Tiangong-1 launch betrays China's earthly ambitions

[djones520]

The successful launch of the Tiangong-1 space station by China is an event of huge geopolitical significance, just as the orbiting of China's first astronaut was in 2003.

It can be argued that China's achievements, though impressive, only demonstrate how far China lags behind Russia and the US.

Russia after all launched its first cosmonaut in 1961 and its first space station in 1971. The US achieved these landmarks in 1962 and 1973, and, at just over eight tonnes, Tiangong-1 is smaller than the American Skylab station launched in 1973.

But to focus on the 40-year gap is to ignore what lies behind China's space programme, and the Chinese governments' determination to achieve a series of dramatic space objectives that will confirm the country's status as a new superpower.

The space programme also offers clues to the thinking behind China's long-term foreign policy goals and its strategic logic.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15089720

8 years from their first man in space to their first space station. They're not wasting anytime.

[marv]

8 years from their first man in space to their first space station. They're not wasting anytime.

Of course not, what with all the technology they can beg, borrow - or steal!

But the real danger for the time being is the junk they'll leave up there. With all the debris already in orbit posing dangers to the ISS, satellites, and even launches, we need to remember the recent launch of a satellite which they promptly impacted with another satellite leaving all that debris in orbit.

In Missouri, if you litter the highways, you're arrested. Now, how about orbit?

[Bailey]

Let them start from scratch then get back to me or ask the great space fairing country that is Australia to help them out since they invented everything. :D

[djones520]

I say it shouldn't matter how they got their technology. The fact is they have it, and their working pretty quickly with it. We need to be concerned. They have strong ambitions of establishing a moon base. We have... none?

Not something we want to let them get.

[Starbuck]

Chinese efforts almost don't matter. They are doomed, and there is apparently nothing they can do about it.

The plethora of males, the result of the one child policy, has tilted the demographics past the tipping point:

The other unintended consequence is that One-Child has radically altered China’s age structure, giving it many more old people than young. In 2005, the country’s median age was 32-years-old. By 2050, it will be 45-years-old, and a full quarter of the populace will be over 65. That means 330 million senior citizens, most of whom will have little or no family to care for them.

There's more:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articl...50.html?page=3

[Dan D. Doty]

Chinese efforts almost don't matter. They are doomed, and there is apparently nothing they can do about it.

The plethora of males, the result of the one child policy, has tilted the demographics past the tipping point:


There's more:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articl...50.html?page=3

This is a concern that the world should be worried about.

[Sonnabend]

1. It's space faring
2. That space station is Chinese, not American, so unless you want to be left behind, you better get it in gear
3. They are not doomed, and in fact are taking up where you left off forty years ago. This meme on how the rest of
the world doesnt matter is another example of this idiotic idea that anything not invented in the US has no value.

If I were you, I'd get busy, otherwise you will find those irrelevant other nations will be far ahead in space developement. Along with space tech comes aerospace R and D.

Lastly, it may very well be that they may have stolen or copied plans and technology, and made it work.

Where's the US space station and when is it going into orbit? That's a question you should ask NASA.

Oh, and, Bailey.... One of the fastest growing sciences today, and one of the most important, genetic surgery, along with genetic research that will lead to cures, is a field that is seeing great advances

And none of it is being done in the US. Resting on your laurels over what was done forty years ago , is no way to keep up in modern times. Those other nations you dismiss with such contempt are leaving you behind.

Best get cracking, hm??.

[fettpett]

1. It's space faring
2. That space station is Chinese, not American, so unless you want to be left behind, you better get it in gear
3. They are not doomed, and in fact are taking up where you left off forty years ago. This meme on how the rest of
the world doesnt matter is another example of this idiotic idea that anything not invented in the US has no value.

If I were you, I'd get busy, otherwise you will find those irrelevant other nations will be far ahead in space developement. Along with space tech comes aerospace R and D.

Lastly, it may very well be that they may have stolen or copied plans and technology, and made it work.

Where's the US space station and when is it going into orbit? That's a question you should ask NASA.

Oh, and, Bailey.... One of the fastest growing sciences today, and one of the most important, genetic surgery, along with genetic research that will lead to cures, is a field that is seeing great advances

And none of it is being done in the US. Resting on your laurels over what was done forty years ago , is no way to keep up in modern times. Those other nations you dismiss with such contempt are leaving you behind.

Best get cracking, hm??.

you do know that there are two private American companies that are launching spaceships within the year right? and the ISS is largely American built?

[Starbuck]

This is a concern that the world should be worried about.

Right. I can't see how it's going to play out, though. I really can't.

As the article points out, the number of Chinese age 20-24 will drop by 45% in 10 years. That's a huge decrease. And with the reality of having only 2 workers for every retiree on the horizon, it seems to me that there just won't be enough squirrels on wheel, so to speak.

The Chinese know all this, though. And maybe that's what will make them dangerous. I mean, if they can't grow internally - and they can't - maybe they will attempt to grow by annexing a few other countries.:(

Australia seems like a good bet. ....Waltzing Matirda, Waltzing Matirda............:D

[Sonnabend]

No it is not.

The ISS is a combination of THREE projects, the Russian MIR 2, the European Colombus system including the Japanese Kibo lab and the US Freedom module. It is run by an international agency.

It is NOT largely American built, and is a cooperative project involving Russia, Canada, Japan, Europe and the US, is operated by an International agency To date astronauts from fifteen nations have been aboard.

Whilst the US has been a part of the picture, it is a joint operation.

I am very happy to hear that private enterprise is on the ball, I would dearly love to see the day the US does it again and lands the first humans on Mars.

Snap it up, will ya??? I ain't getting any younger......:D