. 24/7 Space News .
DRAGON SPACE
China Space Plan to Develop "Strength and Size"
by Anne Ball for Voice of America
Washington DC (VOA) Jan 03, 2017


In this image taken and made from CCTV, Chinese astronaut Wang Yaping, seen on screen, listens to a question from a school girl in Beijing, China, during a live broadcast from onboard the Tiangong 1 space station, June 20, 2013.

China wants to develop "strength and size" in its space program, a China National Space Administration official said last week. In the next five years, the country plans to speed up the development of its space program. China wants to become the first country to carry out a controlled landing of a probe on the far side of the moon in 2018. China also has plans to launch its first probe to the planet Mars by 2020.

China released an official policy proposal, known as a white paper. The document provides details of China's plans for space exploration for the next five years. It was released by the State Council Information Office last Tuesday.

"To explore the vast cosmos, develop the space industry and build China into a space power is a dream we pursue unremittingly," the white paper said. China says it will use space for peaceful purposes, to guarantee national security and to carry out new scientific research according to the paper.

Russia and the United States have more experience in manned space travel with programs that have been operating for more than 50 years. China's military-supported program, however, has made progress in a short time.

Morris Jones is an independent writer and an expert on the Chinese space program. He is based in Australia. He told VOA that the Chinese have one of the world's best space programs. He said it was about the same as the European program.

"They're moving ahead very rapidly. They have a very impressive human spaceflight capability. They've recently completed their longest space mission to date, which was roughly a month. And they're preparing probes to go to the moon and deeper into space."

China conducted its first manned space mission in 2003. Since then, Chinese astronauts have carried out a spacewalk. China also landed a vehicle on the moon in 2013. That was the first time a spacecraft had made a soft landing on the moon since the 1970s.

Most recently, two Chinese astronauts stayed aboard China's Tiangong 2 experimental space station for one month. It was the country's sixth and longest space mission. A fully operating, permanently crewed space station is to begin operations six years from now. It is expected to operate for at least 10 years.

In the white paper, Chinese officials do not talk about sending humans to the moon, but Jones says that may happen in the future.

"What I also think is interesting to consider is the fact that the white paper gives further hints that even beyond landing robot probes on the moon, China is moving steadily in the direction of eventually sending humans there."

Jones says landing a probe on the far side of the moon is technically difficult. Because of the moon's orbit, the far side of the moon always faces away from Earth. That, Jones says, makes communications with the landing probe more difficult. He says China will have to use advanced technology including a special satellite to communicate with the lander.

China says landing on the far side of the moon may help explain the formation and evolution of our only natural satellite.

He Qisong is a space security expert at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law. He said a soft landing on the far side of the moon would show that China has fully developed the technology needed to land on a specific area of the Moon's surface.

"China never talks big and says something it's unable to achieve," he told the Associated Press.

The white paper says that China is committed to the peaceful use of space and opposes a space arms race. Jones disagrees. He says China continues to develop its military space program.

"It's not accurate at all because China has one of the world's most advanced military space programs. They use space flight for most aspects of their military-communication, surveillance, weather forecasting. But one of the rising trends in China is the fact that they have a very aggressive development program for anti-satellite weapons. They've been able to hit satellites in low orbits for quite some time."

Jones says China has the ability to attack satellites in geostationary orbit or ones that are in a lower Earth orbit.

That means, "they can probably try to knock out America's GPS satellites in the event of a war," says Jones.

China plans to join Americans and Europeans who plan to go to Mars either with robots or humans. The white paper discusses China's plans to launch its first Mars probe by 2020. One goal is to explore and bring back samples from the red planet.

China also wants to explore Jupiter and to carry out "research into major scientific questions such as the origin and evolution of the solar system, and search for extraterrestrial life."


Comment on this article using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
China Manned Space Engineering Agency
The Chinese Space Program - News, Policy and Technology
China News from SinoDaily.com






Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

Previous Report
DRAGON SPACE
Beijing's space program soars in 2016
Moscow (Sputnik) Jan 01, 2017
In 2016, the Chinese government launched a whole array of major space-related projects which proved to be successful, Russian military expert Vasily Kashin told Sputnik China. In 2016, China started tests of its first heavy-lift Long March-5 rocket. The successful completion of the launch vehicle will pave the way for the construction of a Chinese space station, Kashin told Sputnik China. ... read more


DRAGON SPACE
Tech show looks beyond 'smart,' to new 'realities'

'Passengers' and the real-life science of deep space travel

NASA Readies for Major Orion Milestones in 2017

India achieves advances multiple space systems in 2016

DRAGON SPACE
Russia won't be leaving Baikonur anytime soon

Russia to double number of space launches in 2017

SpaceX concluded accident investigation, to start launching rockets again

SpaceX sets launch date for Falcon 9 RTF

DRAGON SPACE
Small Troughs Growing on Mars May Become 'Spiders'

All eyes on Trump over Mars

Opportunity performs several drives to ancient gully

Full go-ahead for building ExoMars 2020

DRAGON SPACE
China Space Plan to Develop "Strength and Size"

Beijing's space program soars in 2016

Chinese missile giant seeks 20% of a satellite market

China-made satellites in high demand

DRAGON SPACE
Airbus DS and Energia eye new medium-class satellite platform

OneWeb announces key funding form SoftBank Group and other investors

Space as a Driver for Socio-Economic Sustainable Development

SoftBank delivers first $1 bn of Trump pledge, to space firm

DRAGON SPACE
Saab, UAE sign radar support deal

Elbit contracted for airborne laser designator work

Scientists create tiny laser using silver nanoparticles

Divide and conquer pattern searching

DRAGON SPACE
The blob can learn and teach

Searching a sea of 'noise' to find exoplanets - using only data as a guide

Microlensing Study Suggests Most Common Outer Planets Likely Neptune-mass

Exciting new creatures discovered on ocean floor

DRAGON SPACE
Exploring Pluto and the Wild Back Yonder

Juno Captures Jupiter 'Pearl'

Juno Mission Prepares for December 11 Jupiter Flyby

Research Offers Clues About the Timing of Jupiter's Formation









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.