60s off the ground.


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22 Dec 2013, 8:32 pm

tic-tac wrote:
The US spends as much on war as education. Space exploration budget is pennies in comparison. The US can afford a good space program.


Could you provide evidence for your first statement?
I agree with statement #2.



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22 Dec 2013, 8:34 pm

ruveyn wrote:
India is also getting into the Space Race. The Indian government has let out a contract on weaving a 245,000 mile long rope. When this is done, placing an Indian vessel on the moon should be a snap.

ruveyn


LMAO!! !