Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
China is targeting a July launch for its ambitious plans for a Mars mission which will include landing a remote-controlled robot on the surface of the red planet, the company in charge of the project has said.
Beijing has invested billions of dollars in its space programme in an effort to catch up with its rival the United States and affirm its status as a major world power.
The Mars mission is among a number of new space projects China is pursuing, including putting Chinese astronauts on the moon and having a space station by 2022.
Beijing had been planning the Mars mission for sometime this year, but China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) has confirmed it could come as early as July.
"This big project is progressing as planned and we are targeting a launch in July," CASC said in a statement issued on Sunday.
CASC is the main contractor for China's space programme.
Called "Tianwen", the Chinese mission will put a probe into orbit around Mars and land the robotic rover to explore and analyse the surface.
Also at:
Rocket arrives as China targets July for Tianwen-1 Mars mission launch
(Score: 3, Funny) by Fluffeh on Monday May 25 2020, @11:56PM (8 children)
Remember when Firefly first came up... and everyone spoke asian-esque... but there were no actors that looked remotely of asian heritage in the show?
Except for the fact that China has more money to throw at this than anyone else at the moment and probably will make this work. Go them I guess!
(Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday May 26 2020, @01:43AM (2 children)
Really? I always thought that it was more of a western in space. Didn't even really think about that they would be speaking with some mixed in "asian" words (which might as well have been japanese or korean or something unless you specifically know it was chinese).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2020, @02:05AM (1 child)
It was a Western where the characters swore in Chinese so they didn't have to be censored.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2020, @06:25AM
Were so rich on the backs of white folk that you never even saw their presence because they could pay every other color of folk to do the legwork for them.
It didn't get brought up much in the show past passing remarks, but all the electronics displays were in chinese too and I seem to remember that huge black and green spaceship they got medical care for bishop on referencing their masters a few times.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2020, @03:03AM
It makes sense that the most populous nation would affect future vocab
(Score: 3, Interesting) by khallow on Tuesday May 26 2020, @05:01AM (3 children)
The US is the elephant in this room. For example, in 2016, the US government spent more [industry.gov.au] on space than the rest of the governments of the world ($47.5 billion versus $35.4 billion). China's government spent $10.8 billion.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Tuesday May 26 2020, @06:17PM (2 children)
People just don't get how much the US squanders here.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2020, @06:33PM (1 child)
that's what i was thinking: how much of that big fat budget was total theft/waste.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday May 26 2020, @08:00PM
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2020, @12:37AM (6 children)
>In an effort to catch up with its rival the United States and affirm its status as a major world power.
Could it just possibly be “ in an effort to explore space and expand scientific knowledge “
(Score: 5, Funny) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday May 26 2020, @12:57AM (4 children)
No.
We must think of other people as enemies. Especially anyone whose culture different to ours.
Different is scary.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2020, @12:53PM (1 child)
It is not unreasonable to think of a murderous genocidal totalitarian regime as enemies.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @02:00PM
Yet my country chose to befriend USA anyway.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2020, @08:09PM (1 child)
You are not very knowledgeable about China and how they operate, are you?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @02:02PM
Your sentence is a neat rhetorical trick.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2020, @01:10AM
Like when they blew up a satellite in 2007?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2020, @02:09AM
Tianwen ... isn't that a kind of ramen noodle?
This is bullshit. Chinks can't fucking do shit.
(Score: 3, Funny) by mendax on Tuesday May 26 2020, @03:34AM (1 child)
Let's hope the Chinese have more luck getting to Mars than the Russians. The Russians made several attempts and each ended in failure (if memory serves correctly).
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 4, Funny) by deimtee on Tuesday May 26 2020, @10:32AM
The US craft were allowed to land in the desert where they wouldn't find anything. The Russians were on course for the towns, so they were shot down.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.