Hello EP, I made a mistaken remark about the Chinese space exploration cost structure Message 19406628 <<at an affordable annual cost of USD 2 billion (serial production of the equipment will apparently halve the current cost of 2 billion>> … it is not USD 2 billion per annum, but USD 2 billion for the whole 11 years (since 1992), or about 2 weeks of Operation Iraqi Pacification cost, or approximately 1/126th NASA/Pentagon space annual budget burn rate.
This sounds like a bargain, and I understand there are already inquiries from Europe about the possibilities for more space cooperation with China, for hardware and services.
It would be neat if the abandoned Euro space shuttle project can be revived due to low cost manufacturing, subsequently flagged with Liberian registry, and staffed with Filipino crew, just like the real shipping industry :0)
The Americans are flatly rejecting any joint efforts with China, still paraniod about the evil empire stuff, and the Russians are limiting cooperation to civilian use only, which is of course a nonsensical concept.
The party is just getting started and already so interesting :0)
Chugs, Jay
scmp.com
Friday, October 17, 2003
Next up: a lunar probe and an orbiting lab
JOSEPHINE MA in Beijing
Hours after the nation's first man in space touched down, leaders of the manned space programme were already talking about their ambitions for the future.
They include sending up a lunar probe and building China's own permanent space station.
"According to the timetable for Shenzhou I to V, we basically have one launch every year. I think we can launch Shenzhou VI within one to two years," said Xie Mingbao, one of the scientists behind the space programme.
Mr Xie said China was eager to achieve three goals in the next few years: to master the technology for space walking, rendezvous and docking - all prerequisites for building its own space station.
However, he said China had no intention of catching up with the technology used in Russia's Mir space station or the multinational International Space Station in the near future. Instead, it was seeking a temporary space laboratory and station.
Although Mr Xie refused to give a timetable, a Shanghai-based space scientist said construction of the next manned spacecraft, Shenzhou VI, had already begun and China was planning to put one or more astronauts into orbit within a year.
Zhou Xudong, of the Shanghai Academy of Space-flight Technology, which plays a key role in the Shenzhou programme, told Shanghai's Wen Hui Daily the manufacture, assembly and testing of components for the Shenzhou VI had begun.
After the next launch, China would begin to build its own space laboratory for short-term occupancy by astronauts, Mr Zhou said.
"This will be a small laboratory similar to the US laboratories in the 1970s," he said.
Mr Xie said the other two astronauts shortlisted for the Shenzhou V mission, Nie Haisheng and Zhai Zhigang, stood a good chance of being used for the next mission. He hinted that the Shenzhou VI would carry more than one astronaut.
"It is likely. It is designed for three people," he said.
In a sign of China's growing confidence in its space technology, state media quoted Luan Enjie, director of China's aerospace administration, as saying a moon-probe mission was "imminent".
The moon probe, named Chang'e after a mythical woman in Chinese legend who flew to the moon, is the first phase of a lunar programme aimed at sending astronauts to the moon.
Mr Luan said China had already mastered most of the core technology needed for the probe, and all it needed now was to build its own equipment to collect data and samples from the moon.
Mr Xie yesterday sidestepped a question about whether the central government had set aside a budget for its lunar programme. He would only say China had spent 18 billion yuan (HK$16.9 billion) on the manned space programme in the past 11 years. The last four launches cost about US$100 million each, while Shenzhou V carried a price tag of one billion yuan, he said.
China's aspirations to become a superpower in space technology may now be taken more seriously by foreign governments and space experts.
Ouyang Ziyuan, a top scientist on the lunar programme, has predicted China will have put a man on the moon and built a permanent space station within 10 years.
In light of recent events, Mr Zhou said, that prediction might well be proved right. |
