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from the To-the-moon,-Alice...-to-the-moon! dept.
Chinese space official seems unimpressed with NASA's lunar gateway
This week, the European and Chinese space agencies held a workshop in Amsterdam to discuss cooperation between Europe and China on lunar science missions. The meeting comes as Europe seems increasingly content to work with China on spaceflight programs.
Although the meeting is not being streamed online, space systems designer and lunar exploration enthusiast Angeliki Kapoglou has been providing some coverage of the meeting via Twitter. Among the most interesting things she has shared are slides from a presentation by Pei Zhaoyu, who is deputy director of the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration.
[...] Overall, Pei does not appear to be a fan of NASA's plan to build a deep space gateway, formally known as the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, at a near-rectilinear halo orbit. Whereas NASA will focus its activities on this gateway away from the Moon, Pei said China will focus on a "lunar scientific research station."
[...] So far, NASA has yet to finalize commitments with Europe, Russia, or other International Space Station partners on contributions to the gateway. While European officials are interested, it seems like they may also be willing to go along with China if that country has a more direct plan to land humans on the Moon.
Related: NASA Could Scale Down First Manned Flight of the SLS
2020s to Become the Decade of Lunar Re-Exploration
This Week in Space Pessimism: SLS, Mars, and Lunar Gateway
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday July 18 2018, @02:53PM (2 children)
Somehow, I think a lot of us have things a little skewed. After just a couple generations, maybe not even that long, there won't be nationalities among the people in space. If there are only a half dozen people within a quarter million miles, those half dozen are likely to view each other as the most important half dozen people in the universe. And, they will cultivate good feels, just as much as possible.
Given a thousand people, the same will hold true, just to a slightly lesser extent. 500 from western nations, and another 500 from eastern nations - they'll be more self-reliant, but they will still see themselves as neighbors, with no other neighbors close by to assist in time of need. A little inter-marrying, or just some hanky-panky now and then, there will be a "new race", or at least a "new nationality" establishing itself. Neither Chinese, nor Russian, nor French, nor American, or even African - they'll be spacers.
I recommend the books and/or the movies, 'The Expanse'. There will be new differences created among the spacers, but they will lose the old differences. Ultimately, there will be no earth nationalities in space. Not even 'Muricans.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday July 18 2018, @03:14PM (1 child)
The official statement from the first husband and wife team to spend time together in space:
"No Comment."
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday July 18 2018, @03:18PM
No comment my ass. You can bet anything that the little wife told all her girlfriends, in explicit detail.
Women can keep a secret just as well as men can, but it takes a lot more of them to do it.