Chinese space station
Discussion
Today the Chinese have launched an experimental space station ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-1511... ). Although initially unmanned, with an unmanned rendezvous planned, it's expected that crewed launches to it will begin next year.
From info so far it seems roughly equivalent to the US Skylab in scope, but it will be inetersting how the programme develops ( and if it has any effect on the US political stance towards funding NASA )
No sign of information when you can see it on Heaven's Above yet, but I suspect it'll just be a matter of time
From info so far it seems roughly equivalent to the US Skylab in scope, but it will be inetersting how the programme develops ( and if it has any effect on the US political stance towards funding NASA )
No sign of information when you can see it on Heaven's Above yet, but I suspect it'll just be a matter of time
Perhaps the later Russian Salyut stations would be a better analogy; Skylab was never intended to be a component in something bigger, whilst the Salyut 6 and 7 stations had multiple docking ports and were used to develop techniques and technology in station building.
The Tiangong 1 module is nowhere near the size of either Skylab or Salyut.
The Tiangong 1 module is nowhere near the size of either Skylab or Salyut.
Eric Mc said:
Good on 'em. They are Carrying the Fire" now.
This space station will be more akin to the Soviet era Salyut or Almaz space stations rather than Skylab.
The Chinese are nowhere near having a rocket with the lifting capability of a Saturn V - yet.
I'm not sure it will be anything like those. The designs have been leaked onto the web already.This space station will be more akin to the Soviet era Salyut or Almaz space stations rather than Skylab.
The Chinese are nowhere near having a rocket with the lifting capability of a Saturn V - yet.
In a way it's good that China are moving forward so fast, but I believe it's also a little ominous.
We in the West are sitting back seemingly doing nothing whilst China gets stronger and advances very quickly.
Is she a credible threat? At the moment, not really, but in ten to twenty years time? Who knows?
We in the West are sitting back seemingly doing nothing whilst China gets stronger and advances very quickly.
Is she a credible threat? At the moment, not really, but in ten to twenty years time? Who knows?
bob1179 said:
In a way it's good that China are moving forward so fast, but I believe it's also a little ominous.
We in the West are sitting back seemingly doing nothing whilst China gets stronger and advances very quickly.
Is she a credible threat? At the moment, not really, but in ten to twenty years time? Who knows?
If you control the air you control the battlefield. Perhaps if you control space you control the world?We in the West are sitting back seemingly doing nothing whilst China gets stronger and advances very quickly.
Is she a credible threat? At the moment, not really, but in ten to twenty years time? Who knows?
There comes a point when, if you can splat your opponent militarily, you can 'diplomatically' force concessions because they have no option. It's the 'He with the most tanks wins' scenario, whether you use them or not.
With regards to Eric's pic above, a good website for that sortof thing is http://www.heavens-above.com where you can enter your location, and get a bunch of info.
Melvin Udall said:
With regards to Eric's pic above, a good website for that sortof thing is http://www.heavens-above.com where you can enter your location, and get a bunch of info.
Guess where I got tha track chart from 
There's a interesting bit of analysis on the BBC website about what China is trying to achieve with it's Space Programme.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15089...
"The true significance of Tiangong-1 is that it is a statement of China's intent to achieve superpower status."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15089...
"The true significance of Tiangong-1 is that it is a statement of China's intent to achieve superpower status."
Melvin Udall said:
Well, it's all a bit speculative. They are already a superpower.
I wouldn't say they are yet - but they are certainly heading that way. The next few years will see if they do become the dominant superpower or whether other countries or blocks of countries can stand up to them, both economically and perhaps even militarilly.From a technological point of view they are still WAY behind the west and part of their drive into space is to try and pull their science and technological status up by its bootstraps.
People sometimes forget that this was one of the driving forces behind Americas's decision to go to the moon in 1961. It wasnt JUST to beat the Russians.
In the late 1950s/early 1960s there was great fear in the US that it was losing its edge when it came to science, maths and engineering and there was a massive push to enhance teaching of these subjects in High Schools and Universities. Many of the young people who were sitting at consoles in Mission Control in 1969 were the product of this education drive.
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