Sensation: Chinese Jade Rabbit FOUND ON MOON China's Jade Rabbit (Yutu) moon rover is on Luna's surface and ready to roll. As China's National Space Administration's website hasn't had meaningful updates since 2009, we're reliant on state media service Xinhua for the news that the Chang'e-3 lander touched down safely and Jade Rabbit is now rolling about Luna's …
No!
and also... Bollocks!
Still when China set up their permanent moon base next year, plant a flag and claim it as a new territory, Mr. Obama can sit back and satisfied remembering the day he cut NASA funding.
Oh, so Obama cut back NASA and ate YOUR MOM's apple pie?
You can fault Obama for a lot but a cutter he ain't. He has the full power of the printing press behind him.
Proposed NASA Budget Cuts Spark Bitter Debate in Congress
A NASA authorization bill drafted by the Republican majority of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology proposes to slash NASA's funding to $16.6 billion for 2014 — $300 million less than it received in 2013, and $1.1 billion less than President Obama requested for NASA in 2014. The bill — which authorizes spending levels but provides no actual funding — would roll back NASA’s funding to a level $1.2 billion less than its 2012 budget. Democratic members of the committee spoke strongly against the proposed cuts, which Republicans say are necessary under the federal sequestration cuts prompted by the Budget Control Act of 2011.
To be fair, technology from the Germans was a prize of war. Losing your technology developments and expertise are some of the downsides of losing a war. That's the way it has always worked. Had things gone differently, Germans would claim leadership in radar, encryption, space exploration, aviation and vodka.
Life would by like a manly Perry Rhodan novel!
And hopefully not like that PKD story, "The Man in the High Castle".
But you must note that the US had Goddard (ignored) and the Soviets had Korolev (sent to the gulag to mine coal until death until there was a sudden impressive need for expertise).
>>To be fair, technology from the Germans was a prize of war.
The hardware, to some extent yes - although the land race between the Russians and the Americans could mean it was "stolen from underneath the Russians"
The people, no, that was definitely stolen, instead of the (known) war criminals being punished for their part in the suffering (such as the camp at Dora) the Americans doctored false histories and work permits for the ex Nazis to be allowed to (il)legally work for the US. This was in stark contrast to the Russians who never let any captured Germans to work directly on their missile programs, and had either repatriated or charged all their detainees by 1951.
>>Losing your technology developments and expertise are some of the downsides of losing a war.
Not for those who ended up safe from trial in the US, even Arthur Rudolph was allowed to escape back to Germany after the statute of limitations for his crimes had expired (leaving him drawing a pension from the US). As usual, the "downsides" of war were not suffered by those instigating and manufacturing the war, but the every day people who died in the camps and under the bombs.
>>That's the way it has always worked. Had things gone differently, Germans would claim leadership in radar, encryption, space exploration, aviation and vodka.
Actually, I think you'll find that Russia was ahead in most of these areas, Germany was financially "all in" with no possibility of going back because their economy was already ruined, the only option was to attempt to win whilst already being overdrawn (kind of like the US is now).
"Still when China set up their permanent moon base next year, plant a flag and claim it as a new territory, Mr. Obama can sit back and satisfied remembering the day he cut NASA funding."
Apparently, the education crisis continues unabated.
First, the moon is open to *all* nations, do Google "Outer Space Treaty". Let me help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty
Second, Obama didn't cut anything. The US Congress sets the budget. NASA's budget was cut by Bush the Lesser, along with the space shuttle program being shuttered by Bush the Lesser.
Damn, but our education system has turned out incredibly ignorant, selective memory, parroting their betters, idiots.
Perhaps ancient Athens had the right of it, the idiot may not vote. Only the educated professional could.
"First, the moon is open to *all* nations,"
Although I agree in principle, if the Chinese do set up a moonbase, who is to stop them claiming some of the moon? I could see lots of huffing and puffing at the UN while China just gets on with whatever they want. Pretty much everyone buys more from China than they sell to them. China owns large chunks of "western" debt. In term of capitalism, they've got the US beat. That gives them some big sticks to beat the "west" with.
Russia "lost" the cold war because the US spent them into the ground. In those terms, China is the new USA.
Everyone likes to talk about the UN or the NATO or other entities and alliances who 'protect' things, but the fact of the matter is that whoever can take something can have it for as long as they can hold on to it. That's how countries are made, how they've always been made and how they will be made in the future and there's fuck all anyone can do about it if the expanding entity can't be beaten militarily. Brute force still runs the world, don't think for a second it doesn't.
If China decides to claim the Moon and can defend its claims then it will belong to China. Full stop, end of story.
That being said, China is not the new US. People who talk about globally expansionist China obviously haven't bothered to see what China says on the matter. The Chinese do not give one fuck about the rest of the world. Absolutely no cares at all, zero. They actually go to great lengths to tell people that, but the proles don't listen.
The last two decades of China's Commercialization have been undertaken with the sole goal being the creation of their own middle class they can sell their own wares to. They don't care, at all, about dominating trade, or anything else, outside China. They've reduced their external investment nearly 20% this year and have a 15 year roadmap to reduce their current outside investment nearly 70%. Their middle class is beginning to stabilize and the country is going back into its shell.
There's a reason nobody considers China a superpower, not even a greater power, even China themselves. They don't want to play with the rest of the world. We think we're using them for great deals on labor, but they're using us to build themselves a nice little country where all our bullshit doesn't bother them at all. I can't say I blame them either.
My point is, they don't want the Moon.
It wouldn't surprise me if a little door opened on the side and a few Chinamen in space suits got out and started walking around. Pound for pound they are generally smaller than Americans so more can be carried in the payload.
The obesity crisis in the USA was responsible for cutting back manned flight, the fuel costs to get the Americans up into space were astronomical.
"Landing stuff on other worlds/moons is not easy."
Landing stuff on other worlds is as easy as getting that stuff to those worlds. In short, not very hard.
Landing stuff and having it survive the landing, the radiation, thermal stresses, etc and work, now *that* is hard!
Great job, China!
I know Bowers & Wilkins were used at Skywalker Sound, but I didn't know they had their own stage... ;-)
The commies are now the USA:
Holy shit, there was some laissez-faire under all that lard, I am sure....
Oh, yeah. They had a GT40 setup at the DEC Westfield plant where I worked a couple of summers while in Uni. I was miserable at it, but impressed by the game.
Stumbled onto the Chinese landing and watched the whole thing "live" on the web as it touched down. Very impressive and totally autonomous, even to the point of hovering while it searched for and chose a suitable landing site.
First controlled lunar landing in my lifetime and the comments pages are full of petty racism.
Really? They did what no one else has had the gumption or ability (or both) to do in over 40 years and people decide it's all a cheat or worthless because they're not white? Or time for some good old racial stereotyping, I mean after all it's not like the Chinese have any track record in innovation over the last six millenia is it?
I can't decide if it's just jealousy or plain bigotry. I'm normally pretty thick skinned, I've made my share of dentist time jokes, but this is a truly remarkable achievement and it's being mocked simply because it wasn't the West that did it.
I'm going to get a lot of downvotes for being a sanctimonious prick (probably true), but this event deserved more than some back handed compliments and petty racism.
For shame.
I'm looking forward to Wuxia Movies made on the Moon. The martial arts should be amazing.
I don't disagree with you where real petty racism is concerned, but:
a) I really suspect you misread a significant amount of history-rooted irony - and bitterness? - targeted largely at the West (and maybe Russia to an extent) that you needn't find too contrary to your position. There may be more or less fortunate ways of expressing historical allusions and ironic chuckles in web comments, but frankly, I do not detect too much genuine malice in this case.
b) You should not forget that there have been several controlled martian landings of highly successful autonomous and remotely controlled rovers in your lifetime (I am guessing a lower limit on your age here, forgive me). Dismissing them out of hand would be a bit unfair, with no disrespect to China's impressive achievement.
>>You should not forget that there have been several controlled martian landings of highly successful autonomous and remotely controlled rovers in your lifetime
Technically a "controlled landing" means landing something in a controlled manner, chute/balloons are not controlled, but retarded, and curiosity was a hybryd, a controlled payload drop with a "crashed" landing stage, although I do agree "Dismissing them out of hand would be a bit unfair", and curiosity was definitely a bit special, however, a controlled landing is far more relevant when it comes to it's applicability for human space travel, after all, you'd hope it's not a one way trip, and soft landing a return module is critical for that.
It's probably only an indicator of peoples fears that other people have caught up - mind it's taken 40 years, so what are they moaning about?
World wide human society has had only a very few number of actual innovators who came up with new ideas, (mad or otherwise) - the rest are worrying about their mortgage or how to feed their nine children in a desert, (etc). However it also has a very efficient economic structure which can distribute those ideas. In the past it took time for those ideas to propagate - now it's somewhat different. Just live with the fact that people are a) frightened of change, b) other people thrive on it, c) change is going to happen whether you like it or not.
No one mentioned the Toy Franchise yet?
The Chinese are missing out not having at least two toy versions:
"lego" clone version
"Tomy" ready made remote controlled version
For rich kids (Geek Adults):
iPhone controlled version with camera
Chassis for Raspberry Pi/Ardunio with the dish as a functional 5.8GHz WiFi link.
My coat has an Argos Catalogue in one pocket and ToysRus in the other.
Great Achievement. After all they didn't steal German Factories and Scientists in 1945 though fought the Japanese to a standstill, while having a civil war and occasionally fighting Russians (pre 1939).
The US abandoned the idea of nuking the moon in the 1950s. Today, there's far too much dollar value in space hardware in cislunar space to be scrambled by the x-ray pulse of a vacuum nuclear detonation to consider it, unless a Texas-sized alien spaceship needs to be disposed of by Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith.
Personally I'm delighted to see humans pursuing the exploration of space and the things in it, and kudos to the Chinese for joining in.
But:
a) They haven't done anything that hasn't been done before
b) It would be remarkable if a nation of their size, wealth and capabilities couldn't do this, it's just a question of them deciding it's worth their while
c) Millions of people walk about with more computing power in their pockets than was used to accomplish the last soft landings on the moon, including missions that got real live people there and back again.
Come on China, do something pioneering and really impress us!
The point is, they're training a new generation of rocket scientists / program managers / engineers how to fly spacecraft. Doesn't matter that this has been done before, you need to start with a smaller scale project.
They're being very methodical, more tortoise than hare ("Rabbit" notwithstanding).
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