Note that the sample return sounds just like the Mars sample return mission, and the relay setup is just like Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Mars rovers.This is impressive:
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Note that the sample return sounds just like the Mars sample return mission, and the relay setup is just like Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Mars rovers.This is impressive:
NASA needs to contract with Starlink to build and launch a lunar sat comm system.
He has a point, but practically speaking there is no way that China enforce such a claim. And technologically, China’s hardware initially will only enable two taikonauts to spend a few hours on the lunar surface before departing in contrast to Artemis’s plan for two astronauts to spend up to a week. Of course it is inevitable, in my opinion, that China will continue to make significant progress in building more capable rockets and human-rated vehicles.“My concern is if China got there first and suddenly said, ‘OK, this is our territory. You stay out,’” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told a congressional hearing last month. Nelson said China’s aggressive territorial claims in the South China Sea offer a clue as to how Beijing would handle a potential lunar dispute.
It won’t be long before there is a Congressional majority that starts to insist that NASA be given more funding for Artemis. It’s the early 1960’s all over again…Rep. Frank Lucas (R., Okla.), chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, cited the mission [Chang’e 6] as an example of challenges that NASA faces. “To maintain U.S. leadership in space, we must pay close attention to China’s space exploration efforts,” Lucas said in a statement. “There are too many consequences for our competitiveness, our national security and our continued ability to explore space at stake.”
I cringe at the thought, but there are a few differences today:It’s the early 1960’s all over again…
"The ascender of China's Chang'e-6 probe lifted off from lunar surface on Tuesday morning, carrying samples collected from the moon's far side, an unprecedented feat in human lunar exploration history," Xinhua said, citing the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
It’s an impressive accomplishment!China has become the first country to gather samples from the far side of the moon and bring them back to Earth in a landmark achievement for the Beijing space programme. A re-entry capsule containing the precious cargo parachuted into a landing zone in the rural Siziwang Banner region of Inner Mongolia on Tuesday after being released into Earth’s orbit by the uncrewed Chang’e-6 probe.
I wonder if NASA will get any of that material.China’s Chang’e-6 lunar probe returns world’s first samples from far side of the moon
It’s an impressive accomplishment!
That seems unlikely given that China and the US currently essentially have zero cooperation in space-related activities (very difficult after the Wolf Amendment) and Xi’s hyper-nationalism.I wonder if NASA will get any of that material.
As I understand it, they plan to send samples to other countries. I just didn't know if the US was on the list. The US and China still have many ties in science, technology and industry.That seems unlikely given that China and the US currently essentially have zero cooperation in space-related activities (very difficult after the Wolf Amendment) and Xi’s hyper-nationalism.
My understanding is that happens often with Chinese launches, right?![]()
China launches Sino-French astrophysics satellite, debris falls over populated area
China launches Sino-French astrophysics satellite, debris falls over populated area A Chinese launch of the joint Sino-French SVOM mission to study Gamma-ray bursts early Saturday saw toxic rocket debris fall over a populated area.spacenews.com
Hopeful sign?Beijing is celebrating its successful world-first mission to collect samples from the far side of the moon, saying U.S. efforts to deter China can’t keep it from making “giant steps” in space…Chinese officials blamed a long-standing U.S. law that prohibits direct space research cooperation for stopping the two powers from working together. But the U.S. stance “cannot prohibit China from making giant steps forward in its space program,” he said, noting the project allowed the country to hone key technological areas that would boost long-term space capabilities.
However;Bian invited researchers from around the world, including the United States, to apply for access to study the new samples..
Two portions of the samples will be stored permanently, while the rest will be distributed later to “scientists in China and foreign countries in accordance with the lunar sample management regulations,” Wang Qiong, deputy chief designer of the Chang’e 6 mission, told China’s CRI News Radio on Wednesday.
He may be right, but since the US Congress has made it so difficult, one can see why the Chinese could feel aggrieved.A long-standing U.S. law bars the use of NASA funds for projects with China or Chinese-owned companies without congressional approval because of concerns about the potential transfer of sensitive U.S. data or technologies to China. U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns has said he does not believe the Chinese are interested in cooperating with the United States on space research.
International researchers waited three years to apply for access to samples from the 2020 mission, Chang’e 5. Ten applicants were interviewed in April of this year, and China has yet to announce its selection. Five of those applicants were American.
And that is just one example.The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST), part of China's apparatus of state-owned aerospace companies, has conducted the country's highest altitude launch and landing test so far as several teams chase reusable rocket capabilities, Space News reports. A 3.8-meter-diameter (9.2-foot) test article powered by three methane-liquid oxygen engines lifted off from the Gobi Desert on June 23 and soared to an altitude of about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) before setting down successfully for a vertical propulsive touchdown on landing legs at a nearby landing area. SAST will follow up with a 70-kilometer (43.5-mile) suborbital test using grid fins for better control. A first orbital flight of the new reusable rocket is planned for 2025.
China is a decade behind SpaceX in reusability, but it recognizes how important a goal it is. ESA, on the other hand…Late last year, a Chinese startup named iSpace flew a hopper rocket testbed to an altitude of several hundred meters as part of a development program for the company's upcoming partially reusable Hyperbola 2 rocket. A company named Space Pioneer plans to launch its medium-class Tianlong 3 rocket for the first time later this year. Tianlong 3 looks remarkably like SpaceX's Falcon 9, and its first stage will eventually be made reusable. China recently test-fired engines for the government's new Long March 10, a partially reusable rocket planned to become China's next-generation crew launch vehicle. These are just a few of the reusable rocket programs in China.
I was thinking about that just as it reached apogee. "Okay, time to explode now."egads. I assume rockets not supposed to actually launch have no FTS installed....