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#226 2003-09-04 12:19:29

clark
Member
Registered: 2001-09-20
Posts: 6,374

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

http://www.mywisecounty.com/news/030303-1.htm
Monday, 03-Mar-2003 07:11:00 MST

Moscow, Russia -- The United States and Russian space flight nuclear engineers will witness greater cooperation throughout the balance of the decade to ensure the plutonium-238 for five years as the necessary fuel for the nuclear rocket program named "Project Prometheus.

The Russian Atomic Energy Ministry has announced a $32-million dollar deal with the U.S. Department of Energy that sends nuclear fuel to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through 2009, according to Russian scientist Nikolai Ponomaryov-Stepnoi.

Nuclear plutonium-238 is needed by NASA after President George W. Bush announced a radically new program to push faster and further unmanned probes into the solar system and setting-up the initial needed technologies to put humans on Mars in the next decade or so.

I wodner if Bill is still reading this...

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#227 2003-09-08 09:56:00

clark
Member
Registered: 2001-09-20
Posts: 6,374

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

http://www.twq.com/03autumn/docs/03autumn_martel.pdf

Provocations - William C. Martel and  Toshi Yoshihara
Averting a Sino-U.S. Space Race



This prevailing indifference, however, risks overlooking the longer-term consequences of China?s growing space power and, more dangerously, the potential collision of U.S. and Chinese interests in space. From China?s perspective, the United States? self-appointed guardianship of space is presumptuous and represents a genuine challenge to China?s national security concerns. For the United States, China?s extension into space symbolizes its ambitions to challenge U.S. national security. Deeply seated, mutual suspi-cions are evident in both countries? strategic assessments as the contours of potential strategic competition between Washington and Beijing emerge. In essence, both sides agree that the other represents a challenge. Although this potential clash of interests is not yet sufficiently severe to be visible to casual observers, the United States and China are on the threshold of a space race that could radically influence international security.

The link included is to an 18 page pdf report regarding the current state of Sino-US relations related to space. It outlines, rather well, current US policy related to space, and possible avenues for cooperation to avert an arms race in space. It also outlines current policy makers view of space, it's importance, and perceptions.

I suggest any who care, read this.

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#228 2003-09-09 12:29:27

clark
Member
Registered: 2001-09-20
Posts: 6,374

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

I have posted this under Human Missions, OSP something or other thread, but it certainly applies here...  big_smile

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article … 84,00.html

A Return to Apollo?
Searching for alternatives to the Space Shuttle, NASA looks back to an old friend 
By BROWARD LISTON
Tuesday, Sep. 02, 2003

NASA has seen the future, and it is the space capsule. Seven months after the Columbia debacle the agency is giving serious consideration to bringing back a new version of the Apollo capsule, the expendable spacecraft that served the U.S. space program during its glory days in the 1960s through the mid-1970s. Supporters say they are not retreating into the past so much as waking up, at last, to the dangers of attempting spaceflight with winged shuttles, a notion given ample support by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board's report released last week. Boosters on Capital Hill, in the aerospace industry and even inside the astronaut corps point out the capsule has is a more versatile design: it is modular and can be outfitted to the specific needs of any mission. And unlike the shuttle, it can venture beyond low Earth orbit, which means the U.S. could once again send astronauts to the moon.

Expediency is another factor; with the shuttle fleet vulnerable, NASA cannot afford to spend 10 years developing a space plane, as it had planned to before February. The agency would like to test a new vehicle by 2006.

NASA and its Congressional allies will have an easy time pitching a quick return to space to the public, which continues to support space exploration by impressive margins. Safety is a harder sell, since NASA has been touting the shuttle system as safe since the very beginning, and superior to every other spacecraft ever flown. As one Congressional source put it, "If NASA goes with the capsule design, you'll hear a lot about our ability to return to the moon. This may take us there, but that's secondary. Safety is the number one issue. Safety is driving the design."

The moon appears to be getting closer...

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#229 2003-09-11 11:42:07

clark
Member
Registered: 2001-09-20
Posts: 6,374

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/space/2093243

Sept. 10, 2003, 11:28PM

NASA could build new craft in 5 years
O'Keefe gives plan for future space flights
By PATTY REINERT and MARK CARREAU
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

Democratic members of the committee, including Tennessee Rep. Bart Gordon and Texas Reps. Nick Lampson of Beaumont and Ralph Hall of Rockwall, repeatedly pressed O'Keefe on exactly who is helping the White House develop its space agenda and what ideas are on the table.

"Is it like the Cheney committee?" Lampson asked, referring to Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force that solicited input from the oil industry, including Houston's Enron Corp., as the administration planned its energy policy.

The White House has been battling legal efforts by groups seeking more information about those closed-door meetings.

O'Keefe said that in this instance, no one outside the administration has been involved in the space policy meetings. But he declined to name those present or to detail the discussions. He said the group would give its recommendations to Bush, who would announce his policy "whenever the president decides."

Later, Hall pressed O'Keefe further, joking that Lampson, whose district includes Houston's Johnson Space Center, was "probably upstairs crying" because O'Keefe had failed to answer his question. Reading from a list of names, Hall asked O'Keefe:

"Did you talk to the president?"

"Yes, sir," O'Keefe responded.

"The vice president?"

"Yes, sir."

O'Keefe said he also had spoken with White House chief of staff Andrew Card "peripherally," as well as Bush's science adviser John M. Marburger III, and representatives of the Departments of Defense and Commerce, and the Office of Management and Budget.

O'Keefe said he had not met with White House political adviser Karl Rove, prompting Hall to cross Rove's name off the list.

The White House has declined to comment in detail on Bush's space policy and Marburger has refused the Houston Chronicle's request for an interview.

Barton's deputy chief of staff, Samantha Jordan, said later that Barton has had no formal meetings with the White House regarding space policy.

However, he has spoken often with Bush and other administration officials about his insistence that the shuttle be scrapped as a human vehicle and retrofitted to be flown without a crew to deliver construction components and supplies to the space station.

Barton spoke with Bush and Card aboard Air Force 1 en route to Dallas in July, Jordan said, and the president indicated that he would meet with Barton to discuss space policy this fall.

Things are starting to roll...

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#230 2003-09-11 14:44:26

clark
Member
Registered: 2001-09-20
Posts: 6,374

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

A bit of background info on the current state of RLV's and the future...


http://www.spaceequity.com/tools....eatures

The RLV Industry in 2003: Frustration, Confusion and Progress
By Taylor Dinerman,
Editor, SpaceEquity.com
For the August 15, 2003 issue of SpaceEquity.com

Of the three teams competing to build the OSP, Boeing may, in spite of its legal troubles related to the theft of Lockheed?s EELV data, be in the best position to win the contract. The X-37 demonstrator program will theoretically begin initial drop tests of the Approach and Landing Test Vehicle (ALTV) next year. The Orbital Vehicle, which was supposed to fly in the Space Shuttle?s cargo bay, will now be launched on an EELV. The test flight is now scheduled for mid 2006. If the test flight is successful, the X-37 could be scaled up and become the prototype for the OSP.

Orbital Sciences has been working on a Space Taxi design for the last two or three years. Teamed with Northrop Grumman, they do have the possibility of winning the contract if they can convince NASA that the engineering and accounting problems which plagued the company in recent years are solved. Bad memories associated with the failed X-34 and the Orbcomm Communications satellite constellation create high hurdles for the company to overcome. This team has also been looking at the capsule alternative. For NASA, this would be a technological step backward. They might be forced into accepting this solution, but it would go against every one of the Agency?s institutional instincts.

Lockheed Martin is going ahead with its Atlas V heavy launch vehicle. This will give NASA the alternative of flying the OSP on either of the EELV families. As for their actual OSP design, the Bethesda Maryland based Company is being very proprietary about it. So far, the indications are that their design will be a conventional lifting body type spaceplane, however, they may surprise us.

The biggest news for the industry is not from either NASA or from the small RLV companies, but from the US Department of Defense. In different ways both the Air Force and the Marine Corps have decided that there are going to be Space Planes in their future. To no one?s surprise, the Air Force and Darpa have begun to do early conceptual work on something they call Force Application from Continental United States . (FALCON--nothing to do with Elon Musk?s bird) This will be an unmanned system, either an air breathing hypersonic or a true RLV, that will be capable of putting weapons (or ISR-UAVs) on target anywhere in the world within less than two hours after launch. This is best seen as an early, and not very well defined, effort to replace future generations of manned strategic bombers with Space Planes that will not need overflight rights or foreign bases or refueling tankers to strike enemy targets.

Attacking the surface of the planet from orbit has long been inherent in the Common Aero Vehicle (CAV) concept. The raw kinetic energy inherent in any object falling from space has long been well understood and was best described in Robert Heinlein?s classic, ?The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.?

Launching CAVs using ICBMs or similar missiles may make sense in the short term but, even leaving aside the Treaty Implications and the International PR aspects of firing off ICBMs to hit deeply buried targets in North Korea or Iran, it is questionable how cost effective this would be. A single ICBM probably has an incremental cost of around 50 or 60 million dollars. To use such a creature on a single target, unless it were a true matter of national life and death, makes little sense. Delivering the weapons using a reusable Space Plane makes far more sense. The development costs of such a vehicle are probably comparable to those of a new strategic bomber. In an ideal world, the beginning of the Falcon program would coincide with restarting B-2 production line. There is obviously not enough money in the procurement budget to do this, so the question for Secretary Rumsfeld and his successors is going to be--do they chose to push the revolutionary Space Bomber approach and subject themselves to all the risk and all the political abuse that such a decision would entail, or do they play it safe and spend the same money on something less ambitious?

One indicator that the Administration might choose the riskier course is the surprise testimony of Brigadier General Richard Zilmer USMC to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Sub- Committee. The General said that the Marines are interested in a Space Plane that would deliver a small team of Marines anywhere in the world very, very quickly. The model is similar to the way the concept of Paratroops was invented in the early years of the last century (If airplanes can deliver bombs, why can?t they deliver infantry?) The Marines have always been the most politically savvy of the services. This time they want to piggy back on the Space Plane work which NASA, Darpa and the Air Force have been doing, in the same way they glommed onto the tilt rotor work that these same organizations had been doing when they chose the V-22 as the replacement for the CH-46 assault helicopter.

The Marine concept of a space plane is called the Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion (SUSTAIN) system.

here is a link to an article about what the Marines want:

http://dev.space.com/spacenews/military … 73103.html

U.S. Marine Planner Would Like Space Plane by 2025

By JEREMY SINGER
Space News Staff Writer
posted: 01:37 pm ET, 31 July 2003

WASHINGTON ? The U.S. Marine Corps hopes to have use of a manned military space plane around 2025 that could launch from the United States to strike targets and deploy small teams of troops anywhere on the globe within two hours, a senior service official told Congress July 30.

Hoo-rah.  :laugh:

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#231 2003-09-12 08:33:57

clark
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Registered: 2001-09-20
Posts: 6,374

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

http://www.spacedaily.com/2003/03091116 … 2qa0c.html

Indian cabinet approves proposal for unmanned moon mission
NEW DELHI (AFP) Sep 11, 2003

India's cabinet approved a proposal by space authorities to send an unmanned mission to moon by 2008, an official spokesman said Thursday.
The mission called Chandrayan-I will cost 3.86 billion rupees (83 million dollars) and plans to put a 400 kilogramme (880 pound) satellite into orbit within the next five years using an Indian-made polar satellite launch vehicle

India is officaly going to the moon (unmanned)!

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#232 2003-09-22 11:33:09

clark
Member
Registered: 2001-09-20
Posts: 6,374

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

This has been all over the place, but it is rather interesting...

http://www.space.com/news/china_galileo_030921.html


EU and China Collaborate on Galileo Navigation Satellite Project
By Peter B. de Selding
Space News Staff Writer
posted: 03:08 pm ET
21 September 2003

PARIS -- The European Union and China have reached an agreement on China's taking a major financial stake in Europe's Galileo satellite-navigation system, the European Commission announced Sept. 19.

Chinese officials in the past have said they were prepared to participate at around the same level as one of Europe's major national contributors -- France, Germany, Britain and Italy -- which would mean an investment of at least $200 million in the program.

A hefty Chinese financial stake would relieve pressure on European authorities, who have said repeatedly that the estimated $2.3 billion they still need to finance construction and deployment of Galileo's 30-satellite constellation by 2008 has yet to be found. An initial investment of about $1.2 billion has been paid for by equal contributions from European Union (EU) transport ministries and the European Space Agency.

The real issue here though is the national security implications of Galileo for the USA. The US is already developing a leap ahead GPS system to replace the current US one, as well as too stay ahead of competition like Galileo.

The other problem with Galileo is that it uses similar frequencies used by US military, which could have been resolved within NATO (most EU nations are in NATO), but with Chinese involvement in Galileo, this will complicate the issues.

Things are heating up...

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#233 2003-09-22 11:39:32

Bill White
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Registered: 2001-09-09
Posts: 2,114

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

EU and China Collaborate on Galileo Navigation Satellite Project

Galileo will allow the EU (and maybe China) to deploy JDAM equal technologies which will cut into US military supremacy. JDAM allows a military to spend a few tens of thousands of dollars for a very accurate "weapon on target" that once required a Tomahawk and a few tens of millions of dollars per bang.

Uh - oh !

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#234 2003-09-23 06:04:31

alokmohan
Member
From: india
Registered: 2003-09-14
Posts: 169

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

China going moon soon.If US likes one step up ,mars should be target.NASA or no NASA is not a big problem.

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#235 2003-09-23 17:00:03

dicktice
Member
From: Nova Scotia, Canada
Registered: 2002-11-01
Posts: 1,764

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

By trying to go-it-alone on everything . . . the United States may have "blown-it" as far as dictating the future of spacetravel is concerned. The "Religious Right" have a lot to answer for, I'm afraid, and it couldn't happen to a more deseving bunch. Who would've thought that the dreaded Russian (commercial) space program would be the savior of their (government-controlled) so-called International Space Station, when the chips were down? And now, China with the European Union...off to the Moon together? You bet!

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#236 2003-09-23 17:20:24

sethmckiness
Banned
From: Iowa
Registered: 2002-09-20
Posts: 230

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

Galileo will allow the EU (and maybe China) to deploy JDAM equal technologies which will cut into US military supremacy. JDAM allows a military to spend a few tens of thousands of dollars for a very accurate "weapon on target" that once required a Tomahawk and a few tens of millions of dollars per bang.

This is off topic, but JDAMs do not replace Cruise Missiles by any stretch of the imagination. 

But.. They do allow for a relatively inexpensive retrofit to retarded/dumb weapons by attaching a GPS controller and moveable fins.  They provide an alternative to laser guided smart bombs and the bombs that are guided in via TV.   It was simply a matter of time before something like this was created.  GPS has been around for awhile.


We are only limited by our Will and our Imagination.

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#237 2003-09-24 04:06:20

alokmohan
Member
From: india
Registered: 2003-09-14
Posts: 169

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

Only reason for going to Moon was that soviet new ideology  was a threat perceptin.If China becomes a threat perception it is good for space.

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#238 2003-09-24 12:02:07

Bill White
Member
Registered: 2001-09-09
Posts: 2,114

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

Galileo will allow the EU (and maybe China) to deploy JDAM equal technologies which will cut into US military supremacy. JDAM allows a military to spend a few tens of thousands of dollars for a very accurate "weapon on target" that once required a Tomahawk and a few tens of millions of dollars per bang.

This is off topic, but JDAMs do not replace Cruise Missiles by any stretch of the imagination. 

But.. They do allow for a relatively inexpensive retrofit to retarded/dumb weapons by attaching a GPS controller and moveable fins.  They provide an alternative to laser guided smart bombs and the bombs that are guided in via TV.   It was simply a matter of time before something like this was created.  GPS has been around for awhile.

Agreed. I was not sufficiently accurate. smile

But, US controlled GPS can be encrypted or degraded to prevent US enemies from using the signal. That is why the EU-China Galileo system is a threat and is part of why the Eu-China want their own system whether or not it is "as good" as the US GPS.

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#239 2003-09-25 04:52:12

alokmohan
Member
From: india
Registered: 2003-09-14
Posts: 169

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

Threat perceptions may produe improved technology.

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#240 2003-09-25 09:10:25

sethmckiness
Banned
From: Iowa
Registered: 2002-09-20
Posts: 230

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

But, US controlled GPS can be encrypted or degraded to prevent US enemies from using the signal

GPS uses two signals sent out per satellite.  One is the one you use when you buy a GPS from your regular store.  The other is the elusive P-code encrypted signal.  A Military GPS with unencrypt capability gains much more accurate position capability through the use of two signals. 

Also, the civilian signal is limited by significant digits, the encrypted one is not.  The civilians signals timing is +-300 ms the encrypted is 100ms.  So there is that going for it.  A GPS that can use both signals should be able to get +-5' with 4 satellites(the minumum required for a good lock) while realistically you can not get that with a civilian GPS unless you have Differential GPS capability.


We are only limited by our Will and our Imagination.

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#241 2003-10-01 09:10:48

clark
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Registered: 2001-09-20
Posts: 6,374

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed092903a.cfm

Dana Robert William
With Asia making gains, U.S. must put people back in space
September 29, 2003

It's difficult to predict what it will take to shake our country out of its billion-dollar-per-launch complacency and cause us to reassert American pre-eminence in space. But the fact that China is about to become the third country to launch a man into space just might do it.

Blastoff is expected as early as next month. That will be the starting gun for a race among Asian countries to follow suit. India, Japan and South Korea are next in line, and all want to develop cheaper, more efficient ways to put humans in space.

The contenders already are positioning themselves. This year India's prime minister announced that his country, already a member of the nuclear club, would send a man into space.

India's Space and Research Office plans to send a satellite to the moon by 2005 and to put an astronaut there by 2015. The agency thinks India's available rocketry can launch a probe into lunar orbit, but manned missions will require development of a more capable rocket.

Unlike its neighbors, Japan has worked closely with the United States in developing its space program. Because of that, Japan has sent astronauts on shuttle missions, and three astronauts are in training to visit the International Space Station.

But Japan's National Space Development Agency believes it already possesses the technology to launch an astronaut on its own within a few years. Japan's H-IIA rocket can launch 10 tons into low Earth orbit. That's enough to carry the 7.5-ton Soyuz spacecraft, the workhorse of the Russian space program, and the Japanese agency has a conceptual design for a domestically made space capsule that could be developed rapidly with existing technologies.

South Korea is perhaps the darkest horse on the field. In the mid-1990s Seoul was talking of launching its first satellite in 2010, despite having fired a military missile only about 6 miles. But after North Korea tried, unsuccessfully, to launch a satellite in 1998, the South accelerated its own space program.

In 1999 the United States agreed to lift all restrictions on commercial rocket development, and last month South Korean leaders broke ground on a space center. Facilities will include a control tower, rocket assembly line, space simulator and rocket launch site. Seoul now expects to launch its first indigenous satellite in 2005, five years ahead of schedule.

Although there are no plans yet for a manned space program, Rhee Shang Hi, a member of South Korea's National Assembly, founded a group called Young Astronauts Korea. Children attend space camps and read about Mars. The government is raising expectations of someday launching astronauts. In light of the Korean achievements on both sides of the 38th Parallel, South Korea's determination to succeed in the space race cannot be discounted.

But there are clear military applications as well. A country that can launch a person into space can use the same technology to launch a nuclear weapon and hit targets on another continent.

Military competition is the key factor in each country. Beijing sees the U.S. as its rival. New Delhi frequently cites the Chinese threat. Seoul and Tokyo worry about North Korea. And missile proliferation across Asia worries the world.

This is all commentary, but it does show where things might very well lead...

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#242 2003-10-03 12:22:41

clark
Member
Registered: 2001-09-20
Posts: 6,374

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/deta … 1802&GRP=B

2003/10/2
Chris Cockel, The China Post, Washington D.C.

PRC space program targets Taiwan: U.S. expert

Alarmed by what Beijing perceives as moves in recent years toward formal independence for Taiwan, by the administration of former President Lee Tung-hui and now the current administration of President Chen Shui-bian, mainland China's government is exploring a new generation of space-based systems, explained Lt. Col. Mark Stokes, head of the Pentagon's China Division, speaking at the Heritage Foundation in Washington on Tuesday.

"Space assets will play a major role in any future use of force against Taiwan and in preventing foreign intervention in a Taiwan scenario," said Stokes.

Beijing is devoting substantial resources to the further advancement of its space-based command and control architecture (C4ISR), and the "space and missile industry is striving to achieve ballistic missile accuracies of less than 50 meters," according to Stokes.

Not only does the mainland already have an estimated 450 short-range ballistic missiles aimed at the island, but "Beijing is making substantial advancements in its long-range precision strike capability based on an arsenal of increasingly accurate and lethal conventional and land-attack cruise missiles," he said.

And, while the mainland is decades behind U.S. space technology, "Beijing should have the ability to rapidly launch small reconnaissance satellites that can monitor events around its periphery and in the Western Pacific Ocean within the next 3-5 years," writes Stokes in "The Lessons in History: The Chinese People's Liberation Army at 75," a new publication released by the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) based at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

How Beijing is funding its space and military ambitions remains unclear, although it is believed that various government agencies responsible for such things as weather, civil telecommunications, cartography, earthquake monitoring and remote sensing are footing much of the multi billion-dollar bill.

Not surprisingly the mainland keeps its military and space ambitions shrouded in secrecy, but Larry Wortzel, director of the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation, believes that not only is Beijing remaining characteristically secretive, but that the regime is attempting to deceive the U.S. and its allies.

There's quite a bit of speculation on Chinese ambitions in space, but I think it is safe to say that a good deal of their efforts are designed at coming to parity with the US, or reducing US abilities.

Looking at their launch vehicle, I think it is also worthy to note that they are designed to leave one module on orbit, which can then dock with future manned missions (creating something of a mini-space stattion. These orbital modules stay on orbit for 8 months can conduct a wide range of data gathering (radio intercepts, visual recconisance, etc).

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#243 2003-10-04 04:09:29

alokmohan
Member
From: india
Registered: 2003-09-14
Posts: 169

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

Any Chinese success will worry authorities in USA AND FUNDS WILL FOLLOW.Remember the days of cold war.

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#244 2003-10-10 20:35:28

sethmckiness
Banned
From: Iowa
Registered: 2002-09-20
Posts: 230

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

Any Chinese success will worry authorities in USA AND FUNDS WILL FOLLOW.Remember the days of cold war.

But at what price.  I do not wish another Cold War just to advance a bit quicker into space.  People did die in the First Cold War and people will die again, and it won't be on CNN and they Won't get any recognition.

A friendly competition would be something else.. Plus may help spur the Beyond stagnated Russian Economy.


We are only limited by our Will and our Imagination.

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#245 2003-10-11 09:09:28

dicktice
Member
From: Nova Scotia, Canada
Registered: 2002-11-01
Posts: 1,764

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

Come on: Read the latest Scientific American about the Chinese launch disclosures, this month, and Buzz Aldrin's comments, in Google News--then let's have a realistic discussion (that avoids the Cold War and the past) about the prospects for opening up near-Earth space this improvement on Soyuz hardware can provide right now. Forget competion, now is the time for cooperation, for God's sake!

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#246 2003-10-11 22:06:26

sethmckiness
Banned
From: Iowa
Registered: 2002-09-20
Posts: 230

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

I whole heartedly agree.  If China could come to the Table to help us and Russia with ISS, then that could create a bridge of cooperation that could help get us back to the Moon and then on further...  But Only time will tell what will happen.  I have already read of speculation of Chinese interest in the ISS.  That would be awesome..  a nice bonus.


We are only limited by our Will and our Imagination.

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#247 2003-10-17 13:30:54

clark
Member
Registered: 2001-09-20
Posts: 6,374

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

http://www.washtimes.com/national/inring.htm

Inside the Ring
By Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough

Spy in the sky - October 17, 2003



China's first manned spacecraft did more than simply showcase Beijing's efforts for civilian space flight. The Shenzhou 5, or Divine Vessel 5, spacecraft also conducted intelligence-gathering work for China's military.
    Included on the top of the Long March 2F rocket, which boosted Shenzhou into orbit Tuesday, was a new Chinese military intelligence-gathering satellite. The satellite was placed in orbit successfully shortly after the Shenzhou began its 14-orbit mission. No mention of the satellite launch was made in the state-run Chinese press.
    Additionally, defense officials said the single-astronaut spacecraft carried an infrared camera that conducted photographic spying. The camera was mounted outside the craft and has a resolution of 1.6 meters, meaning something as small as 5 feet wide can be distinguished.
    The space spying highlights China's plans to use space for military purposes, primarily to develop missiles and sensors, and to blind or cripple U.S. communications and intelligence systems in any conflict over Taiwan.
    Lt. Col. Mark Stokes, director of the Taiwan desk at the Pentagon, said in a speech Sept. 30 that China's space program is closely linked to the Chinese military.
    China's "space assets will play a major role in any use of force against Taiwan and in preventing foreign intervention," Col. Stokes said. It is working to develop networks of satellites that will be used for spying and communications for the military, he said.
    China also has shown "significant indications" of developing space weapons, such as satellite-killing missiles and satellites and lasers that can disable U.S. military and intelligence satellites, he said.
    The Long March rocket booster also benefited from illegal U.S.-technology transfers in the 1990s, when U.S. satellite companies helped China fix electrical problems with the boosters. The booster improvements also benefited Chinese strategic missiles, which are made by the same Chinese manufacturers of the Long March rocket.

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#248 2003-10-17 13:32:26

clark
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Posts: 6,374

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

http://www.smh.com.au/cgi-bin/common/po … 35115.html

Space set to become war zone, warns US general

October 16, 2003 - 2:11PM

Space may become a war zone in the not-too-distant future, a senior US military officer said today, hours after China became only the third country after the US and the former Soviet Union to put a man in space.

"In my view it will not be long before space becomes a battleground," Lieutenant General Edward Anderson, deputy commander of US Northern Command, said in response to a question at a geospatial intelligence conference in New Orleans.

"Our military forces ... depend very, very heavily on space capabilities, and so that is a statement of the obvious to our potential threat, whoever that may be," he said.

"They can see that one of the ways that they can certainly diminish our capabilities will be to attack the space systems," said Anderson, who was formerly with US Space Command.

"Now how they do that and who that's going to be I can't tell you in this audience," he said at the unclassified conference.

Responding to a question about the implications of China sending a man into space this week, Haver said: "I think the Chinese are telling us they're there, and I think if we ever wind up in a confrontation again with any one of the major powers who has a space capability we will find space is a battleground."

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#249 2003-10-17 13:35:56

clark
Member
Registered: 2001-09-20
Posts: 6,374

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/ch … 31016.html

China Plans More Missions, Space Station
By Joe McDonald
Associated Press Writer
posted: 11:00 am ET
16 October 2003

The officials didn't say when a space station might be launched or give any details of its operation.

``The maiden manned spaceflight is the first step of China's space program,'' said Xie Mingbao, director of the China Manned Space Program Engineering Office. The next stage, he said, would be a space lab that can support a crew for limited periods.

``The third step is to develop a space station according to demand and solve the problems related to the application of a manned space station,'' Xie said.

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#250 2003-10-18 08:43:39

dicktice
Member
From: Nova Scotia, Canada
Registered: 2002-11-01
Posts: 1,764

Re: American Moon Base prediction... - tell me what you think

To hell with the general's warning that space is set to become a war zone. What else would you expect a general to say?

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