Is there any point? (China going to Moon)

AFAIK, China are hopeful that they will be able to land on the moon, in the v near future.

Which would be quite something, had it not been done over 40 yrs ago, and several times since.

Sheesh, going to the moon is so mainstream, that Richard Branson is even talking about the day when people will be able to go there, as some kind of alternative tour.

I would assume that if there were anything of world importance on the moon, we would possibly know about it by now, but from what I can gather, it is a large piece of rock, with no atmosphere. That is it. I believe that in preparing for the first moon landing, several bi product inventions did make the mainstream.

We did not find any life on the moon, or any evidence of any having ever been there.

We did not find any minerals that were a breakthrough, for mankind.

So, keeping all of that in mind, what really is the use of China going there, and spending a lot of money in the process?

Are they going to find anything new or different?

Perhaps they don't believe the official accounts, and want to make sure?

I suppose it could be entirely a prestige thing, however, can it be that, when it has come decades after it happened?

Maybe there is some purpose that I am not seeing.

Anyone?

Jack

 

It would seem to me that it would be a prestige type of thing for them. I would also not put it past them to claim it as belonging to them only and tell the rest of us that it is now off limits to us.

 

*shrug* Lifting weights has been done before, but folks do it again every day. When we shot a man so far up he left the planet, in a space the size of a closet, set him down on a lifeless rock with no water or even air and brought him back safely... well we learned a lot. We learned a great deal about biology, nutrition, physics, and even human sleep habits and food production. Was a pretty big shot for national confidence too.

Will the Chinese learn something amazing about the moon that benefits themselves and the world? Maybe not. But it's quite possible they will learn something amazing that benefits themselves and the world. Good luck to em.

 

It's quite simple, a matter of pride for the Chinese.

Those people ate poo between 1900-1990, and they deserve to spend those American bucks they've squeezed us out of any way they want.

 

There is merit to your words, Goldwater.


...and, they will flood Walmart with cheesy photos in cheap frames, and Americans will trample each other to buy them.

 

I think they are desperate to have the trappings of a world power, and to them, that means dominating in space.

Besides, it really will be a big accomplishment. They will be the only nation on Earth with the ability to go to the moon. Right now we can't even get into orbit by ourselves.

 

And vacuum cleaners, and mops, and soon....cars too!

 

Maybe if we war with Iran we can fund a Chinese trip to mars......

 

I think we've already funded it with future payments to them

 

I don't know if going back to the moon is all that important except to the mongers who will turn it into a 'national security' issue. After all, the Chinese will be able to rain nukes on our heads using Kia-sized boosters if we don't stop them now.

 

Is this a $$$ issue? I hear they cut NASA severely...sorry if this question is a bit obvious ^^;

Anyway, I agree it is the personal satisfaction of having been to the moon. Not everyone has been there! =)

 

Oh God...... can't believe I wasn't considering how the Republican brain works....

 

It's not hard getting inside their brains, really. Southern Comfort and root beer do it for me.

 

It's a money issue and just bad planning. To make a long story short, we went down the wrong path with the Shuttle. We should have just worked at making rockets cheaper and more reliable. With the Shuttle program ending, we didn't have anything to replace it to get into space, so we have to pay the Russians to take us there. At least until we can get back into orbit again.

I'm sure the Chinese will be laughing at us from the moon.

 

A few weeks ago I almost got mugged by a homeless guy, and for a few minutes afterwards, I felt kind of all control freaky, angry, and morally outraged. I figure that was a little baptism of sorts on what it's like to be conservative

 

Pull yerself together, man! Felt like a conservative???

 

Based on what?

 

Really?

How so, if the US and both Russia have already done it, surely they have retained that ability?

 

If they want to waste money, let them do it, but it seems quite futile to me.

 

Russia hasn't sent people there, unless "Apollo 18" is to be believed.

Nope, we can't go to the moon. We don't have manned capsules to go to orbit, and none that would take us to the moon, land, and return. We didn't build on the technology that we used to go to the moon originally, we trashed it and went in another direction (the Shuttle) which has run it's course.


It would probably take a decade to get a program to send folks to the moon if we were to start now.

Declining powers don't do that sort of thing anyway.

 

I thought they had, not heard of AP18, though.

I know that there was an actual race between them and America to do it, before the end of that decade, and that at one time, America were losing that race.

I am really amazed that the US no longer have the capacity to go to the moon.

I just took it to be, that if they had done this in 69, and since, then the capability to do so again, would be there.

Was it simply a budget thing, the feeling that they no longer need to send manned craft to the moon, and that it would be better to redirect the spend in other areas?

Perhaps they felt that there was no practical value to the cost of maintaining a means to go to the moon, since they have learned all they can, from previous visits there?

Also, it is now possible to send unmanned probes and such, which, in some ways, are easier, cheaper, and more reliable, than sending a human.

That said, I have often wondered if all of the moon has been explored.

Even if it is not the size of Earth, to do that would still be a huge land mass, so I am going to guess that no, the entire land mass of the Moon has not been explored.

If that is the case, then would it not be a little like landing in the Sahara and deciding that all of Earth is just sand?

And what about under the Moon's surface?

Archaeoliogists dig for ages, to find evidence that has often been illuminating about the history of this planet.

Surely there might be some value in a large scale dig, on the Moon?

Who knows what little bits of information we may find.

 

If scientists are to be believed, the moon is made up of parts of the earth that came from an very large object that slammed into earth billions of years ago and were caught by it's gravity and eventually formed into the ball we call our moon

 

it is the beginning of space warfare, things that start out for peaceful purposes like nuclear programs end up used for war

nasa has given alot of technology to the military

 

we don't have any current generation of rocket to reach that far. to build a modern system with modern gadget, and rocket to reach that far take years and cost alot. furthermore, almost all the engineer, tech specialist during apollo era are retired.

we haven't build man capsule in a rocket for long time. alot these has to be redesigned, test it take long time and alot $$$. with cut in NASA i doubt it will happen soon

it is believe moon has alot resource that can be tapped. unman probe is good, but ultimately human inervention is required.