from the we-must-not-allow-a-Changesite-(Y)-gap! dept.
China Plans Three Moon Missions After Discovering New Lunar Mineral:
China is aiming to launch three unmanned missions to the moon after discovering a new lunar mineral that could be an energy source in the future.
The space race between China and the US is accelerating after Beijing's National Space Administration got the go-ahead to launch three orbiters to the moon over the next 10 years, it announced on Saturday. The news was first reported by Bloomberg.
It comes a day after China became the third country to discover a new lunar mineral, which it called Changesite-(Y), according to Chinese state-controlled newspaper the Global Times.
China's Chang'e-5 mission retrieved samples from the moon in 2020 and it has been described by Global Times as a "phosphate mineral in columnar crystal" found in lunar rock particles. The mineral contains helium-3, which could be a future source of energy.
The discovery may put more pressure on the US to ramp up its efforts after its Artemis I moon mission was postponed for a second time.
Moon mining could be the next source of tension between the countries as NASA is also probing the moon's south pole where China plans to build a research station in conjunction with Russia.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 13 2022, @04:53PM (7 children)
Beware of secret NAZI moon bases
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 13 2022, @05:41PM (4 children)
I'm not so concerned about Nazi moon bases.
Most of those folks have trouble tying their shoelaces, let alone going to the moon.
I suppose that's a good thing.
Velcro FTW and Heil Hitler!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Wednesday September 14 2022, @01:49PM (3 children)
Hitler had a lot more to do with Germany's epic downfall than one would be led to believe. In the event that he had been successfully assassinated, things may have ended up worse than they did. Hitler did things his way and only listened to his Generals, when it suited him. Who thinks the USA would have participated, if Germany had stopped at just conquering most of central Europe? What about, if Japan had let the sleeping dragon lay? Things could have turned out way different, with a very few different decisions made.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tangomargarine on Wednesday September 14 2022, @07:41PM (1 child)
I got a bit behind in my viewing of this World War II in Real Time [youtube.com] YouTube series, and was watching one of the last dozen videos recently, where they talked about how Hitler was basically an enthusiastic amateur, since he never completed school and learned a trade. That fact is apparently why (at least some) historians think Germany did so well at the beginning of the war, because Hitler came up with strategies that most generals wouldn't think of, surprising his enemies. But as the war dragged on, after Barbarossa stalled out, his meddling kept only making things worse.
If you watch the first month or two of Barbarossa, it gets pretty painful hearing about command decisions from the top; it was like Hitler and Stalin were competing to see who could plan the stupidest strategies possible, and if they had just gotten out of the way of their generals, things probably would've gone a lot better for their side. (Cf. WWI where the German General Staff eventually told Wilhelm II (who was also a bit of a dunce) "now go away, we'll handle the rest of the war", and how long it took Germany to finally lose that one)
It didn't help that Hitler's reason for invading the USSR was basically because he considered them racially inferior (that, and how much he hated communism), either. What a great reason to go to war with the biggest country on Earth.
As I recall, Hitler was actually trying to ally with Britain before the war, but they weren't interested. He was always planning to invade the USSR; unfortunately for him, Germany couldn't win the Battle of Britain and Churchill wouldn't negotiate. So he just went ahead and invaded Russia anyway...I guess, expecting that Britain wasn't enough of a threat to worry about, somehow? And that the U.S. would stay neutral?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday September 14 2022, @07:46PM
Well, that and the fact that Stalin had killed off literally 3/4 of his own competent military leadership. Germany's general corps was a lot better, but most of them other than a few like Rommel and Zhukov were afraid to say "no" to Hitler/Stalin.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 14 2022, @08:08PM
AC you replied to here. You bring up an excellent point about nazi Germany and the history of World War II, and sparked an interesting discussion about it. Thanks and good show!
I'd point out that my comment was about today's Nazis in the United States, not historical nazis before and during WWII.
Your comment is (and I will moderate it so) interesting, but I stand by my assessment of nazis in the US today.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 13 2022, @06:04PM (1 child)
No worries, Puketin will take care of the Nazis.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 13 2022, @09:48PM
The Azov Brigade notwithstanding, Ukrainians aren't nazis.
In fact, we have more nazis in the US than there are in all of Eastern Europe. But we're not supposed to talk about that, right?
What's more, the Ukrainians are kicking dickless wonder's ass aren't they?
Keep up the good work, Ivan! I'm sure Vlad will reward you handsomely.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Sjolfr on Tuesday September 13 2022, @10:32PM (1 child)
I wonder how this treaty will play in to any of this ... if at all. It's a UN Resolution so I suspect all UN members are bound by it. How many UN resolutions does each UN member not adhere to in general?
Plans to set up mining in the future almost certainly means, at least eventually, that property claims and mining rights will crop up. Which, of course, means wars will be fought over it even if it's a cold war.
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday September 14 2022, @01:24AM
Not many people aware, but China has already drilled large parts of the Antarctic which has similar rights agreement as outer space. They know where the good stuff is; we don't. I believe the target date is 2048.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 14 2022, @01:59AM
Maybe they shouldn't have told the world about the magic mineral.