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bananas

(27,509 posts)
Tue Feb 11, 2014, 08:10 AM Feb 2014

Red star rising: China's ascent to space superpower

US deputy secretary of state William J. Burns announced an international space road map aiming to unite the separate paths of the national space agencies. "It didn't say 'except China'," says Chiao, noting that this is a subtle but significant departure.

The road map, Burns told the assembly, would create realistic prospects for long-shot projects commonly considered too expensive for individual governments to undertake, such as human missions to the surface of Mars, and an asteroid defence shield. In any case, none of this can happen without China, says Holdaway. "My educated guess is that the US, which can't afford to go to Mars on its own any more than ESA can, will initiate some dialogue with China about a global human mission," he says.

Stranger things have happened: Chiao points out that US cooperation with Russia was thought similarly unthinkable – right up until the moment it happened.


A long article, and they saved the best part for last! (above are the last three paragraphs).

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129560.500-red-star-rising-chinas-ascent-to-space-superpower.html?full=true

Red star rising: China's ascent to space superpower

12 February 2014 by Phil McKenna

ON 14 December 2013, the top trending topics on China's biggest social networks were a popular TV show and a football match. If it hadn't been for a concerted push from China's state-controlled media, the casual observer might never have noticed that China had just become the third country in the world to land on the moon.

The news was not greeted with sweeping enthusiasm. After all, landing the Yutu robotic rover, aka Jade Rabbit, on Earth's closest neighbour was a feat human explorers had bagged many decades before. "We're now only 50 years behind Russia and USA," quipped one commenter on Weibo, China's version of Twitter. "Our country's designers have some catching up to do," wrote another, before worrying that the joke would lead to police detention.

<snip>

This common reaction missed the point. Jade Rabbit's successful launch, landing and exploration is evidence of China's meteoric rise in the space stakes, and one that will only accelerate.

<snip>

But perhaps the most utopian consequence of China's space ambitions would be a renewed realisation that space is not divided according to national boundaries. At the same forum, US deputy secretary of state William J. Burns announced an international space road map aiming to unite the separate paths of the national space agencies. "It didn't say 'except China'," says Chiao, noting that this is a subtle but significant departure.

The road map, Burns told the assembly, would create realistic prospects for long-shot projects commonly considered too expensive for individual governments to undertake, such as human missions to the surface of Mars, and an asteroid defence shield. In any case, none of this can happen without China, says Holdaway. "My educated guess is that the US, which can't afford to go to Mars on its own any more than ESA can, will initiate some dialogue with China about a global human mission," he says.


Stranger things have happened: Chiao points out that US cooperation with Russia was thought similarly unthinkable – right up until the moment it happened.
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Red star rising: China's ascent to space superpower (Original Post) bananas Feb 2014 OP
William J. Burns - Remarks at the International Space Exploration Forum bananas Feb 2014 #1

bananas

(27,509 posts)
1. William J. Burns - Remarks at the International Space Exploration Forum
Tue Feb 11, 2014, 08:26 AM
Feb 2014

Video at the link

http://www.state.gov/s/d/2014/219501.htm

Remarks at the International Space Exploration Forum

Remarks
William J. Burns
Deputy Secretary of State
Washington, DC
January 9, 2014

<snip>

Last year, China became the third country to complete a successful landing on the moon, India launched its Mars Orbiter Mission, and the United States’ own Voyager 1 became the first manmade object to leave our solar system and enter interstellar space. This past year we also celebrated 15 consecutive years in orbit for the International Space Station. And we made scientific discoveries and breakthroughs that transformed our understanding of outer space and our way of life here on earth.

That’s why, despite the many pressures, challenges, and urgent priorities facing the United States at home and abroad, our commitment to space exploration is only growing stronger. We know that space exploration fuels economic growth. It spurs scientific and technological innovation. It inspires our young people. And at a relatively modest financial investment, it provides direct, real, and lasting benefits in nearly every aspect of modern-day life – from public health and safety to energy and information technology.

<snip>

As the number of space faring nations increases, as states’ monopoly on knowledge and technology erodes, and as commercial interest in space exploration grows, international cooperation will prove more important than ever. We all share a deep stake in extending humanity’s reach further into the solar system, advancing innovation further and faster, and extending the benefits of discovery to more people in more places. The question facing us today is whether we can muster the courage and political will to advance space exploration and ensure that cooperation continues to trump competition.

If we do that – if we choose to put our collective strength behind cooperative efforts rather than competing efforts – the opportunities are as vast as the solar system itself. Let me highlight three particular areas where we can enhance our collaboration.

<snip>

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